Against All Odds: Black Athletes in the 1970s: Hank Aaron and the Morgan State Bears

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8 word format

document in English

sports

school essay

published 04/10/2007

review : Completed

level : General public

requested 1 times

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Summary

America has always fallen in love with their athletes. Little kids look up to them as heroes, trying to emulate them in every way they can. Athletes provide people, especially those with little or no material means, with the hope that they can one day become great. During the racially charged 1970s, one prominent black athlete stood far above the rest, Hank Aaron. Aaron captivated America with his chase for the storied home run record held by Babe Ruth. During his quest for home run 715, Aaron was bombarded with death threats and faced racist remarks everywhere he went, even in his home city of Atlanta.

America has always fallen in love with their athletes. Little kids look up to them as heroes, trying to emulate them in every way they can.
Hank Aaron, born Henry Louis Aaron in 1934, grew up in the poverty-stricken south during the Great Depression.
During the late 1960's and into the 1970's the city of Baltimore was a melting pot of races and cultures.
In the fall of 1969, a few students who had played in high school asked the Athletic Department if they could form a lacrosse team.
The team held their first practices in the spring of 1970.
Babe Ruth is a mythical figure in American history.
After the spring of 1970, the Morgan State Bears gained Division II status, for the following season.
Over the course of the next few seasons the Bears got better and better, winning more than they lost and beating some good teams.
Aaron did not tell anyone about the threats, not even his closest teammates until he broke his silence to Paul Casanova.
Morgan State only kept the team funded for five more years until it folded.