Dyed in Crimson: Football, Faith, and Remaking Harvard's America
In 1926, Harvard athletic director Bill Bingham chose former Crimson All-American Arnold Horween as coach of the university’s moribund football team. The pair instilled a fresh culture, one based on merit rather than social status, and in the virtues of honor and courage over mere winning. Yet their success challenged entrenched ideas about who belonged at Harvard and, by extension, who deserved to lay claim to the American dream.

Zev Eleff tells the story of two immigrants’ sons shaped by a vision of an America that rewarded any person of virtue. As a player, the Chicago-born Horween had led Harvard to its 1920 Rose Bowl victory. As a coach, he faced intractable opposition from powerful East Coast alumni because of his values and Midwestern, Jewish background. Eleff traces Bingham and Horween’s careers as student-athletes and their campaign to wrest control of the football program from alumni. He also looks at how Horween undermined stereotypes of Jewish masculinity and dealt with the resurgent antisemitism of the 1920s.

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Dyed in Crimson: Football, Faith, and Remaking Harvard's America
In 1926, Harvard athletic director Bill Bingham chose former Crimson All-American Arnold Horween as coach of the university’s moribund football team. The pair instilled a fresh culture, one based on merit rather than social status, and in the virtues of honor and courage over mere winning. Yet their success challenged entrenched ideas about who belonged at Harvard and, by extension, who deserved to lay claim to the American dream.

Zev Eleff tells the story of two immigrants’ sons shaped by a vision of an America that rewarded any person of virtue. As a player, the Chicago-born Horween had led Harvard to its 1920 Rose Bowl victory. As a coach, he faced intractable opposition from powerful East Coast alumni because of his values and Midwestern, Jewish background. Eleff traces Bingham and Horween’s careers as student-athletes and their campaign to wrest control of the football program from alumni. He also looks at how Horween undermined stereotypes of Jewish masculinity and dealt with the resurgent antisemitism of the 1920s.

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Dyed in Crimson: Football, Faith, and Remaking Harvard's America

Dyed in Crimson: Football, Faith, and Remaking Harvard's America

by Zev Eleff
Dyed in Crimson: Football, Faith, and Remaking Harvard's America
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Dyed in Crimson: Football, Faith, and Remaking Harvard's America

Dyed in Crimson: Football, Faith, and Remaking Harvard's America

by Zev Eleff

Overview

In 1926, Harvard athletic director Bill Bingham chose former Crimson All-American Arnold Horween as coach of the university’s moribund football team. The pair instilled a fresh culture, one based on merit rather than social status, and in the virtues of honor and courage over mere winning. Yet their success challenged entrenched ideas about who belonged at Harvard and, by extension, who deserved to lay claim to the American dream.

Zev Eleff tells the story of two immigrants’ sons shaped by a vision of an America that rewarded any person of virtue. As a player, the Chicago-born Horween had led Harvard to its 1920 Rose Bowl victory. As a coach, he faced intractable opposition from powerful East Coast alumni because of his values and Midwestern, Jewish background. Eleff traces Bingham and Horween’s careers as student-athletes and their campaign to wrest control of the football program from alumni. He also looks at how Horween undermined stereotypes of Jewish masculinity and dealt with the resurgent antisemitism of the 1920s.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780252087097
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Publication date: 02/28/2023
Series: Sport and Society
Edition description: 1st Edition
Pages: 304
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Zev Eleff is president of Gratz College and a professor of American Jewish history. His books include Authentically Orthodox: A Tradition-Bound Faith in American Life.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter I: The (Cinder) Path to a Better Life

Chapter II: Winning isn’t Everything, but it is Something

Chapter III: Americanization, the Jewish Take on Success

Chapter IV: Winning for Winning’s Sake

Chapter V: Football, the Ultimate Wargame of Life

Chapter VI: Horween versus McMahon and Rise of the National Football League

Chapter VII: A Member of the Hebrew Race to Become Head Coach of Harvard?

Chapter VIII: An Honorable Failure and Satisfactory Game in Every Way

Chapter IX: The Crusade to Keep Football a Game

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

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