H E R O 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. SomeEmes called “The Sultan of Swat” or “The Great Bambino,” an adjecEve—Ruthian—was even created to describe his mighty swing. He was the most famous athlete of his Eme, 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 twenEeth-‐century America. Ruth first earned recogniEon as a sports hero for his on-‐ field feats, which have been scarcely challenged and nearly unmatched since the start of his baseball career almost a century ago. In 1919, Ruth smacked 29 balls out of ballparks across the naEon and gave America its first taste of the swing that changed baseball forever.
BABE RUTH In 1920, Babe Ruth , set a slugging percentage record that remained untouched unEl 2001, and in 1927, his home run record peaked at 60 in one season. Yet Ruth was known for more than his athleEc achievement and on-‐field feats. He was also known for his image and popular media appeal—aspects of his character that earned him recogniEon beyond baseball heroics.
Stories of Inspira:on and Achievement, Ruth’s appeEte 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,” an athlete so celebrated and talked-‐about that he leX the sports pages behind and entered the wider American consciousness.”
Ruth’s hero/celebrity image is characterisEc of most heroes today. Some scholars wonder if modern Emes have changed the nature of heroes, if celebriEes have replaced heroes. Most scholars aZribute the change, and thus the hero/celebrity dichotomy, to the development and evoluEon 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 Emes have not changed the nature of heroes and that American heroes do sEll exist against the invasive background of the media’s saturaEon coverage of celebriEes. Victory By Valor will therefore explore the link between heroes, celebriEes, and the media in America.
American Heroes Heroes are men and women who “transcend ordinary human qualiEes and embody the divine, the ideal, the quest, the courageous, the virtuous and the superior.” Heroes are romanEc and idealisEc. They exemplify characterisEcs that moEvate 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 Emes. Not only do they emerge in sport, but also in myth, poliEcs and war, medicine, religion and science, literature, and music, all cultures have heroes and all cultures need heroes. Today, however, the creaEon of modern heroes is threatened, not by the media, but by disbelievers— people who openly dispute the existence of heroes because of the evoluEon of celebrity journalism and the ease with which people gain access to the public eye.
Sports heroes like Ruth are someEmes 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 naEon.
JACKIE Robinson Jackie Robinson became one of those heroes in 1947—the first year he played baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers and the first Eme 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, Robinson’s a`tude in the face of prejudice, the venom of fans and opposing players, and the weight of a naEon of black ciEzens whose hopes he represented, remains one of the most courageous acts in the long history of civil rights.” Robinson was not only a pioneer in race relaEons,, but was said to be a gentleman of the highest order, a courageous defender of human rights, and an incredible ballplayer too. Robinson’s brand of Heroism lives on through men like Lieutenant Col. Gregory Gadson who inspires others to do more with less, and recognizes that duty and honor are not opEonal.
JOE LOUIS Like Robinson, other heroes have emerged from sports not only because of superior athleEcism or impressive staEsEcs, but also because of inspiring stories and symbolic feats. Joe Louis, for example, became a symbol of naEonal pride when he “went to war in the boxing ring against German Max Schmeling.”
The match took place in 1938, a Eme 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.
Heroic Evolution Similarly, the 1980 U.S. hockey team achieved heroic status at the winter Olympics when it defied all odds and made history by defeaEng the Soviet Union on the ice in Lake Placid, NY. The victory was epic—it symbolized America’s triumph over its biZer enemy during the Cold War and, it touched every part of America. “Stories were told of restaurant patrons standing and singing, of hospitals pu`ng 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 Eme 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.
ARTHUR ASHE 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 Eme. In anEquity, hero “was a name given to each free man who had parEcipated in the Trojan War and about whom a story could be told.”
Since then, its definiEon has evolved: Hero, a name given to men and women 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 or woman who exhibits extraordinary bravery, firmness, or greatness of soul, in connecEon with any pursuit, work, or enterprise; a man or woman admired and venerated for his or her achievements and noble qualiEes. Arthur Ashe embodies most of these aZributes, yet he fails to be recognized in ESPN’s top North Americana Athletes of the century hZp://espn.go.com/sportscentury/athletes.html. Despite this omission, ESPN’s top award for courage, a special ESPY, and a tennis stadium in Flushing New York are named in his honor.
Heroic Evolution Merriam-‐Webster Online DicEonary provides the following definiEons 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 qualiEes d: one that shows great courage 2 a: the principal male character in a literary or dramaEc work b: the central figure in an event, period, or movement.
The Oxford University DicEonary and the Merriam-‐Webster Online DicEonary seem to provide comprehensive definiEons for hero. Both indicate Ees between hero and mythology, and hero and ficEonal characters. Both define hero as an illustrious warrior, or someone superhuman or divine. And both idenEfy heroes as men admired for their achievements and noble qualiEes.
Heroic Evolution Are their achievements less significant? Are the dicEonary definiEons incomplete because they fail to disEnguish Ruth from the local doctor? No. Saving a life is certainly not less significant than recording more than 700 career home runs and the definiEons of hero provided by Oxford University and Merriam-‐Webster are certainly not incomplete. Yet an important disEncEon exists between the two.
Press coverage of local heroes is minimal while coverage of naEonal 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 naEon.
PAT TILlMAN The disparity in coverage causes naEonal icons to gain a certain image—a celebrity image, which generates their disEncEon from local, small-‐town heroes. Despite the disEncEon, however, the nature of both local and NaEonal heroes remains the same: Both are recognized for admirable achievements or good deeds, and both serve to inspire, moEvate, or encourage mankind.
In American Heroes in a Media Age, consider the link between heroes and the media. The very noEon of hero directly relates to the means of communicaEng about heroic acEons 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 maZer 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 implicaEon: modern heroes depend on media interest and coverage to gain the recogniEon they need as a hero.
Muhammad Ali Assuming at least some correlaEon between heroes and the media, the advent of celebrity journalism has caused some scholars to reason that celebriEes have displaced tradiEonal heroes, the kind from Greek and Roman mythology. AlternaEvely, Victory By Valor will argue that celebrity journalism has not caused the exEncEon of heroes nor caused the fundamental nature of heroes to change. Has the nature of communicaEon and technology changed? Yes. Have celebriEes emerged as part of American culture? Yes. These modern developments, however, have not caused the exEncEon nor changes to the basic nature of heroes. An analysis of Muhammad Ali will explore these themes, as well as the overall link between modern heroes, celebriEes, and the media in America. If Ali, “ The Greatest” was a hero, what does that make the other men and women menEoned in this Emeline?