FSD History Flashback: October 29, 1929

On October 29, 1929, the infamous "Black Tuesday" was the third day phase in the Wall Street Crash. It's one of the most notable days in history, and the collapse lasted for over a month. Widespread panic was more evident on "Black Tuesday" which began a string of long-lasting effects on industrialized economies around the world. The Great Depression had then put nations into further economic decline as well as instability into job markets and financial institutions. The "Roaring 20s" were seen as a time of rise in the U.S. economy in particular as well as prosperity, too. Warning signs of the Wall Street Crash as well as the Great Depression were evident when an increased amount of selling and high volume trading had taken place to offset rising prices from the period of economic boom in the 1920s. Those two events will always be synonymous with one another. And the effects of the Wall Street Crash as well as the Great Depression had a very serious impact in the sporting world, too.

After the Wall Street Crash, Babe Ruth had negotiated his own deal which was for $80,000. When asked how he was making about $5,000 more than then-U.S. President Herbert Hoover, Rush famously said, "Why not? I had a better year than he did." However, his salary was cut by more than half in 1932. It is true that he was declining with his on-field performance at the time, but he was still a productive player that helped the Yankees win the 1932 World Series over the Chicago Cubs. The Yankees were able to bring in manager Joe McCarthy to help them back to a World Series. Lou Gehrig was still with the team until 1939, and it was a young Joe DiMaggio that came aboard to power the Yankees to four consecutive World Series by the end of the decade. DiMaggio signed a contract worth $100,000 in 1949 - a full decade after the Great Depression had ended. Some other successful clubs weren't so fortunate.

Despite the fact that the Philadelphia Athletics won back-to-back World Series in 1929-30, legendary manager Connie Mack was forced to sell off his best players because of the larger salaries to pay as well as a dramatic drop in attendance at the gates. The Athletics fell off because Mack didn't have other income outside the organization to use in order to sign star players. Furthermore, the Athletics didn't have enough money to invest in a minor league farm system either. The team finished last or next to last in every season from 1935-46 after the Great Depression had financially hurt the franchise.

In 1927, the famous heavyweight title match in boxing took place between champion Gene Tunney and challenger Jack Dempsey. Tunney retained the title, and both pocketed an unprecedented million dollars for this fight which was unheard of at the time. But by the time the 1930s came around, boxing had plummeted along with the struggling economy. Boxers were offered far less money for fights, and this caused many to decline matches as a result. To complicate things even more, Tunney retired as champion in 1928, and the title would be vacated for nearly three years.

Fortunately, one such man came along in the late 1930s that gave boxing a star: Joe Louis. His rivalry with German fighter Max Schmeling helped to reignite the sport with attendance because of Schmeling's association with Nazism. Louis became a hero after beating Schmeling in a rematch in 1938, and had rebuffed any claims of Nazi superiority. Because of the world-wide press this rivalry between the two received(despite Schmeling not actually backing the Nazi regime), boxing began a steady climb back financially.

The Olympic Games were seriously effected by the economy as well. In the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, only 1,332 athletes competed in those games compared to over 2,800 in the 1928 Games in Amsterdam. This was after no other city put in a bid to host the Olympics. Brazil, in particular, had traveled to Los Angeles by cargo ship while also selling coffee on board along the way. A total of 69 athletes from the country left on the ship, but they only off-loaded enough coffee to fund 24 of them for the Summer Games.

One such Olympian by the name of Jesse Owens captured the attention of everyone when he won gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany. Even though it was on German grounds and they believed in superiority over his African-American race, Owens proved them to be wrong on all accounts. Because of his achievements, Owens had helped bring back much needed notoriety to the Olympic Games. Over 3,900 athletes made the trip to Berlin, Germany for the 1936 Games.

The National Football League had gained much needed notoriety in 1925 when Harold "Red" Grange was signed in which he was part of the Chicago Bears barn-storming tour. By the time the Wall Street Crash happened followed by the Great Depression, the NFL was still losing franchises for financial reasons.

One such case was the Portsmouth Spartans. The Spartans came into the league in 1929, and immediately made an impact. They played in the unscheduled 1932 NFL Title Game in a loss to the Bears in Chicago which was a huge financial success. The following season, two divisions were established to have the first NFL Title game for the winners of each division. But as good as the Spartans were on the field, they drew very poor crowds and the Great Depression nearly shut the franchise down. Finally in 1934, a Detroit radio executive by the name of George Richards bought the franchise and immediately relocated them to his city. It was then that they became the Detroit Lions as a team that exists today.

The NFL had ten teams in the league in 1933, and eight of them are still around today. The NFL Title Game was a big success, and it continued to help build the league. But another move, which wasn't as significant at the time, helped to elevate the league, too: The NFL Draft. The first one took place in 1936, and has become the biggest off-season spectacular in sports today.

College football was more popular than the NFL at that time, but they were far from exempt in feeling the effects of the Great Depression. Harvard University's athletic program lost over half it's revenue from 1929 when they brought in over $700,000 to 1934 when they didn't even make $300,000. Ohio State also went from about $430,000 in 1929 to $130,000 in 1932. Many other schools had also dropped other sports because of not being able to afford the costs of them.

One blessing is that many of the major stadiums in college football were built in the Roaring 20s. Memorial Stadium in Minnesota was built in 1924, and had a capacity at the time of 52,000. By the 1930s, the Golden Gophers, led by coach Bernie Bierman, had a dynasty run which resulted in five national titles in 8 seasons between 1934-1941. Eventually, the school played their home games at the Metrodome, and will play their last game there this year before moving into a brand new facility.

Arch-rivals Michigan and Ohio State both opened up new facilities in the 1920s as well. Ohio State had struggled as a program with financing as a result of the state being crippled by the Great Depression in the early 1930s, and Michigan helped revolutionize sports as we know it. Michigan Stadium was the first to use electronic scoreboards, and this concept was duplicated at other venues.

Notre Dame Stadium opened in 1930 which was also helped by their success on the football field in the 1920s when drawing big crowds. One such game in 1935 involving Notre Dame and Ohio State turned the fortunes around that also helped college football.

In 1935, both Notre Dame and Ohio State faced off for the first time ever in Columbus, OH. Ohio State drew a record 81,000 fans to see this contest as Notre Dame eventually prevailed 18-13. This game was called the Game of the Century, and helped one financially struggling program to get back on track. Notre Dame's popularity and dislike by Ohio State fans had also been huge for college football in general.

One of the most notable and influential stadiums built in the 1920s took place in Southern California with the new Los Angeles Coliseum that opened in 1923. Many professional teams shared that stadium with the USC Trojans football team, and UCLA did as well until the early 1980s. It was also the site of the aforementioned 1932 Summer Olympics even though the number of participating nations and athletes had dwindled from the 1928 Games with no other cities willing to host the event. The venue would become the first in the world to host two Olympic events having done so again in 1984. But without the Los Angeles Coliseum, many historians have said that the Olympics may not be what it is today if Los Angeles hadn't hosted the event. No other industrialized nations or cities could fund an event, and Los Angeles had served as a bridge to keep the tradition alive as it would eventually rebound.

In Oklahoma, over a million residents left the state as a result of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl era. Many farmers had their properties foreclosed on, and some did relocate to cities within the state. The Oklahoma Sooners football team was hurt with recruiting and morale as that state was effected from the Great Depression as much as anyone. Many of those young men later emerged on the Sooners teams after being part of the economic collapse as children. After World War II, one man was looked upon for the Sooners to help bring much needed morale to the program as well as the state: Bud Wilkinson. Wilkinson built one of the most powerful dynasties in sports history in the 1950s that included three national titles and a record 47-game win streak. Wilkinson's success along with the Sooners determination and sheer will had helped a state in need of something positive.

College football was a big deal with the new stadiums being built as well as coaches making considerably more money than teachers. Many teachers at universities didn't earn $5,000 a year at the time with some coaches earning at least four times that. History has repeated itself in today's programs, too.

In the 1920s, sports icons like Babe Ruth, Red Grange, the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame, Jack Dempsey, and Bobby Jones captured the hearts of Americans everywhere. The Great Depression brought an end to one era of sports, and spawned another. New heroes like Joe DiMaggio, Joe Louis, and Jesse Owens emerged during the Great Depression as they became recognizable names that will forever be remembered by the impact they left in their professions. Important locations like Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago emerged as cities that held sporting events that forever saved their sports or bridged a gap to the next generation. Expansion of new facilities in the Roaring 20s had become vital to many college universities, and some even used those same places as a drawing bin to help with trying times.

The Wall Street Crash and Great Depression forever changed the world's way of thinking. From over a quarter of the American population(about 13 million) that lost their jobs as a result of economic collapse, it showed that a decade of prosperity can soon change and bring a world to it's knees. Through it all, sports have played a big role in helping to cope with trying times in our nation and all of the world. Larger than life sports icons in the 1920s eventually gave way to a new breed that was so important to the growth in those sports. Industrialized cities as well as successful universities played a vital role, too.

So while we're in difficult times with the current state of our economy, let us not forget those before us who survived our most difficult period in history. It is this time we can look upon, and learn that history has a way of repeating itself. And it will again and again.

So thank you to all those athletes, universities, and cities as well as those not mentioned because of the unimaginable sacrifices that you made. Thank you to everyone else as well as those that are still around that survived the most difficult time in our nation's history. Life and sports will go on, but never forget anyone that came before us. Thank you.

For anyone that wants to add a story about your team, school, or athlete not mentioned here in relation to the Wall Street Crash or Great Depression, you're strongly encouraged to do so by replying with a comment. Or if you have something else related to those trying times, you can talk about that as well.

Sources: Reuters, USAToday, Wikipedia

Photo courtesy of Black Tuesday Info.

Thanks for viewing, and I hope you enjoyed this special FSD History Flashback!

Posted in: 1929, Black Tuesday, boxing, Great Depression, MLB, NCAA football, NFL, Wall Street Crash

Reactions: