Becoming More Fully American: Georgetown, Notre Dame, and the Rise of Intercollegiate Athletics in Catholic Higher Education

Abstract

At the turn of the twentieth century, American Catholics remained outsiders in the Protestant-dominated American culture but sought the acceptance of their fellow citizens. Catholic institutions of higher education accordingly furthered that goal by educating young men in the faith and preparing them for leadership as good Catholics and good Americans. Two prominent Catholic colleges of the period: Georgetown University and the University of Notre Dame employed intercollegiate athletics as a path to furthering their educational and religious mission and simultaneously offered their students a path to recognition as more fully American. Facing many of the same pressures as secular universities, Georgetown and Notre Dame utilized athletics as a way to compete with Protestant America and at the same time demonstrate their own Americanness on the even playing field that athletics supplied.