This session will examine the diverse sporting experiences of two understudied minority/ethnic groups, Japanese Americans and Mexican Americans.
Professor Regalado, through the use of oral histories, archival research, and newspaper accounts, provides an overview of the importance of baseball to the social, personal, and communal existence of Nisei (second generation) youths in northern California. In this work, Regalado demonstrates how these individuals utilized their prowess on the baseball diamond, to challenge assumptions regarding the "weakness" and "effeminacy" of Japanese American young men. Further, he shows how, this first group of Japanese American youths to be born and raised in the United States utilized "America's pastime" in their effort to gain greater acceptance into the broader national society.
In his paper, Professor Jorge Iber utilizes oral history interviews, newspaper accounts and archival research in order to shed light upon the challenges faced by high school football coaches of Mexican American descent throughout (but mostly in southern) Texas. Iber's research demonstrates that, in the first half of the 1900s, few Mexicanos were able to complete high school or college in the Lone Star State, and thus, few had opportunities to work as teachers or coaches. Even when a few pioneers, such as Duval County coach E.C. Lerma, managed to graduate and serve internships as assistant coaches, there were few administrators willing to provide them with an opportunity to coach.
Many Texans claimed that Mexicans, whom they considered to be too "lazy," "slow," and "unmotivated" had "what it took" to occupy a key position in Texas community life; the position of head football coach. Lerma and others succeeded in challenging such assumptions, although, through his analysis of current conditions, Iber demonstrates that the "playing field" for Mexican Americans as head football coaches in Texas is still not completely level.
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