Sport in America: From Wicked Amusements to National Obsession

David K. Wiggins, PhD, is director of undergraduate health science programs and professor of physical education at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Since earning his PhD from the University of Maryland in 1979, Wiggins has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in sport history at Kansas State University and George Mason University.

Wiggins is an expert on American sport, particularly as it relates to the involvement of black athletes in sport and physical activity. Since 1980, he has written about sport history and published articles in numerous journals, including the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, Journal of Sport History, Canadian Journal of History of Sport, and The International Journal of History of Sport. His work has garnered two American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Research (AAHPERD) Writing Awards (1984 and 1986) and significantly affected subsequent research studies on African American involvement in sport.

In addition to his memberships in AAHPERD and the North American Society for Sport History, Wiggins has served as President of the AAHPERD History Academy and on the Publications Board of The Journal of Sport History. He has held editorships and memberships on various committees of professional societies dealing with sport history.