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By Greg Bond, Sports Archivist and Curator, Joyce Sports Research Collection
'Welcome to Gay Sports. As we all know—sports are an essential component of the American milieu. This love of competition is as exhilarating to the Gay Community as it is to the Straight Community. In the months forthcoming, this periodical will furnish you with details regarding Gay men and women athletes participating in athletic contests locally and nationally. Gay Sports is your publication. Keep us apprised of what you are doing.'
—Gay Sports Nov. 1982 (vol. 1, no. 1), page 4.
Publisher Mark Brown's introductory commentary within the inaugural 1982 edition of the San Francisco-based Gay Sports elucidated the objective of the new periodical to its readership. This monthly publication—among the earliest periodicals committed to sports within the gay community—would present national sports updates, while the magazine's core focus was on publicizing and establishing a sense of community among gay and lesbian athletes and those supportive of them. In celebration of LGBTQ Pride Month, Rare Books & Special Collections (RBSC) showcases the recent acquisition of two editions (vol 1, no. 1 &8211; November 1982; and vol 2, no. 7 &8211; September 1983) of this rare publication.
The lead article in the inaugural issue of Gay Sports—then denominated Bay Area Gay Sports—was a feature authored by Duke Joyce (Nov. 1982, p. 5) concerning former major league baseball player Glenn Burke, who had just recently publicly acknowledged his homosexuality. Burke competed for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland A's between 1976 and 1979, but he had faced difficulties with his self-perception as a gay man while engaging in professional baseball. As the article elucidates, he 'endured subtle, yet cruel innuendos' and prejudice from management. Eventually, he wanted to be 'truthful to himself' and not live a 'double life,' so he withdrew from baseball.
Joyce composed that 'being a homosexual in any homophobic environment is agonizing enough, but in the esteemed Major League, it is damn near sacreligious,' and he observed that there would likely be no opportunity for 'Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Queers' in the near future. He commended Burke's bravery in coming forward publicly and hoped that he had 'managed to further erode the stereotypical image of gays.' In conclusion, Glenn Burke himself noted: 'It's your life, and nobody else is going to live it for you. You've got to have self respect.'
Glenn Burke's announcement of his homosexuality was a noteworthy national news item, yet a majority of the articles in Gay Sports concentrated on regional and community-oriented sports leagues or competitions for gay athletes. The annual Gay World Series softball tournament regularly received significant attention, just like the quadrennial Gay Games. (To delve further into the Gay Games, kindly consult the Gay Games Collection, MSSP 10070, in RBSC or the recent digital exhibition &8220;Papers Alight: Contextualizing Mike Curato's Flamer&8220;).
The bulk of the articles were centered around local leagues and organizations that facilitated the construction of communities and support networks for gay and lesbian athletes in the Bay Area, or in other metropolitan areas across the country. These two editions abound with articles concerning local softball leagues, tennis tournaments, swimming competitions, hiking excursions, bicycling groups, billiards leagues, bowling tournaments, flag football teams, and numerous other forms of sports and athletics.
These sporting activities served a diverse range of functions and played an integral role in the lives of many people. The organizer of an international bicycling journey described, for instance, 'the ease and comfort of traveling with an all gay group' (Sept. 1983, p. 8). The head of a San Francisco cycling club noted the benefit in 'informally representing a portion of the gay community to the bicycling world' (Sept. 1983, p. 10). However, for the most part, the various sports leagues provided safe spaces for fostering friendships and a sense of community. The author of an article about bowling leagues succinctly stated that competitors 'come together not only to enjoy the sport, but also more importantly, to enjoy each other . . . . for therein lies the magic!' (Sept. 1983, p. 18).
These editions of Gay Sports are available to researchers. RBSC appreciates new donations of the Gay Sports magazine to augment our holdings of this important title.
by Greg Bond, Sports Archivist and Curator, Joyce Sports Research Collection
Major League Baseball (MLB) recently unveiled that it had revised its official record book to encompass Negro Leagues statistics from the years 1920-1948. MLB has belatedly acknowledged that the highest caliber of African American baseball throughout the era of segregation represented "major league" competition.
The expanded inclusive record book now equally considers player statistics from the Negro Leagues alongside those from the National League and the American League. During these years, organized white baseball leagues notoriously excluded Black players from participating on the playing field, up until Jackie Robinson's inaugural appearance with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 (peruse a recent RBSC blog entry regarding Jackie Robinson).
MLB's rewritten record book now officially recognizes the statistical achievements of legendary African American baseball players like power-hitting catcher Josh Gibson, MLB's new all-time leader in batting average and slugging percentage, and pitcher Satchel Paige, who now boasts MLB's the third-lowest single-season earned run average.
In recognition of this announcement and in honor of the upcoming Juneteenth holiday, Rare Books & Special Collections spotlights material from its collections that document the history of African American baseball. These resources will enable researchers to better contextualize and grasp the statistics and history of the Negro Leagues.
The Birmingham Black Barons Records (MSSP 0001) is a singular and significant collection that chronicles the financial operations of the Black Barons, an influential Negro National League team. This collection encompasses a substantial financial ledger book that delineates the debits and credits—including salaries, fines, advances, expenses, etc.—for players from the 1926 through the 1930 seasons, a span that encompasses Leroy &8220;Satchel&8221; Paige's inaugural year. The Black Barons ledger book offers an uncommon opportunity for researchers to observe the day-to-day finances of a major Negro League team. The complete ledge book has been fully digitized and is accessible for perusal through Marble.
The Negro Leagues Pennant Collection (MSSP 10079) encompasses nine vintage (circa 1930s-1940s) felt pennants that advertise African American baseball teams. These rare original souvenirs document the fan experience and the iconography of the Negro Leagues.
RBSC possesses a rare original copy of Sol White's History of Colored Base Ball [Special Coll.Vault • GV 863 .A1 W45 1907], an exceedingly important 1908 book by manager and former player Sol White. One of the initial comprehensive histories of African Americans in baseball, White's research documented the earlier experiences of Black baseball players prior to the establishment of the official Negro Leagues. Since its initial publication, this book has proven an essential source for the historiography of African American baseball. This profusely illustrated 120-page volume has been digitized and is available for viewing via Marble.
A four-page 1926 advertising pamphlet for the Illinois Giants of Chicago [Rare Books Large • GV 875 .N35 I5 1926] chronicles the experiences of a lesser-known minor league African American baseball team.
The Negro Baseball Yearbook [Rare Books Large • GV 875 .N34 N46], published annually in the mid-1940s, celebrated and recorded the yearly accomplishments of African American baseball players.
These and other resources are accessible to the public and available to researchers who wish to learn more about, and to better comprehend, the Negro Leagues and the experiences of African American baseball players throughout the age of segregation.
by Rachel Bohlmann, American History Librarian and Curator
Rare Books and Special Collection recently obtained a Civil War broadside (also known as a poster) that was released very early in the conflict, likely in August or September of 1861. Created and printed in Boston, the map offered a Northern interpretation of the war as it had unfolded to that juncture, and provided reassurance regarding the conflict's eventual outcome. Primarily, the broadside's creators remind viewers that, notwithstanding the Confederacy's initial victories—at Fort Sumter in April and the Battle of Bull Run in July—the Union had triumphed in a battle for persistent control of Fort Monroe, proximate to Norfolk, Virginia, in May. The stronghold was strategically significant for Union plans pertaining to the Confederate's capital at Richmond. Secondly, the broadside's authors convey their certainty that the North's superior population and greater economy would ultimately prevail.
The broadside's most notable feature is its trio of distance maps. The largest is a railroad map of the United States, illustrating distances from Washington, D.C. One of two smaller maps indicates the distance from Washington to an unspecified battlefield, which individuals at the time would have understood to mean the Battle of Bull Run, merely 30 miles from the capital. The Confederates had recently routed Union forces there, a consequence that troubled many Northerners who, up to that point, had anticipated a swift and decisive end to the war.
The third distance map depicts a detail of Norfolk Harbor and Fort Monroe, the site of a recent Union victory. The fortress remained under Union control throughout the war.
Lastly, this broadside presents population figures for the nation's cities, towns, and states, in addition to the number of enslaved people in states and territories. This data fortified what even a cursory glance at the railroad map suggested: the North's more advanced industrial and economic infrastructure, coupled with its superior numbers, foreshadowed an eventual Union victory.
A happy Memorial Day to you and yours
from all of us in Notre Dame's Special Collections!
2023 post: A Woman's Reporting on the Bonus Army in Depression-Era Washington
2022 post: Representing Decoration Day in a 19th Century Political Magazine
2021 post: An Early Civil War Caricature of Jefferson Davis
2020 post: Narratives about the Corby Statues—at Gettysburg and on Campus
2019 post: Myths and Memorials
2018 post: 'Decoration Day' poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
2017 post: 'Memorial Day' poem by Joyce Kilmer
2016 post: Memorial Day: Stories of War by a Civil War Veteran
Rare Books and Special Collections is closed today (May 27th) for Memorial Day and will be closed on July 4th for Independence Day. Otherwise, RBSC will be open regular hours this summer — 9:30am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday.
Please note that the 14th floor of the Hesburgh Library is under renovation from May 20 to August 9. The Library Circle, East, and South Entrances will be blocked off intermittently during this time. See the logistics map for additional details.
by Greg Bond, Sports Archivist and Curator, Joyce Sports Research Collection
'Girls Really Play Baseball.' Thus announced the front page of the Official National Girls Baseball League Magazine in August 1950, beneath an image of power-hitting infielder Freda Savona. The National Girls Baseball League (NGBL), a Chicago-based adversary of the better-known All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), took the field from 1944 to 1954 and afforded high-level athletic opportunities for women. The Joyce Sports Collection recently acquired a compilation of printed material and ephemera documenting the NGBL. The commencement week of the Major League Baseball season seems an appropriate time to revisit the National Girls Baseball League Collection (MSSP 10071).
The National Girls Baseball League has been relegated to obscurity since its prime, whereas the AAGPBL has gained popularity via the movie and the Amazon streaming series, A League of Their Own. Nonetheless, during that time, the two women's leagues were relentless and, at times, acrimonious rivals, regularly contending for players and fans. Established by Charles Bidwell, proprietor of the National Football League's Chicago Cardinals, and Emery Parichy, a local entrepreneur, the NGBL dominated the lucrative Chicago market and drew some of the most exceptional female athletes in the country. The NGBL emphasized the athletic prowess of league players, and as the August 1950 official league magazine expounded:
When one thinks of girls baseball they also think of a 'powder puff' setup in which the feminine athletes do everything with a sort of 'weaker sex' idea—that the ladies wielding bats couldn't knock your hat off.
Nothing is farther from the truth, and, if you don't happen to be a regular patron of National Girls Baseball League games, a trip to one of the parks will convince you that the ladies swing a bat, throw, and field pretty much like your favorite major league baseball player.
The league enjoyed popularity in Chicago and frequently drew thousands of spectators to games in the late 1940s and early 1950s. These pages below from the July 1949 edition of the official league magazine showcase league founder Emery Parichy in the packed stands and also document a game visit by Chicago mayor Martin Kennelly. The magazine also presented a bold black-and-white advertisement for players, stating: 'Wanted Girls From Any Part of the Country to Play in the National Girls Baseball League.'
Parichy possessed the Bloomer Girls, the league champions in 1947 and 1948, and served as a pivotal force within the league. As the proprietor of a roofing and house remodeling enterprise, Parichy had initiated sponsoring women's baseball and softball teams in the 1930s, and he constructed Parichy Memorial Stadium in Forest Park, which would eventually become the home of his NGBL Bloomer Girls. As demonstrated in this advertisement from the outside back cover of the July 1953 official league magazine, Parichy utilized the Bloomer Girls to aid in the promotion of his roofing business.
While players often switched between the two leagues (as chronicled in this prior blog post concerning RBSC's AAGPBL collection), there were some critical distinctions between the two leagues. The National Girls Baseball League solely fielded teams in the Chicagoland vicinity, whereas the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League positioned teams in cities and towns across the midwest. The AAGPBL adopted overhand pitching in 1948, while the NGBL only sanctioned underhand pitching throughout its lifespan. The NGBL enabled players to wear shorts while on the diamond—as seen in this assortment of promotional glossy postcards sold by the league—while AAGPBL uniforms invariably included skirts.
The NGBL also sanctioned a marginally more varied assortment of players than its rival league. Although AAGPBL rosters featured several Latina players over the years, the rest of the players in the league were white. The ranks of the National Girls Baseball League also featured Latina players such as Helene Machado and Lillian Lopez. The AAGPBL famously never enlisted any African American players during its 12 years of operation, but in 1951 African American outfielder Betty Chapman competed with the Music Maids of the NGBL. Moreover, during the initial years of the National Girls Baseball League, one of the finest pitchers was Chinese American Gwen Wong. And, in 1953, Japanese American shortstop Nancy Ito starred for the Wilson-Jones Bloomer Girls and earned a spot on the NGBL all-star team.
The National Girls Baseball League Collection contains printed material—including a nearly complete run of the Official NGBL Magazine from June 1949 through September 1953—ephemera such as postcards and team newsletters, and realia, including a signed official NGBL baseball. The Joyce Sports Collection aspires to better document the history of the NGBL League and seeks donations of material related to the National Girls Baseball League and its players.
As the Major League Baseball season commences this year, let's pay tribute to the boys and the girls of summer!
We join the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history by celebrating Women's History Month.
Second-Wave Feminist Articles from an Underground Newspaper
by Rachel Bohlmann, American History Librarian and Curator
So What Are We Complaining About? is a 48-page booklet of feminist articles assembled and reprinted from the pages of an underground newspaper, the Old Mole, published in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The booklet&8217;s publication was a collaboration between the Old Mole and Bread and Roses, a socialist women&8217;s liberation collective, in 1970. The booklet was created by the women&8217;s caucus, a group within Bread and Roses. The Old Mole, which was published bi-weekly from 1968 to 1970, was the publication of the Harvard chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
It is not surprising that Bread and Roses women desired to compile and recirculate this content. Among the collective&8217;s founders were activists and historians Meredith Tax and Linda Gordon. Both women contributed significantly to the feminist movement in the United States from the 1970s and wrote much of its history. Reprinting was one of the best and only ways to publicize content that had already appeared in print, often in small, locally-circulated and ephemeral papers like the Old Mole.
Tax and Gordon founded Bread and Roses in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1969 as a women&8217;s liberation organization. They selected 'Bread and Roses' because it simultaneously references a historic labor strike by women (Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912) and it captures what the collective aimed to accomplish for women—economic opportunity ('bread') and quality of life ('roses'). Over the nearly two years the collective was active, it attracted hundreds of members, many of whom were clerical workers who faced substandard wages and working conditions. A number of reprinted articles address these problems. The collective took action by forming a union, 9to5, for local clerical workers. Another legacy project became the women&8217;s health resource, Our Bodies, Ourselves, which developed out of the collective&8217;s 1970 initiative, 'Women and Their Bodies: A Course.'
Other features comprised within this short volume are Bread and Roses' declaration of women's rights (March 1970); a satirical, 'liberated,' comic strip; and a concise history regarding the establishment of International Women's Day.
So What Are We Complaining About? constitutes a recent acquisition in Rare Books and Special Collections and is part of an expanding collection of second-wave feminist periodicals and newspapers.
Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:
Thursday, February 1 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: 'Leonardo da Vinci's Way of Seeing Water. Wetlands, Mapping, and the Art of Painting' by Francesca Fiorani (University of Virginia).
Thursday, February 29 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: M.A. Students Presentations (University of Notre Dame) — This semester's speakers are: Fabiola D'Angelo and Peter Scharer.
In the spring exhibition, Mapping the Middle Ages: Marking Time, Space, and Knowledge, primary objects foreground the tension between literal and figurative arrangements of space, time, and knowledge during the Middle Ages. Geography, be it real or imagined, manifests on the page to convey a variety of spatial arrangements: topography, pilgrimage, peripatetic liturgical procession, and boundary marking. The materiality of medieval manuscript books expresses a similar reality through geographic colophons, regional markings of book production, devotional locals, and even the dispersing of manuscripts through modern-day biblioclasty.
To map the Middle Ages is to journey through the space created by the objects and the individuals who used them. The manuscripts in this installation are drawn from the collection of the University of Notre Dame's Hesburgh Library.
This exhibition is curated by David T. Gura, PhD, Curator of Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts.
The current spotlight exhibits are Football and Community at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and A Warning Against Rum in Early America. Both spotlights will change out in February, check our website for more details in the near future.
Rare Books and Special Collections welcomes students, faculty, staff, researchers, and visitors back to campus for Spring &8217;24! Here are a variety of things to watch for in Special Collections during the coming semester.
Spring 2024 Exhibition: Mapping the Middle Ages: Marking Time, Space, and Knowledge
The tension between literal and figurative arrangements of space, time, and knowledge during the Middle Ages is brought to the fore through the primary objects that remain. Geography, whether real or imagined, manifests on the page to convey a variety of spatial arrangements: topography, pilgrimage, peripatetic liturgical procession, and boundary marking. The materiality of medieval manuscript books expresses a similar reality: geographic colophons, the regional markings of book production, devotional locals, and even the dispersing of manuscripts through modern-day biblioclasty.
To map the Middle Ages is to journey through the space created by the objects and the individuals who used them. The manuscripts in this installation are drawn from the collection of the University of Notre Dame's Hesburgh Library.
Curated by David T. Gura, PhD, Curator of Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts.
This exhibition is being held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, which will be hosted March 14-16, 2024, at the University of Notre Dame.
Stop in regularly to see our Collections Spotlights
Fall Spotlight, continued through the end of January: Football and Community at Historically Black Colleges and Universities
This exhibit features a selection of sources from the Joyce Sports Research Collection that document and preserve the history of football at Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs). During the era of Jim Crow segregation, the vast majority of African American college students and student athletes attended HBCUs.
Many of the yearly gridiron contests between rival institutions developed into highly anticipated annual events that combined football with larger celebrations of African American achievement and excellence. The programs, media guides, ephemera, guidebooks, and other printed material on display document the athletic accomplishments, the celebrations, the spectacle, and the community-building that accompany football at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Curated by Greg Bond, Curator of the Joyce Sports Research Collection and the Sports Subject Specialist for Hesburgh Libraries.
December-January Spotlight: A Warning Against Rum in Early America
Displayed in the spotlight is a 1835 poster commemorating a Salem, Massachusetts minister's attack on a neighbor for distilling and selling rum. This particular copy was partially hand-colored in watercolor, preserved with a cloth backing, folded, and bound into a pocket-sized leather cover. The broadside is part of Hesburgh Library's Rare Books and Special Collections' collection of prints, posters, and broadsides.
Curated by Rachel Bohlmann, Curator of North Americana at Hesburgh Libraries.
These and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.
All exhibits are free and open to the public during regular hours.
Special Collections&8217; Classes & Workshops
Throughout the semester, curators will teach sessions related to our holdings to undergraduate and graduate students from Notre Dame, Saint Mary&8217;s College, and Holy Cross College. Curators may also be available to show special collections to visiting classes, from preschool through adults. If you would like to arrange a group visit and class with a curator, please contact Special Collections.
Upcoming Events
Thursday, February 1st at 5:00pm | The Spring 2024 Italian Research Seminar and Lectures will begin with a lecture by Francesca Fiorani (University of Virginia), 'Leonardo da Vinci's Way of Seeing Water. Wetlands, Mapping, and the Art of Painting.'
Learn more about this and other Events in Italian Studies.
Recent Acquisitions
Special Collections acquires new material throughout the year. Watch this blog for information about recent acquisitions.
Rare Books and Special Collections is open Monday through Thursday this week (December 18-21, 2023) — appointments are recommended. After that, we will be closed from Friday, December 22, 2023, through Monday, January 1, 2024, in participation with the campus-wide holiday break for all faculty, staff, and students.
Special Collections will reopen on Tuesday, January 2, 2024.
This is the last blog post for 2023.
Happy Holidays to you and yours from
Notre Dame's Rare Books and Special Collections!
by Greg Bond, Sports Archivist and Curator, Joyce Sports Research Collection
This post features images—including this colorful jack-in-the-box Christmas cover—from the Lake Michigan Yachting News, the official publication of the Chicago Yacht Club. The Yachting News covered all aspects of yachting and boating on Lake Michigan, reporting about sailing races, popular excursion routes, environmental conditions, sailing technology and equipment, and the social activities of the Midwestern yachting set.
The Yachting News also frequently relied on humor and satire in its columns as shown by the 'Just a Few Merry Christmas Hints' column below. The journal&8217;s tongue-in-cheek holiday gift suggestions included this advice:
If you have a friend who is a racing skipper you may give him a bunch of your old safety razor blades for splitting hairs on questions of rules. If you have a friend on the Race Committee, give him a drink—he will need it.
Hesburgh Libraries recently acquired a bound volume with 18 issues of the Lake Michigan Yachting News for the years 1925 and 1926. Worldcat lists only three other libraries with scattered holdings of this scarce publication.
Fritz von Erich, The Iron Claw, and the Jack Pfefer Wrestling Collection
by Greg Bond, Sports Archivist and Curator, Joyce Sports Research Collection
'I make a much better heel than babyface.'
Thus wrote former Southern Methodist University football player turned professional wrestler Jack Adkisson to Dallas-area wrestling promoter Ed McLemore in a September 1953 letter. Utilizing the insider argot of professional wrestling, Adkisson was elucidating that he had found triumph competing as a villain—or 'heel'—as opposed to a fan favorite—or 'babyface.'
Adkisson, a Texas native, commenced his professional wrestling career under McLemore's tutelage and subsequently traveled to New England to obtain more expertise under the mentorship of promoter Tony Santos, Sr. Adkisson expanded on his new 'heel' persona to McLemore, stating: 'I have been working as Fritz Von Eric, the German Giant from Munich, Germany.'
In less than a decade following the conclusion of World War II, Adkisson gained prominence in the ring by agitating and provoking wrestling crowds with his Nazi-inspired German villain. He explained to McLemore:
'I have gone over exceptionally well with the crowds as a heel, and once or twice I have had to literally fight my way to the dressing room. In Revere [Massachusetts], Santos was trying to hold the crowd back from me, and he was practically trampled. That was one night that my heart was in my throat. I couldn't have felt more helpless in a cage of wildcats.'
The star-crossed von Erich family, a fixture of professional wrestling in the latter half of the twentieth century, is the subject of an upcoming motion picture, The Iron Claw, starring Zac Efron. The origin story of Fritz von Erich, the family's patriarch, is partially documented in the Jack Pfefer Wrestling Collection—one of the most popular and extensively utilized manuscript collections within the Joyce Sports Research Collection.
Jack Pfefer was a wrestling manager and promoter whose influential career spanned from the 1920s through the 1960s. Pfefer unapologetically embraced the showmanship and theatrical spectacle of professional wrestling, and he consistently publicized and underscored the entertainment elements of his matches.
Pfefer also meticulously preserved his records. His papers, which Hesburgh Library acquired in the 1970s, occupy more than 200 boxes and incorporate extensive correspondence, financial records, thousands of programs, and tens of thousands of photographs. The Pfefer Collection constitutes one of the largest publicly accessible wrestling archival or manuscript collections within the country, and it thoroughly chronicles practically all facets of professional wrestling during the mid-twentieth century.
The 1953 letter from Adkisson to McLemore eventually ended up in Pfefer's possession, and, along with other material within the Pfefer collection, aids in tracing the rise of Fritz von Erich to legendary wrestling status.
Nonetheless, in 1953, Addkisson was still laboring near the bottom of the industry, and he lamented to McLemore:
'I am making a living from this, but that is all. I am not saving anything to speak of. And if a guy can't save some money in this business, what's the use in staying? I have got to put away some money…'
Nevertheless, Adkisson remained optimistic: 'I am more optimistic about my potential as a bad boy,'
Adkisson was correct in his assessment of his potential. Employing his signature maneuver, the 'Iron Claw,' von Erich, along with his German 'bad boy' routine, ascended the ranks of the sport, solidifying his position as one of professional wrestling's more renowned and profitable figures in the 1960s.
Von Erich eventually succeeded in accumulating savings, and he became a wrestling promoter in his own right, particularly within his home state of Texas. Fritz von Erich also had six sons, five of whom followed him into the ring. Tragically, five of the von Erich sons died at a young age, precipitating discussions of a family curse. Fritz von Erich passed away at the age of 68 in 1997.
The film Iron Claw, which recounts the narrative of the ill-fated von Erich family, is widely available in theaters commencing December 22, 2023. The Jack Pfefer Wrestling Collection is accessible and open to the public for research.
Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:
Thursday, December 7 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: 'Desire, Anxiety, Shame: Transatlantic (Re)Mediations and ‘Italian Culture'' by Loredana Polezzi (Stony Brook University).
The exhibition Making and Unmaking Emancipation in Cuba and the United States is now open and will run through the fall semester.
Tours of the exhibit may also be arranged for classes and other groups by contacting Rachel Bohlmann at (574) 631-1575 or Rachel.Bohlmann.2@nd.edu.
The December spotlight exhibits are Football and Community at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (August - December 2023) and TBD (December 2023 - November 2024).