Kinesiology in Historical Perspective

This lecture along with the "Modern Marvels; The Quest for Health" Video we watched in lab on Sept. 29, were one of my favorite days so far! Dr. Dio Lewis was one of the first men we talked about. Basically, he can be considered as creating one of the earliest forms of our Kinesiology programs today. He started the first school for the training of physical education instructors in 1861. Dr. Dio Lewis swore by the method of exercising because when his wife got tuberculosis, instead of laying around in bed, he had her exercising and doing work around the house and yard. She was cured of her tuberculosis. Although Dio's intentions were good and he really did have some intelligent ideas; such as pointing out that exercise truly did make you healthier, his title of Dr. Dio Lewis, was actually a fraudulent one. He never actually received his M.D., making his practice of medicine illegal. Fraud or not, he was extremely intelligent, and came up with one of my personal favorite beliefs that exercise truly does do the body very well. It was very interesting to hear of the invention of basketball and volleyball in the 1890's. Dr. James Naismith and William G. Morgan, both faculty of Springfield College, came up with the two sports. Springfield College has huge origins in the kinesiology department and became the most important PE school in the US. If you wanted to get involved with Physical Education, that is where you went!
The "Quest for Health" video also had some very neat history. Through that video we learned yoga was invented in India. Also, that the Ancient Greeks had the earliest connection between health and exercise. They used the earliest form of dumbells. John Harvey Kellogg was, as you can tell by the name, the first man to invent cereal. He worked at an elaborate fitness center, nicknamed "The San." It was very fancy, had 1400 guests and 1800 staff and was today's equivalent of an elite fitness gym. Kellogg wrote an entire book on the importance of breakfast. He wanted to invent something to take the place of fattening bacon, sausage, and biscuit breakfasts, so he came up with Kellogg's Shredded Crumbles, (Cornflakes).
Switching back to the lecture, and mentioning a few people whose names we may recognize, is when this really starts to hit home and get interesting. L Theo Bellmont (whom Bellmont Hall is named after!!) was hired by UT in 1913 as our first director of Athletics. He was in charge of the Department of Men's Physical Training and Intercollegiate sports for men. At this time there were no intercollegiate sports for women. Anna Hiss was not the first woman to oversee women's physical training, however, she is the first to make a huge impact. She served from 1921-1956. Gregory Gym and Anna Hiss gym were gender specific places, men to Gregory, and women to Anna Hiss. Around the 1970's physical activity classes were no longer required for all UT students. As old school of a view as this may be, it would not hurt to still require PE classes for every student at UT. Maybe not as strict as not allowing students to graduate, but they should at least be a requirement for each student to take one or two credits of PE for the health aspect.
Learning some of the country's earliest sports programs, and then venturing into UT's kinesiology history, and how it has evolved throughout the past and will most likely continue to change over time was neat and very important to learn.