Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Publication Date

6-4-1968

Abstract

The tradition of sports and games in the United States has been one of paramount importance when viewing the social history of the country. The nation's colleges and universities and their respective athletic programs have contributed to this tradition. The University of New Mexico, although a relatively late arrival on the scene of regional and national prominence in athletics, currently finds itself enjoying the reputation as the administrator of one of the decidedly superior intercollegiate athletic programs in the western part of the United States; and some isolated aspects of its overall program compare favorably with the very best to be offered anywhere in the nation. Despite the plateau of excellence in evidence today, however, the path to that pinnacle of quality was long and arduous and wrought with pitfalls of frustration and bafflement. Numerous problems of substance faced the University of New Mexico in its effort to develop its sports programs during the first sixty years of its history. Disorganization, restricted financial support, limited enrollment, philosophies decrying the proselyting of athletes, crude and limited facilities, geographical remoteness, restricted competition, and in particular, an absence of specialized leadership, were all problems which were focused on and successfully solved by 1950. The reputation which the University of New Mexico enjoys in the area of competitive athletics--with other institutions, with its alumni, and with the interested sports public on the local, state, and national levels-­must be attributed to the efforts of the individuals involved in the development of those programs. Important also, is the direct relationship between the chief facet of the history under consideration--varsity athletics at the University of New Mexico--and the correlative picture of some of the trends of social and cultural progress experienced in Albuquerque and New Mexico during the same period. Much of the University of New Mexico's growth and development directly parallel that experienced by Albuquerque. During the latter part of the nineteenth century both Albuquerque and the University of New Mexico were youthful entities, struggling to accomplish the same aim--survival in the arena of society. By 1950, both bad successfully met the challenges imposed by territorial status, statehood infancy, two World Wars, prohibition, and the severest depression that America has ever experienced. The study, "Turmoil and Triumph," depicts the historical growth and development of the intercollegiate athletic program at the University of New Mexico from the institution's founding in 1889 until the close of the first half of the twentieth century. Further, the study relates the role and implication of sports, games, and athletics in the evolving social history of the City of Albuquerque and the State of New Mexico.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Physical Education, Sports and Exercise Science

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences

First Committee Member (Chair)

Lloyd Robert Burley

Second Committee Member

Armond Harold Seidler

Third Committee Member

Harold Dean Drummond

Fourth Committee Member

William Miner Dabney

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