Įžymybių konstravimas, jų palaikymo praktikos ir JAV lietuvių bendruomenė XX a. I pusėje : kovinio sporto herojų atvejis

ENThe most popular sports among first-generation Lithuanian immigrants to the United States were those of the fighting kind: wrestling and boxing. It is these that saw the appearance and creation of the first Lithuanian sports heroes and celebrities. In the early decades of the 20th c. professional wrestlers and later outstanding boxers received much attention from Lithuanian community media, which together with the sports promoters, fans, and the athletes themselves created the celebrity capital that these wrestlers and boxers enjoyed. Due to their constant presence in the media these Lithuanian sport stars built up a renown that was used by the more enterprising community leaders to draw larger audiences to charitable fund-raising and commercial events. On the one hand, the sportsmen themselves usually were not averse to maintaining and strengthening ties with their ethnic kinsmen. On the other, community support for the combat sportsmen found expression in organizing and attending their competitions as well as banquets in their honor; betting on them; and creating and promoting slogans, songs, and poems related to them. Unlike many stars of American team sports, Lithuanian- American wrestlers and boxers like Jack Sharkey-Žukauskas were well-known and honored in all communities of the global Lithuanian diaspora; and if they went to some country outside the United States, these Lithuanian-American sportsmen were feted in the local Lithuanian communities there as well. [From the publication]