The Ellis County Historical Society will host a “Sports as Religion: Fact or Fiction?” presentation by Dr. Michael J. Zogry, Hometown Teams tour scholar, on Saturday, March 28, at 2:00 pm in the Stone Church at 100 West 7th Street in Hays. Members of the community are invited to attend this free program. Contact the Ellis County Historical Society at (785) 628-2624 or [email protected] for more information. The program is made possible by the Kansas Humanities Council.

“Sports as Religion: Fact or Fiction?” makes unexpected connections between the world of sport and religion. Drawing on different cultures and historical periods, Zogry highlights several examples when athletic games and religion cross paths.

Michael J. Zogry is the director of Indigenous Studies and an associate professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas (Lawrence). He is also co-chair of the Native Traditions in the Americas Program Unit, American Academy of Religion. Zogry’s research interests include the significance of ritual, sport, play, and games in Native American/First Nations religions. In 2010, he published his first book, Anesto, the Cherokee Ball Game: At the Center of Ceremony and Identity. He is currently working on his second book, Religion and Basketball: Naismith’s Game.

“Sports as Religion: Fact or Fiction?” is part of Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America, a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition presented by the Kansas Humanities Council in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution Museum on Main Street program.

The Ellis County Historical Society is one of 19 Hometown Teams partner sites in Kansas. The local special exhibit, Polo on the Plains, tells the story of how the 1870s existence of a British colony of cattle breeders at Victoria in eastern Ellis County eventually led to a taste for this traditional equestrian sport. Polo continued to have a loyal local following well into the 20th century with the formation of the Hays Polo Club in 1922 and the Fort Hays Polo Club in 1947.