Seattle Sports: Play, Identity, and Pursuit in the Emerald City

Abstract

Seattle Sports, edited by Terry Anne Scott, is a welcome addition to the Sports, Culture, and Society series edited by David Wiggins for the University of Arkansas Press. As Wiggins notes in the preface, the series provides a forum for “a variety of disciplinary areas and methodological approaches” (ix). Based on these criteria, Seattle Sports hits a home run. Of the book's ten authors, only four are traditional academics, while the remainder are former athletes or simply fans of the sports they write about. All the essays are clearly written and accessible. While some academic sports historians may wish for more historiographical context in some of the essays, others will find the mix of academic and nonacademic essays refreshing.Editor Scott's contribution on basketball great Lenny Wilkins examines the complex relationship between race, sports, and social mobility. Scott tells the engaging story of Wilkins's rise to Hall of Fame player and coach. As only the second African American coach in the NBA, Wilkens led the Seattle SuperSonics to a 1979 NBA championship. Scott's biographical approach details the obstacles faced by African American players and coaches. In Wilkins's case, that meant childhood poverty, housing discrimination despite his star status, and lack of recognition for his early coaching achievements.Three other chapters address issues of race and sports. Sherry Lee shows how Seattle's Japanese American community used segregated baseball in the interwar years to forge a distinct ethnic identity while simultaneously proving their Americanness. Shafina Khaki uses W. E. B. DuBois's concept of “double consciousness” to examine the complexities of race and identity among four NFL players who spent time with the Seattle Seahawks. While modern athletes have embraced the Black Lives Matter movement, Khaki shows us that Black players have long used their platforms to address racial injustice. Finally, Anthony Washington's contribution makes for a fascinating primary source. Washington, a Seattle high school basketball star, never made it to the NBA. After playing professional basketball in Europe, however, he did something more: he became a social worker in Seattle and founded “Off the Court,” a nonprofit that helps youth in underserved communities pursue academic, not just athletic, scholarships.Three essays in Seattle Sports address gender identity. Maureen Smith examines the life of Seattle swimmer Helene Madison, who won three gold medals at the Summer Olympic Games in 1932. Madison became one of the “sports heroes” of the 1920s and 1930s, but, like many other great female athletes, she had no opportunity to parlay her gift into a professional career. Rita Liberti examines the world of amateur gay softball teams in Seattle during the 1980s. Like her earlier work on Black women in college basketball, Liberti shows how sports complicate our notions of “masculinity” and “femininity.” Jamie Barnhorst rounds out the essays on gender with an engaging look at women's roller derby in Seattle. Barnhorst, who skated professionally, provides a history that is both personal and sociological. Women's roller derby, she concludes, “included female athletes of varying ages and body types, disrupting traditional notions of femininity” (155). Like the men in Liberti's gay softball league, the women of roller derby pushed the boundaries of gender identity.The remaining essays focus on the fate of conventional and unconventional sports in Seattle. Elliot Trotter places “Ultimate” (a form of frisbee football) within Seattle's unconventional urban culture. Chris Donnelly chronicles the Mariners’ success (or lack thereof) from the 1970s to the 1990s. While much of the essay narrates the ups and downs of each season, Donnelly also offers insights into the politics and economics of team relocation. Christine Maggio's essay on the fate of professional hockey in Seattle also speaks to the politics and economics of location and relocation, examining Seattle's quest for an NHL expansion team.A single review cannot do justice to the ten essays. Nonetheless, the book illustrates the potential of focusing on the development of sports within a single city. At times, the editor and the individual authors struggle too hard to make the case for using Seattle as a focal point. However, one does not need to show that Seattle is a world-class city deserving of the same attention as New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles; nor does one need to argue that there is something either “special” or “representative” about Seattle that makes it worthy of study. Focusing on a particular city—any city—allows a more in-depth examination of sport and its interactions with other urban institutions. The strength of this collection lies not in giving Seattle its due but in exploring the diverse ways that different groups experience sports.