![](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/b\/be\/1961_Kahn%27s_Wieners_Jim_Brown-crop.jpg\")
<\/a>Jim Brown, an African American, all-American fullback at Syracuse University. Joined Cleveland Browns in 1957.<\/p><\/div>During this time African Americans began playing a more dominant role in sports than they had in the past. Players such as Jackie Robinson<\/a> and Larry Doby were African American baseball players that were able to escape the race barrier previously in the way of showing their full potential. Although discrimination still occurred making it harder for an African American to become part of the team than it would have been for a white man, \u201cAfrican American athletes began to transform the game of baseball in the fifties,\u201d (Dunar 242). . African American players played important roles in the professional basketball and football teams along with the baseball teams unlike ever before. The Boston Celtics Red Auerbach and Bill Russell were basketball athletes that excelled in the sport transforming their team in a positive way. As for football, Jim Brown had a very successful athletic career despite his race which would have been an issue a decade earlier. <\/p>\n Baseball, basketball, and football were all popular sports and are usually still considered some of the top sports but back in the 1950s bowling was remarkably popular. \u201cBowling alleys sprouted up across the nation and Americans by the thousands entered local leagues,\u201d (encyclopedia.com) making bowling the United State\u2019s most popular participation sport. College football became more popular than pro football with teams like Ohio State as top competition. Boxing was another sport that was prominent in the \u201850s. This website<\/a> goes more into depth on various sports and highlights and top players in these sports throughout the 1950s.<\/p>\n If it weren\u2019t for the major increase in interest and accessibility of sports games in the 1950s, what we know and love of sports today may not have existed or existed to the extent it does. Sports generate a large amount of revenue for places like colleges and professional teams. They provide a way to connect people of a city or people from all over that support the same team as others. Sports are a major source of entertainment whether they are being watched on the television or in real life it is something many people not only in the U.S. but all over the world enjoy. Sports also provide a means of staying in shape and providing physical activity for athletes while doing something they are able to enjoy doing. The 1950s were an import time for the sports we know and love today. <\/p>\n Works Cited<\/strong>
\n“1950s Sports: History, Facts, MVPs & Champions.” RetroWaste. N.p., n.d. Web.<\/p>\n