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The YMCA Founded
The YMCA was founded to help the social need of people and give them a place to talk about religion that wasn’t at church. It also gave people a safe place to stay. Their open mindedness ultimately led them to accepting all people despite social class, gender, or race. This is important because it brought different people in a community together. -
The Cincinnati Reds
This was the first team to be a fully professional team with ten members on salary. They are also the only pro team in history to have a perfect season. This team was a mix of local and imported players. This is important because it set the foundations for how we pick players for our sports teams today. -
First National Park Established
Yellowstone was established as the first National Park by President Ulysses S. Grant after it had been closed to settlement in 1864. -
James Naismith invented Basketball
He taught at the YMCA International Training College in Massachusetts. There he was assigned the task of creating a game that could be played inside during cold winters, thus he created basketball. -
The Sierra Club was Founded
This was one of the first conservation clubs dedicated to helping preserve national parks. They started out only on the west coast but then eventually they got an office in Washington. They were able to help stop bills from being passed that would take resources or land away from parks. -
The First Modern Olympics
April 6,1896, only males competed in it, America’s James Connolly became the first modern Olympic champion winning the triple jump, America placed first. This gives people more of a drive to join recreational organizations so they can hope to be in the Olympics one day. -
The 1900 Olympic Games
Known as the games of the II Olympiad, it was a multi-sport event that took place in Paris, women participated for the first time. This gives more sporting events for more people to decide on what they like to do so they have a sport to play. -
Foundation of The Playground and Recreation Association of America
This association was formed to combat the negative effects of urbanization on social life of individuals. They believed that supervised play could increase the health and wellness of children, especially those who were from immigrant or homeless families. -
Foundation of The New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University
This is the first school of forestry ever created and it is dedicated to help forest conservation. This is important because it is the first place of education to really promote and teach conservation as a degree. -
The National Park Service
This is an official federal bureau that protects all 35 national parks in our nation. This gives those parks a voice in government policies and regulation that a club may not have been able to provide. -
The War Camp Community Service
This group came from the playground association and their focus was on giving recreational and entertainment options to soldiers. This is important because this allowed soldiers to do normal things people do and socialize themselves with everyday citizens. This helps protect the mental strength of the soldiers. -
The Invention of the Automobile
This was seen as one of the most important inventions of the 1920’s and brought great advantages. It opened the possibility of leisure travel and faster transportation. -
Walt Disney
Walt Disney created imagination from his stories and kids would play with toys from the movies and they could go to Disney world and live in the Disney universe. This is a good effect on recreation and leisure because it give people something to actively do that they'll like. -
The Invention of the Television
TV allowed parks and recreational activities to promote themselves, thereby attracting more visitors and informing recreational users about different sports and other leisure activities -
The Civilian Conservation Corps
This program helped give jobs to unemployed and unmarried young men during the great depression. They were sent to work in conservation efforts for natural resources which raised awareness to more people about the conservation needs. -
Little League Baseball
A non-profit organization the organizes baseball and softball for youth across America, founded by Carl Stotz in 1939, it encourages local volunteers to operate and organize little leagues. This gives kids a reason to go outside and play so recreation still is relevant. -
Jackie Robinson Breaks the Color Barrier in Major League Baseball
Was the first black man to play major league baseball. He started first base with the Dodgers on April 15, 1947. This opened up professional rec opportunities to people of color. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
This determined that separate but equal was in fact unconstitutional. This desegregated public schools which in turn also started the process into desegregation of sports teams -
The Land and Water Conservation Fund
A commitment to safeguard natural areas and water resources, provides recreational opportunities for people in America. It is giving people places to enjoy whether its recreation things or just something leisure. -
The Astrodome
The world's first multipurpose dome stadium, officially opened in 1965 in Texas. This let people play their sports inside so no matter what there can always be games played. -
The National Recreation and Park Service
The NRPA works with local park and rec agencies to give people the tools and assistance to eat healthy and be more physically active in their community. This has a good affect on recreation and leisure because it helps people help with eating right and being more active -
The First Super Bowl
January 15, 1967, Packers vs Chiefs, 60 million people watched. More people are aware of football and it will create recreational football leagues for kids to play in -
Establishment of Special Olympics
This group was the first to really work to include people with disabilities in recreation with able bodied people. This helped open peoples eyes to the things people with handicaps could still do and allowed more opportunities for recreation to become disability friendly. -
The Trust For Public Land
They create parks and protected land for people to enjoy, it ensures healthy, livable communities for generations. This provides parks and land for people to use to be active, it is good for recreation and leisure -
American's with Disabilities Act
This act helped those with disabilities gain the recognition and support they needed. This allowed disabled persons to begin being included in both the work place and recreational activities.
