FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Sport in Literature Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Sport in Literature Quizzes, Trivia

Sport in Literature Trivia

Sport in Literature Trivia Quizzes

  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. Literature Trivia
  6. »
  7. Specific Subjects & Themes

Fun Trivia
You may not think of sport and reading as compatible activities, but reading about sport and books that use sport as a metaphor can be a pleasant wat to pass some time.
4 quizzes and 40 trivia questions.
1.
  Tennis for Bookworms   top quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
It's time to serve up a quiz on two of my favorite things: tennis and literature. Try to ace this quiz about novels, plays, and short stories where the sport makes an appearance! Warning: some spoilers included!
Average, 10 Qns, adams627, Feb 08 14
Average
adams627
279 plays
2.
  A Literary History of Croquet   top quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
It is easy to overlook the fact that, at one time, croquet was a phenomenally popular pastime. It's not surprising, therefore, that it appears in many classic works of fiction. This quiz celebrates those connections.
Average, 10 Qns, glendathecat, Feb 08 14
Average
glendathecat
237 plays
3.
  Running Through the Pages   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Physical education and gym class is an important part of a child's development. Can you identify these activities and stories in literature that highlight sports?
Average, 10 Qns, coachpauly, Jul 10 15
Average
coachpauly
395 plays
4.
  Great American Sports Writers    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
The 20th century has produced some marvelous sports stories. Let's see if you know who wrote some of them.
Tough, 10 Qns, Yankeegirl742, Feb 26 22
Tough
Yankeegirl742
Feb 26 22
291 plays

Sport in Literature Trivia Questions

1. Fortunate Hogwarts students are permitted to play what fascinating game during PE in J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series?

From Quiz
Running Through the Pages

Answer: Quidditch

Quidditch is the creation of J.K. Rowling and her Harry Potter universe. Young witches and wizards, flying on broomstickes, learn how to play the semi-contact sport in school. Seven players make up a team and four balls (Quaffle, Bludgers, and Golden Snitch) are used during the game. The field of play is 500 feet long by 180 feet wide and has three circular goals at either end (30 feet, 40 feet, and 50 feet high respectively). Harry Potter becomes an accomplished seeker and the game of Quidditch features prominently in the first six of the seven Harry Potter books.

2. Mention croquet in literature and many people's thoughts turn first to Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". What, respectively, did Alice use for mallet and ball?

From Quiz A Literary History of Croquet

Answer: Flamingo/Hedgehog

"The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it would twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away ..." (from Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"). In 1866, Carroll also invented a variant of croquet known as castle croquet. This involves four players each controlling two balls, and is still played today.

3. Who wrote a short story about Richard Marvin Butkus and in what magazine was it published in?

From Quiz Great American Sports Writers

Answer: Arthur Kretchmer, "Playboy"

The short story was aptly titled "Butkus." Arthur Kretchmer had a degree in creative writing from the City College of New York. He later got a job working for 'Playboy' and his story was printed in 1973.

4. What controversial Newbery Medal winning children's novel, by Katherine Paterson, introduces the characters of Leslie Burke and Jess Aarons who establish a friendship while competing to be the fastest runner in the 5th grade?

From Quiz Running Through the Pages

Answer: Bridge to Terabithia

"Bridge to Terabithia" was published by Harper Collins in 1977 and won the Newbery Medal in 1978. The story focuses on the friendship of two lonely children who create a magical kingdom in the woods that they name Terabithia. Leslie is the daughter of two authors and loves to read books about fantasy lands. Jess is a talented artist who loves to draw. They both love to run and Jess is horrified when the new girl, Leslie, beats him in a sprint race when the new school year begins. However, the two become best of friends and share adventures together. Ultimately tragedy occurs when Leslie is killed when falling from the rope swing that is the entrance to Terabithia. The story is based upon the memory of a student who died in a lightning strike back in 1974. The victim was a young girl who was the best friend of Paterson's son David.

5. Who wrote a short story about Richard Alonzo Gonzalez?

From Quiz Great American Sports Writers

Answer: Dick Schaap

The shory story was titled "Lone Wolf of Tennis." It was published in 1958. Dick Schaap's autobiography 'Namedropping' was published in 1999. He passed away in 2001.

6. What sport plays a significant role in Bruce Brooks's 1984 Newbery medal winning story "The Moves Make the Man?"

From Quiz Running Through the Pages

Answer: Basketball

"The Moves Make the Man" by Bruce Brooks is set in 1961 North Carolina during the Civil Rights Movement. Jerome Foxworthy is a young African American boy who is transferred to an all-White public school. Jerome narrates the story which explores his relationship with a young white boy called Braxton Rivers. Jerome teaches Bix how to play basketball which leads to Bix playing his stepfather in a bid to earn a visit to see his mother at the mental hospital. It is a profound and touching story that speaks to many societal issues such as racism, domestic violence, prejudice, and death of loved ones. "The Moves Make the Man" earned the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and in 1984 it was chosen as the best book by School Library Journal.

7. What sports writer is a native of Jamaica, New York?

From Quiz Great American Sports Writers

Answer: Jimmy Breslin

Jimmy Breslin was born in 1929. He began his career as a journalist in 1948, getting a job at the 'Long Island Press.' Jimmy Breslin wound up writing sports columns for the 'New York Herald Tribune,' 'World Tribune Journal,' 'New York Post' and the 'Daily News.' He has also written numerous books.

8. "Dream Big" is the true story of what all-time great basketball player and his quest for Olympic gold?

From Quiz Running Through the Pages

Answer: Michael Jordan

"Dream Big" was written and published in 2012 by Michael Jordan's mother Deloris Jordan. It is illustrated by Barry Root and focuses on the inspirational story of one of the greatest basketball players that has ever lived. Only 9 years old, he watches on television the American team lose at the 1972 Olympic Games. At that moment he tells his mother and brothers that one day he will be an Olympic Champion. Through hard work in middle school, high school, and then college, he maintains his dream and makes the U.S. Olympic team in 1984. At those Games, the Dream Team captures the first of many Olympic Gold medals and Michael's dream becomes a reality. Deloris has also written another inspiring story about her son entitled "Salt in his Shoes."

9. What was the name of the work by J.R. Moehringer that was a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for feature reporting?

From Quiz Great American Sports Writers

Answer: "Resurrecting the Champ"

J.R. Moehringer was born in New York City in 1964. "Resurrecting the Champ" is the story of former boxing great Bob Satterfield. J.R. Moehringer is the national correspondent for the 'Los Angeles Times.' He won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 2000.

10. In "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" the Queen of Hearts and her courtiers take exercise in the gardens playing a surrealistic version of what sport?

From Quiz Running Through the Pages

Answer: Croquet

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, introduced the world to Alice in 1865. During her adventures in Wonderland she meets many extraordinary characters. One of these is the Queen of Hearts who orders her to participate in a game of croquet using hedgehogs for balls, playing cards as hoops, and flamingos for mallets. Needless to say, the game erupts into chaos.

11. Who won a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1979?

From Quiz Great American Sports Writers

Answer: Richard Cramer

Richard Ben Cramer won that Pulitzer Prize while working at the 'Philadelphia Inquirer.' He began his career at the 'Baltimore Sun' in 1973. In 1986, he wrote a short story about Red Sox great Ted Williams. Then in 1991, he wrote a book about Ted Williams.

12. In the novel "Tom Brown's School Days" what English sport provides the backdrop for the culminating event of the protagonist's high school career?

From Quiz Running Through the Pages

Answer: Cricket Match

"Tom Brown's School Days" was written by Thomas Hughes and published in 1857. The novel is set at Rugby School for Boys. Hughes attended Rugby School in the 1830's and many of the events within the book parallel his own life, including the final cricket match played at the end of the book. Rugby School is also the birthplace of the sport of rugby. History records that during a regular game of soccer, a boy picked up the ball with his hands and ran with it - an initiative that gave birth to a new sport.

13. Which sports writer graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1901 and had a short story published in 1948?

From Quiz Great American Sports Writers

Answer: Grantland Rice

Grantland Rice was a well known writer of his generation. He passed away in 1954. There is a sports-writing scholarship named for him. He was the father of actress Florence Rice.

14. What contact sport played at Trinity High School, in Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War", leaves Jerry Renault bloodied and beaten?

From Quiz Running Through the Pages

Answer: Boxing

Robert Cormier first published "The Chocolate War" in 1974 and it was adapted into a screenplay in 1988. Critics have suggested that it is one of the best pieces of young adult fiction ever to be written. The protagonist is Jerome Renault, who is an underclassman at Trinity High School. The school is dominated by bullies that operate with a mob mentality. Jerry challenges the cruel and brutal nature of the status quo only to suffer physical and emotional beatings for resisting the requirement to conform and accept oppression. The story is a powerful commentary on both adolescence and society as a whole. In 1985, Cormier published a sequel entitled "Beyond the Chocolate War".

15. "All the Way to the Grave" is about what sport?

From Quiz Great American Sports Writers

Answer: Boxing

"All the Way to the Grave" was written by Frank Graham and published in 1950. Frank Graham is considered to have altered sports columns by reducing the editorializing and getting more actual reporting done. Frank Graham passed away in 1965.

16. Seventeen-year old Holden Caulfield is the manager for his prep school's fencing team. He manages to lose the team's fencing equipment on the subway at the beginning of which classic of English literature?

From Quiz Running Through the Pages

Answer: The Catcher in the Rye

"The Catcher in the Rye" was published by J.D. Salinger in 1951. Originally it was written for an adult audience, but it has consistently been used in high school English classes on account of its strong adolescent themes. The narrator and protagonist of the novel is Holden Caulfield, an angst-ridden teenager who struggles to find purpose in his life. In 2005, "Time" listed the book as one of the top 100 books written since 1923. The novel takes on topics such as alienation, identity, sexuality, and psychosocial development.

17. Who wrote "The Olympic Army?"

From Quiz Great American Sports Writers

Answer: Westbrook Pegler

Westbrook Pegler joined the 'Chicago Tribune' as a sports columnist in 1925. "The Olympic Army" got published through Scripps-Howard News in 1936. In 1944, he went to work for the 'New York Journal-American' and created the character George Spelvin.

18. Ann Brashares introduced the world to Carmen Lowell, Bridget Vreeland, Lena Kaligaris, and Tibby Rollins in her novel "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". What type of sports camp does Bridget attend in their first summer apart?

From Quiz Running Through the Pages

Answer: Soccer

Ann Brashares's series was published starting in 2003. Four books were written in the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series that follows four fictional friends through four summers beginning after their sophomore year in high school. The connection for the group is a pair of jeans that fits them perfectly despite the very different body shapes that they have. In 2011, a fifth book was released that catches up with the friends as they are about to turn 30.

19. Which sports writer was a founding editor of 'Sports Illustrated?'

From Quiz Great American Sports Writers

Answer: Gerald Holland

Gerald Holland's most noted work is "Mr. Rickey and the Game." Before he helped found 'Sports Illustrated', Gerald Holland worked as the public relations director of the Cleveland Browns in the 1930s.

20. What futuristic novel, published in 2008, takes physical education to the extreme when teenagers are forced to participate in a deadly televised fight to the death?

From Quiz Running Through the Pages

Answer: The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins published the first installment of her "Hunger Games" series on September 14, 2008. The voice of the story is 16-year old Katniss Everdeen. The setting of the novel is a post-apocalyptic society in the Americas that is divided into 12 districts. The country is called Panem and the Capitol chooses two children from a lottery every year to compete in a televised battle to the death. Only one competitor is permitted to live, but Katniss and a child-hood friend named Peeta force the administration to have to change the rules. The sequels to the first book include "Catching Fire" published in 2009, and "Mockingjay" in 2010.

21. Which sportswriter is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, National Sportscasters Hall of Fame and the Sportswriters Hall of Fame?

From Quiz Great American Sports Writers

Answer: Jim Murray

Jim Murray won an eclectic array of awards in regards to sportswriting. He helped launch 'Sports Illustrated' in 1954. He died in 1998.

This is category 21425
Last Updated Mar 23 2024 5:49 AM
play trivia = Top 5% Rated Quiz, take trivia quiz Top 10% Rated Quiz, test trivia quiz Top 20% Rated Quiz, popular trivia A Well Rated Quiz
new quizzes = added recently, editor pick = Editor's Pick editor = FunTrivia Editor gold = Gold Member

Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.