America's Sport Statues: Myths, Memories, and Meanings
by Maureen Smith,
California State University-Sacramento
This presentation examines sport statues across the American landscape. Building on previous works that have looked at baseball statues, as well as statues of athletes in the Civil Rights Movement, this paper focuses on broader trends reflected in the variety of sport statues in American cities. Such trends include the role of sport icons in telling stories about American values, sport as a space of inclusion and exclusion, and more broadly, the significance of permanent structures as a means to indicate importance and meaning. Sport statues elicit multiple meanings for fans - tapping into nostalgia, myth making, and reparations. This presentation seeks to consider the recent trend of sport statue construction as a means of tourism for professional sports, while also working to connect younger fans to the history of sport.
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