The Statues and Legacies of Combat Athletes in the Americas

The violence of combat sports left a mark on how fans and communities remembered athletes. As individual endeavors, combat sports have often produced more detailed, emotionally poignant, and deeply personal stories of triumph than those associated with team sports. Commemorative statues to combat athletes are therefore unique as historical markers and sites of memory. These statues tell remarkable stories of the athletes themselves, but also the people and communities that planned and built them, the cities and towns that memorialized them, the fans who followed them, and the evolution of memory and place in the decades that followed their inauguration. Edited by C. Nathan Hatton and David M. K. Sheinin, The Statues and Legacies of Combat Athletes in the Americas brings together an interdisciplinary team of scholars from across North America to interrogate the intimate and layered meanings attached to these monuments to the lives and legacies of combat athletes.

C. Nathan Hatton is assistant professor of history at Cape Breton University.
David M. K. Sheinin is professor of history at Trent University and a member of the National Academy of History in Argentina.

Introduction: Fighting Memories by C. Nathan Hatton and David M.K. Sheinin
Chapter One: Nearly Beatified: A Tribute to Frank Gotch's Unbreakable Toehold on Iowa's Sporting Memory by C. Nathan Hatton
Chapter Two: Remembering a Boxer, Interpreting a Revolution: The Narratives of the Monument to Alexis Argüello in Managua by Stephen D. Allen
Chapter Three: The Crusher: Honoring South Milwaukee's Working-Class Icon by Aaron D. Horton
Chapter Four: Galveston's Hometown Antihero: The Construction of Jack Johnson Park by Carrie Teresa
Chapter Five: The Biggest Small-Town Monument: Wrestling Greatness in Perry, Oklahoma-An Interview with Mark Kirk and Roger Tetik by C. Nathan Hatton and David M.K. Sheinin
Chapter Six: Vacant Fist: The Monument to Joe Louis in Detroit by David M. K. Sheinin
Chapter Seven: Legacies of the Dragon: Bruce Lee between Memory and Mythology by Kyle Barrowman
Chapter Eight: Tiger Warrington, the Humble Heavyweight: Standing Tall on the Liverpool Waterfront by Paul MacDougall
Chapter Nine: George Dixon and the Fight for Africville-An Interview with Craig M. Smith by C. Nathan Hatton and David M.K. Sheinin
Chapter Ten: The Last Great White Hope: The Rocky Statue, Samuel L. Evans, and Competing Visions of Philadelphia by David M. K. Sheinin
About the Editors and Contributors