In 1902, Martha Berry founded the Industrial School for Boys to educate
the children of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, and in 1909 the
school admitted women. The institution grew from a mountain industrial
school to a two-year college in its first twenty-four years, became a
four-year college in 1930, and has since become one of the leading
liberal arts colleges in the South.
This volume portrays, in word and image, the role of sports at Berry
College throughout its 100-year history. Situating athletics within the
social and cultural life of the college, the book includes both
intramural and intercollegiate sport, and traces the evolution of the
Viking tradition as it both parallels and reflects the development of
sport in the United States. The story begins with the recreational and
leisure activities of the early years of the school and traces the
continuation of the sporting spirit from the days of the Silver and the
Blue through the post-war Blue Jacket tradition, and ends with the
Viking years of the last four decades. Of notable interest in the book
is the development of the women's sports program, which has brought four
national titles to the college; the importance of soccer to the college;
the well-rounded intercollegiate program, which currently fields teams
in seven sports; and an excellent intramural program.