In 1922, the American
Physical Education Review published a series of articles entitled “Racial
Traits in Athletics.” The author,
non-Jewish physical educator Elmer Mitchell, wrote: “Nowhere, does it seem to
me, can we find people closer and truer to their fundamental character than in
their free and spontaneous play.” The Eugenical
News printed a summary of the
series, which reinforced the dominant racial paradigm in American
society. Mitchell analyzed fifteen
racial groups, although he arranged Latins, The South American, and The Oriental
into broader classifications than the Irish, Greek, or Jew. Mitchell explained that the ‘American’
athlete, “a composite of many races: conspicuously the English, Irish, German,
and Scandinavian,” had become the “greatest in the world.” Southern and eastern Europeans, however, “are
less ready assimilable” than northern Europeans and they illustrated this on
the athletic field.[1]
Mitchell believed
that Jewish athleticism demonstrated Jews’ racial inferiority. “We see the same
distaste of the Jew for outdoor life, his industry in the intellectual side of
his pursuit, his subtlety in applying social or individual weakness to his own
benefit, and his lack of moral sensitiveness.”
He explained that contradictory to public opinion, Jews possessed both
physical and moral courage, although certain “distinctive qualities cling to
the Jew when he participates in athletics.”
Sport did not change the Jewish temperament: “The average Jew is an
unpopular team-mate; he is assertive, individualistic, and quarrelsome.” Mitchell concluded that any observer would
concur “by watching a group of Hebrew children on the playground.” Even more disturbing, Jews’ ability to “face
adverse circumstances” often manifested itself in “the villain role,” which he
believed they seemed to enjoy.[2]
Mitchell’s imaged Jew
remained physically inferior in the small immigrant body. The Jew had vitality, caused by
“clannishness,” sacred family ties, and adaptability to “the bustle and change
of modern commercial life.” This
vitality was “a wonderful thing,” especially since sport did not produce the
physical change many had expected. “The typical Jew is not robust in appearance,”
explained Mitchell. He used football to
prove his point. Only in “exceptional
cases” do Jews star in this team sport, “where size plays so important a
part.” Yet, a small body could help Jews
succeed in other sports. “Along with
boxing and dancing, gymnastics and basket ball are popular, all of them types
of athletic exercise demanding dexterous footwork and dodging ability and
carried on indoors. Basket ball is
easily their favorite sport.”
The unchanged
Jewish body reflected, in Mitchell’s view, Jews’ unchanged intellectual ability
that served as an advantage in the athletic world. Jews retained their mental advantage as
“quick thinkers, alert to grasp the strategy of the game, both of their own
team and of their opponents.” Yet, the intelligent
Jew corrupted pure sport since his “individualistic tendency” produced “a
spirit fostering the professional game, rather than the game which is played
solely for the joy of participating.”[3] Mitchell did not view Jewish athleticism in
similar terms as Henry Ford’s Dearborn
Independent, but he attached negative characteristics to Jewish
intelligence. Mitchell believed that
when Jews willingly participated in American sport, it resulted in professional
or tricky behavior that reflected Jews’ racial inferiority. Throughout the 1920s, columnists in the
Jewish press, though informed by the same assumptions used by Mitchell, used the
belief in innate Jewish intelligence to construct a positive form of racial
marking within the athletic world. In
doing so, they constructed a discourse that led to the reemergence of the basketball
Jew.
During the
interwar period, syndicated sports columnists such as George Joel, Harry
Conzel, and others wrote articles, columns, and annuals that appeared in a
variety of Jewish newspapers. Joel, for
instance, wrote for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), which had his columns,
articles and annuals published in the Philadelphia Jewish Times and the Detroit
Jewish Chronicle.[4] These columnists merged the broad outlook of
the distant and lionizing annuals with experiential content of local columns as
they provided information on the accomplishments of well-known Jewish athletes
and identified Jewish athletes to the readership. They infrequently included non-elite athletes
as evidence of Jewish athleticism, but these athletes rarely informed
compilations beyond claims that “Americanized, practically every Jewish
youngster participates in some sport or another.”[5]
Jewish newspapers
rarely contained sport pages, so readers in various cities often received their
information on Jewish athletes from syndicated columnists. Letters from readers countered claims of an
athlete’s Jewish identity or the greatness of a team or individual, but few
challenged the idea that “sport should be encouraged. It is a good school for
life; it prepares us to will and to do.”[6] Yet, some commentators noted that because of
the annuals and columns, “the Jewish reader makes the inference that his strong
brethren have conquered all the American sports and are equally successful at
them all. …Can we, however, honestly claim that the Jewish athlete takes to all
sports with the same degree of success?”[7]
Most columnists asserted
that Jews succeeded in basketball more than any other sport. Outside of Nat Holman, the columnists generally emphasized the collective importance
of Jewish basketball rather than individual
players.[8] Throughout the 1920s, columnists argued, “from
a Jewish angle,” that basketball had become the “the king of sports.” George Joel stated in his 1927 syndicated
annual that, “it is hard to find a college team without at least one Jewish
player on the squad.”[9] The previous year, Harry Conzel boldly claimed,
“it would be useless to list Jewish basketball players. Collegiate and professional basketball teams
all over the country contain almost a majority of Jews.” As late as 1930, columnists continued to
assert that in basketball, it remained “impossible to attempt to name the
Jewish players. This is a sport that Jews dominate.”[10]
The perception of
Jewish ‘dominance’ led columnists to ask “why Jewish athletes show such marked
superiority in basketball above all other sports.” This question “has puzzled the leading
exponents of the game, although some advance the theory that their ability lies
in their brainy playing and their uncanny accuracy in locating the basket.”[11] In 1926, Conzel decided that since “it is a generally
accepted fact that Jewish athletes dominate the sport of basketball,” he would make
“a study of this puzzle.” He concluded
that, “basketball is the least dangerous sport.
Basketball requires more speed and rapid thinking than brute strength.
…Basketball does not necessitate too rigorous training. So there you are. It is not an indictment against Jewish
athletes; it is probably a tribute to their intelligence.”[12]
In the middle of the 1920s, Jewish basketball remained
rooted in the racial scientific assumptions that had constructed the stereotype
of the weak Jew. Conzel confidently
expressed his theory as he, like Elmer Mitchell and other commentators, fully
accepted Jewish intelligence as a racial marker. Jews succeeded in basketball because of the
Jewish mind, if not the immigrant body. As
basketball moved further away from the Progressive moralism expressed by Elmer
Mitchell, the APEA, and officials at Jewish centers, the American sport culture
intensified the connection between Jews’ racial identity and their basketball abilities.
[1]
Elmer D. Mitchell, “Racial Traits in Athletics,” American Physical Education
Review 27, no. 3 (March 1922), 93; The summary was in the Eugenical News 7 (1922). Mitchell cited studies from Charles
Davenport, Madison Grant, and other prominent eugenicists. In the late 1910s, the APER included a
permanent eugenics section under its monthly bibliography.
[2]
Elmer D. Mitchell, “Racial Traits in Athletics,” American Physical Education
Review 27, no. 5 (May 1922): 197.
[4]
Oriard, King Football, 34. According to Oriard, Joel published the first
Jewish All-America football team in 1925.
[5]
“Sports are in the Air,” American Hebrew, June 4, 1937.
[8]
Baseball allowed for more extensive examinations regarding the Jewish place in
the sport and in-depth analysis regarding individual ability. Hank Greenberg’s MVP award in 1935 was
essential in representing his athleticism as a Jew. Likewise, Barney Ross’ success as a boxer was
never separated from his championships.
[9]
“Thru Sportdom,” The Jewish Times, December 3, 1926 . Local papers across the country concentrated
on the activities of clubs, institutions, and organizations that would never
have garnered the attention of the Hebrew; George Joel, “The Year in
Sports,” Philadelphia September
30, 1927 . Joel had been a
member of ZBT and wrote for the fraternity’s publications.
[10]
Harry Conzel, “Jewish Athletes of the Year,” American Jewish World, September 3, 1926 .
The annual stated that Conzel was the “foremost American authority on Jews in sports.” “The Year in
Sport,” American Jewish World, September 19, 1930 .
[11]
Sidney S. Kluger, “An Account of Jewish Athletes as Jewish Stars,” American Jewish World, April 18, 1924 .
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