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Celebrity, media, and sports heroes in America, Past and present.

On February 6, 1895, an American hero was born. He was baseball’s first great slugger and is one of only three men to record more than 700 career home runs. Sometimes called “The Sultan of Swat” or “The Great Bambino,” an adjective—Ruthian—was even created to describe his mighty swing. He was the most famous athlete of his time, one of the most famous people in the world.

George Herman “Babe” Ruth, Jr. is an early example of the hero/celebrity phenomena that emerged in twentieth-century America. Ruth first earned recognition as a sports hero for his onfield feats, which have been scarcely challenged and nearly unmatched since the start of his baseball career almost a century ago.

In1919, Ruth smacked 29 balls out of ballparks across the nation and gave America its first taste of the swing that changed baseball forever.

In 1920, he set a slugging percentage record that remained untouched until 2001, and in 1927, his home run record peaked at 60 in one season.

Yet Ruth was known for more than his athletic achievement and onfield feats. He was also known for his image and popular media appeal—aspects of his character that earned him recognition beyond baseball heroics. According to Jim Platt, author of Sports Immortals:

Stories of Inspiration and Achievement, Ruth’s appetite for all parts of life, good and bad, was larger- than-life and kept him in the headlines and the public eye as much as his baseball skills. “He was America’s first transcendent sports superstar,” Platt says. “An athlete so celebrated and talked-about that he left the sports pages behind and entered the wider American consciousness.”

Ruth’s hero/celebrity image is characteristic of most heroes today.

Some scholars wonder if modern times have changed the nature of heroes, if celebrities have replaced heroes. Most scholars attribute the change, and thus the hero/celebrity dichotomy, to the development and evolution of the mass media. Some even think that celebrity superstars because of their media presence have displaced modern American heroes.

Victory By Valor will argue the opposite—that modern times have not changed the nature of heroes and that American heroes do still exist against the invasive background of the media’s saturation coverage of celebrities. Victory By Valor will therefore explore the link between heroes, celebrities, and the media in America.

American Heroes Heroes are men and women who “transcend ordinary human qualities and embody the divine, the ideal, the quest, the courageous, the virtuous and the superior.” Heroes are romantic and idealistic. They

exemplify characteristics that motivate or inspire mankind and make ordinary people strive to achieve heightened levels of personal greatness.

Not only do heroes emerge in 20th and 21st century America but in all cultures and in all times. Not only do they emerge in sport, but also in myth, politics and war, medicine, religion and science, literature, and music, all cultures have heroes and all cultures need heroes.

Today, however, the creation of modern heroes is threatened, not by the media, but by disbelievers— people who openly dispute the existence of heroes because of the evolution of celebrity journalism and the ease with which people gain access to the public eye.

Sports heroes like Ruth are sometimes known for the numbers they post and the records they break. Others, however, are known for strong character, or unmatched courage or passion, the ability to unite or a willingness to sacrifice that inspires Americans and touches the soul of the nation.

Jackie Robinson became one of those heroes in 1947—the first year he played baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers and the first time an African American played in the major leagues. He is remembered for breaking the color barrier in American sports and is admired for a character that was “strong enough not to fight back.”

Likewise, “his attitude in the face of prejudice, the venom of fans and opposing players, and the weight of a nation of black citizens whose hopes he represented, remains one of the most courageous acts in the long history of civil rights.” (Platt, 2002, p. 46) Robinson was not only a pioneer in race relations, says Platt, but a gentleman of the highest order, a courageous defender of human rights, and an incredible ballplayer too.

Like Robinson, other heroes have emerged from sports not only because of superior athleticism or impressive statistics, but also because of inspiring stories and symbolic feats. Joe Louis, for example, became a symbol of national pride when he “went to war in the boxing ring against German Max Schmeling.”

The match took place in 1938, a time when fascism posed a direct threat to democracy and Adolf Hitler posed a direct threat to mankind. The match was no contest: World War II lasted nearly six years but Schmeling lasted a brief 124 seconds. As a result of the win, Louis emerged on top of the world and will remain so American consciousness.

Similarly, the 1980 U.S. hockey team achieved heroic status at the winter Olympics when it defied all odds and made history by defeating the Soviet Union on the ice in Lake Placid, NY. The victory was epic— it symbolized America’s triumph over its bitter enemy during the Cold War and, it touched every part of America. “Stories were told of restaurant patrons standing and singing, of hospitals putting TVs into emergency rooms so doctors could watch, of high school gymnasiums standing and applauding when the score was announced,” he says.

U.S. Team later defeated Finland to win Olympic gold but the symbolic victory against the Soviets was the win that made them heroes.

The Babe—a man remembered for his swing; Robinson—a man remembered for his courage and composure; Louis—a man remembered for his symbolic victory against Hitler and Nazi Germany; and the 1980 U.S. hockey team—men remembered for embodying the American spirit and symbolizing American strength and resolve during a time of uncertainty.

The heroic nature of these men, exemplified through accomplishment and great deeds, is not unlike the nature of heroes from the past— mythic heroes from Greece and Rome who were also known for inspiring triumphs, success, and strong will.

Heroic Evolution Hero first appeared in Homer’s Iliad—the oldest surviving Greek epic told by one of the earliest, perhaps the earliest, epic storyteller of all time. In antiquity, hero “was a name given to each free man who had participated in the Trojan War and about whom a story could be told.”

Since then, its definition has evolved: Hero, a name given to men of superhuman strength, courage, or ability, favored by the gods; regarded later as demigods, and immortal. 2. One who does brave or noble deeds; an illustrious warrior 1586. 3. A man who exhibits extraordinary bravery, firmness, or greatness of soul, in connection with any pursuit, work, or enterprise; a man admired and venerated for his achievements and noble qualities Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary provides the following definitions for hero: 1 a: a mythological or legendary figure of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability b: an illustrious warrior c: a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities d: one that

shows great courage 2 a: the principal male character in a literary or dramatic work b: the central figure in an event, period, or movement.

The Oxford University Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary seem to provide comprehensive definitions for hero. Both indicate ties between hero and mythology, and hero and fictional characters. Both define hero as an illustrious warrior, or someone superhuman or divine. And both identify heroes as men admired for their achievements and noble qualities.

The definitions appear comprehensive. However, consider the difference between Ruth or Robinson and, for example, the doctor who saves a victim of a heart attack, the teacher who helps an illiterate adult learn to read, or the fireman who saves a child from a burning building. According to Oxford University and Merriam-Webster, the doctor, teacher, and fireman are just as heroic as Ruth and Robinson because each one is admired for achievements and noble qualities.

And yet, the doctor, teacher, and fireman are not publicly recognized as heroes in the same way as Ruth or Robinson.

Are their achievements less significant? Are the dictionary definitions incomplete because they fail to distinguish Ruth from the local doctor? No. Saving a life is certainly not less significant than recording more than 700 career home runs and the definitions of hero

provided by Oxford University and Merriam-Webster are certainly not incomplete.

Yet an important distinction exists between the two.

Press coverage of local heroes is minimal while coverage of national icons (heroes) is constant and extensive. Local heroes appear once or twice on the inside pages of small daily papers while icons get headline news across the nation.

The disparity in coverage causes national icons to gain a certain image—a celebrity image, which generates their distinction from local, small-town heroes. Despite the distinction, however, the nature of both local and National heroes remains the same: Both are recognized for admirable achievements or good deeds, and both serve to inspire, motivate, or encourage mankind.

In American Heroes in a Media Age, consider the link between heroes and the media. The very notion of hero directly relates to the means of communicating about heroic actions and their perpetrators, they say. As a result, “an ‘unsung hero’ is an oxymoron. Without the story and the storyteller there can be no fame, and without fame individual acts, no matter how courageous, become part of the passing parade Local heroes, therefore, may enjoy no more than 15 minutes of fame provided by a community newspaper. News coverage and feature stories about icons, however, appear daily in print and

broadcast media. The implication: modern heroes depend on media interest and coverage to gain the recognition they need as a hero.

Assuming at least some correlation between heroes and the media, the advent of celebrity journalism has caused some scholars to reason that celebrities have displaced traditional heroes, the kind from Greek and Roman mythology. Alternatively, Victory By Valor will argue that celebrity journalism has not caused the extinction of heroes nor caused the fundamental nature of heroes to change.

Has the nature of communication and technology changed? Yes. Have celebrities emerged as part of American culture? Yes. These modern developments, however, have not caused the extinction nor changes to the basic nature of heroes. An analysis of magazine coverage of cyclist Lance Armstrong will explore these themes, as well as the overall link between modern heroes, celebrities, and the media in America.

Modern Day Hero ?

What about this man?