MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School

Certificate for Approving the Dissertation

We hereby approve the Dissertation

of

James H. Campbell

Certificate for the Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

______Director Dr. Richard Quantz

______Reader Dr. Denise Taliaferro Baszile

______Reader Dr. Thomas Poetter

______Graduate School Representative Dr. Sherrill Sellers

ABSTRACT

DJANGOS CHAINED: UNDERSTANDING THE NARRATIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE STUDENT ATHLETES PARTICIPATING IN DIVISION I BASKETBALL AT PREDOMINANTLY WHITE INSTITUTIONS

Using Critical Race Theory as a conceptual foundation, this study examined the struggle and unique tensions encountered by African American males participating in Division I basketball in the United States. Particularly, it examines those tensions associated with the inequities these athletes experience as a result of eligibility requirements, their experience of otherness, and the lack of agency. This is a qualitative analysis that uses a template analysis. The primary research question is: How do Division I African American male intercollegiate basketball players narrate their university experience and what do those narratives reveal about their understanding of the material conditions of their labor? This question aims at understanding how the players understand their experiences at their university both on and off the basketball court, but it ended up being primarily interested in their experiences with their academic life. This dissertation also provides a brief history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and covers the rules and regulations that apply to the student-athlete. The literature addressing black masculinity, "otherness," and persistence is also presented. Some of the main findings of this study were the African American male student athletes maintain complex and contradictory perceptions of self in the academic side of their experiences, reveal a fairly consistent agreement on the right for student athletes to receive some financial remuneration for all of the revenue they create, experienced both positive and negative moments related to being Black at a Predominantly White Institution including the complexity of interracial dating, but the central finding of the study is that while these young Black men have mostly positive memories of their college experiences, they found themselves having to subsume their academic ambitions to their basketball responsibilities.

DJANGOS CHAINED: UNDERSTANDING THE NARRATIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE STUDENT ATHLETES PARTICIPATING IN DIVISION I BASKETBALL AT PREDOMINANTLY WHITE INSTITUTIONS

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to the Faculty of

Miami University

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Educational Leadership

by

James H. Campbell

Miami University

Oxford, Ohio

2014

Dissertation Director: Dr. Richard Quantz

©

James H. Campbell 2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract Dedication……………………………………………………………………………… vi Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………….. vii

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….. 1 Preface………………………………………………………………………………….. 1 Research Questions and Purpose of Study……………………………………………... 2 Outline of Dissertation…………………………………………………………………. 4 Significance of Study…………………………………………………………………... 5

CHAPTER TWO - LITERATURE REVIEW Review of Literature…………………………………………………………………… 7 National Collegiate Athletic Association……………………………………………… 8 Purpose of the NCAA…………………………………………………………………. 8 Division I, II, III……………………………………………………………………….. 9 NCAA Clearinghouse…………………………………………………………………. 9 Proposition 48…………………………………………………………………………. 11 Proposition 16…………………………………………………………………………. 12 Qualifier……………………………………………………………………………….. 13 Nonqualifier…………………………………………………………………………… 14 Maintaining Eligibility………………………………………………………………… 15 Satisfactory Progress………………………………………………………………….. 16 Revenue Generation…………………………………………………………………… 17 Predominantly White Institution……………………………………………………… 18 Scholarship at PWI……………………………………………………………………. 18 Black Masculinity……………………………………………………………………... 20 Otherness……………………………………………………………………………… 23 The Inability to Make a Choice……………………………………………………….. 26 Persistence…………………………………………………………………………….. 27 Critical Race Theory………………………………………………………………….. 29 Five Tenets of CRT…………………………………………………………………… 30 Some Other Important Ideas of CRT………………………………………………….. 33 Critical Race Theory in Education…………………………………………………….. 34 Critical Race Theory in Sport…………………………………………………………. 35 Contributions of the Study…………………………………………………………….. 37

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CHAPTER THREE - METHODOLOGY Introduction……………………………………………………………………………. 39 Narrative Gathering…………………………………………………………………… 40 Limitations……………………………………………………………………………. 42 Conversation Questions………………………………………………………………. 42

CHAPTER FOUR - FINDINGS Major Topics and Themes…………………………………………………………….. 43 Topic 1: Student in the Classroom……………………………………………………. 43 Theme 1.1: The felt need to avoid acting like a “stereotypical athlete”………………. 43 Theme 1.2: The institution provided athletes a lot of support for academic success…. 43 Theme 1. 3: Many of these students felt that the transition from high school to college was a difficult one……………………………………………….. 44 Theme 1.4: Many of these students were essentially assigned their major and the classes that they would take by their academic advisor or other university officials…....…………………………………………………… 44 Theme 1.5: Individuals and institutions representations were willing to find ways for the athlete to circumvent the academic system……………………….. 44 Theme 1.6: Ways in which race entered their classroom experience…………………. 44 Theme 1.7: Some of these students had very positive and typical student experiences in their classrooms………………………………………….. 45 Theme 1.8: Faculty tended to fall into one of three categories, bias against athletes, supportive of athletes, or neutral toward athletes………………………… 45 Theme 1.8.1: Some professors appeared to have a bias toward athletes……………… 45 Theme 1.8.2: Many instructors were very supportive of athletes…………………….. 45 Theme 1.8.3: Many professors treated athletes neither better nor worse than other students…………………………………………………………… 46 Topic 2: Otherness……………………………………………………………………. 46 Theme 2.1: Positive Experience………………………………………………………. 46 Theme 2.2: Negative Experience……………………………………………………… 46 Theme 2.3: The Athletes Sense of Privilege………………………………………….. 46 Theme 2.4: Recognition Toward Athletes……………………………………………. 46 Topic 3: Social Life on Campus………………………………………………………. 47 Theme 3.1: Celebrity Status…………………………………………………………… 48 Theme 3.2: Race………………………………………………………………………. 48 Theme 3.3: Campus Activities………………………………………………………… 48 Theme 3.4: Joining Organizations…………………………………………………….. 48 Theme 3.5: Living Situation…………………………………………………………... 49 Topic 4: Being Black………………………………………………………………….. 49 Theme 4.1: Being Black on Campus………………………………………………….. 50 Theme 4.2: Perceived Solidarity with Other Blacks…………………………………... 50 Theme 4.3: Being Black Socially……………………………………………………… 50 Theme 4.4: Dating While Being Black………………………………………………... 51

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Theme 4.4.1: Interracial Dating……………………………………………………….. 52 Topic 5: Components of Being a Student Athlete…………………………………….. 52 Theme 5.1: Student Athlete…………………………………………………………… 52 Theme 5.2: Most Difficult Thing as a Student Athlete……………………………….. 53 Theme 5.3: Choosing a Course of Study……………………………………………… 53 Topic 6: Play for Pay………………………………………………………………….. 55 Theme 6.1: Payment for Play…………………………………………………………. 55

CHAPTER FIVE - DISCUSSION Discussion……………………………………………………………………………… 56 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………... 64 Limitations of the Study……………………………………………………………….. 67 Implications for Future Research……………………………………………………… 67 Final Comments……………………………………………………………………….. 69

REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………… 71

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Dedication

I would like to dedicate this work to all of the young people who never had an idea of what were the possibilities. I also want to dedicate this to Arimel E. Campbell you have been the singular consistent role model, supporter, caregiver, teacher, friend, movie buddy, date, life coach, mentor, counselor, companion, example of honor, example of integrity, example of courage, example of strength, example of compassion, example of trustworthiness, example of perseverance, cheerleader, disciplinarian, prayer giver, chef, fashion designer, sounding board, savior, and the best mother.

This is a gift to you. I hope that I have made you proud.

Thank You

I Love You

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Acknowledgments

First and foremost I must thank my Lord for being my savior and provider, without him nothing would be possible. I do not know what your plan for me is but I do know that you are not done with me yet and you would not have brought me this far to drop me off here. Secondly I have to thank my mother Arimel E. Campbell, you never gave up on me and I owe everything to your diligence. I lived the struggle with you which forged my determination and desire to achieve regardless of the odds. My father, James H. Brown and grandfather Aldo Smith, I thank you for being the individuals that you were, I was made better because of the time that I had with you both; R.I.P. I want to say thank you to my big sis Vanessa L. Campbell-Mackey, Aunt Bert, Aunt Mary, Nee Nee and the rest of my family and extended family who have shown support and encouraged this scholarly endeavor.

I thank my committee for their patience and assistance in directing my vision as I put this work of art together. My chair, Dr. Richard Quantz, your guiding presence cannot be quantified. You are an amazing scholar and man. Dr. Carlson, Dr. Taliaferro Baszile, Dr. Poetter, Dr. Sherrill Sellers and Dr. Fischer you all have been very influential in the development of this project and the realization of this dream. I thank you collectively and appreciate you individually. I would also like to thank Dr. Bueshell (R.I.P) and Dr. Giles for your interest in this work.

My comrades, cohorts, henchmen and their loved ones, you know what it is! My nephew, Tony A. Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. Christian 'Cree' Hill, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth 'KP' Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Damon 'DJ' Jones Sr.(I apologize for missing your wedding), Mr. and Mrs. Carlton 'Bummy' Reynolds, Erich 'E' Matlock, Natasha Thomas, Anthony 'Boo' Woodson, Alberta Woodson, Darryle 'Short D' Branham, Dr. Sandy 'Del' Maclin, Jarrod 'JP' Price, Mr. and Mrs. Deleon 'D' Wilson, Dr. Jeffery 'JB' Burgin, Mr. and Mrs. Khari Wilder, Waitman 'Buddy' Grant, LaShawn 'Ball' Willis, Don 'D Block' Willis and (Granny) and family, Leonard 'Lenny' Stokes, Mr. and Mrs. LeNardo 'LA' Colvin, Jason 'J Kidd' Kidd, Baron 'BD' Davis, Kevin Simmons, Paul Wall, Carmelo ‘Melo’ Anthony, Jadakiss, Toi Cole, Jerome Walker, Erik 'X' Underwood, Eddie 'Wolf' Williams, Rilynne Johnson, Chris Jones, Jowana Menifee, Dr. Dewolfe Ross 'Tre Deuce' Turpeau, Kelwin 'K Hes' Hester, Michael Padgett Sr. R.I.P, Cameron

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Jeff & Bryce Jeff R.I.P, my God children (Damon Jr., Jordan, Carlos Jr., Reagan, London, Nia, Riley, Kamron), Apral Grace and family, Yolanda Wright and family, Sherri Cromwell and family, Shield and Pleasant Ridge Elementary families, Cincinnati Bilingual Academy family, Walnut Hills High School family, Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church, Francis 'Frans' Roseavear R.I.P, Troop 119, Amery 'Tank' Wallace, Keith Halsell, Tangerman Hall, Eric 'Freeze' Richardson, Lee 'Sweet Lee' Gilliam, Terry Crutcher, Corryville, Avondale, Evanston, West End, South Roselawn, Slap513, Trick Money Smitty and finally any and all ladies who have loved me at some point in my life, I LOVE YOU ALL and THANK YOU ALL!

My Department of Educational Leadership team Leroy Foster, Cynthia Johnson, Dr. Donovan Weber, Dr. David Childes, Dr. Moise Baptiste, Dr. Shewanee Howard-Baptiste, Dr. Brent Johnson, Dr. Lillian Hawkins, Dr. Valerie Robinson, future Dr. Levar Smith, future Dr. Adisa Price and future Dr. Jonathan Hamilton, you all have been supportive and acted as motivational tools to help me stay on task. You all have a special insight into the process and can relate to these doctoral struggles. We have shared! If there is anyone that I have overlooked blame it on my mind and not my heart.

Finally I would like to thank the nay sayers, critics, skeptics and suckas. Unbeknown to you all your negative energy only fueled my ambition, I may have never accomplished this goal without your doubt and resentment. You were at every station in my life. You know who you are, you were friends, family, co-workers and even university employees. The faculty who viewed me as a lower level, struggling student, who claimed to fight to for my interests but never displayed any interest in my success. Keep patting yourself on the back. Those faculty who found it surprising that I could speak well, com’on man. I was once labeled as the "resident thug" for the doctoral department. I wonder was that due to my never ending loyalty to my roots and culture, was it my style and savior faire, was it my race or was it that you could never understand my story so you just put your own label on it? Now it's Dr. Thug!

Well, look at me now! If you don’t know now you know and still doing it B….I….G baby bay bee!

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Maryland colonies' original edict was expanded into a public policy on Blacks, stipulating that "Black people shall constitute an available, uncompensated, noncompetitive, well-disciplined, permanently subordinated work force, which shall be separated from the White society." -Claud Anderson, Black Labor, White Wealth (1994, p.157)

The work of Black folks has contributed to the growth of the nation and world, it has been a source of inspiration, enlightenment, education, and entertainment but has not proven to be universally liberating financially, create integrative mobility, or socially beneficial for these individuals. Understanding the direction of the story can lead to developing a happy ending. -James H. Campbell

Preface I chose the title Djangos Chained to bring to bear the notion that African American males participating in Division I basketball at predominantly White institutions are held captive by the system that profits monetarily from their labor. While Quentin Taratino's film, Django Unchained, features a free Black in antebellum America, in many ways, today's African American males could be considered yet to be unchained. In fact, this system has convinced these African American male Division I basketball players that they are receiving fair benefits for the vast amounts of cash that accrues to their university and all the other beneficiaries of their labor. The sweat equity that these young men contribute to the university’s merchandising sales, video game sales, apparel, shoe and television contracts and, therefore, supplementing the budgets for other sports programs and six and seven figure salaries for coaches

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These student athletes straddle the lines of the preconceived notions of what constitutes Black masculinity and what is deemed acceptable by the dominant society. The double consciousness that W.E. B. Du Bois (1903) spoke of to explain how Black Americans must present themselves plays a central role in the lives of these student athletes in a multifaceted way contingent upon the audience. This notion is typified in Quentin Tarantino’s film script of Django Unchained (2012) when slave owner Big Daddy, played by Don Johnson, instructs one of his enslaved women how to handle the freed Django, played by Jamie Foxx, Big Daddy: Django isn't a slave. Django is a free man. You understand? You can't treat him like any of these other niggers around here, cause he ain't like any of these other niggers around here. Ya got it? Betina: You wan' I should treat him like White folks? Big Daddy: No. That's not what I said. Betina: Then I don't know what'cha want, Big Daddy. Big Daddy: Yes? I can see that. (pp. 26-27) This excerpt sheds light on the paradigm that many of these young African American college athletes experience when they are put in a place of superiority to those who should be considered their peers; however, yet they are not fully accepted into the dominant class. This positioning is nicely captured in Spike Lee's (1989) script of the film Do the Right Thing by the character Pino, "It's different. Magic, Eddie, Prince are not niggers, I mean, are not Black. I mean, they're Black but not really Black. They’re more than Black. It's different" (p. 42). The navigation of a space assigned for an abbreviated privilege proves to be confusing and difficult for many African American males, especially those with the constant gaze of the masses upon them. The analogy might be to consider how it would be for an individual to play a game without knowing the rules, the playing field, or the penalties. The odds of success are slim at best. The Research Question and Purpose of the Study: This study examined the struggle and unique tensions encountered by African American males participating in Division I basketball. Particularly, it examines those tensions associated with the inequities these athletes experience as a result of eligibility requirements, their experience of otherness, and the ability to make choice. The primary research question is: How do Division I African American male intercollegiate basketball players narrate their university

2 experience and what do those narratives reveal about their understanding of the material conditions of their labor? This question aims at understanding how the players understand their experiences at their university both on and off the basketball court, but it ended up being primarily interested in their experiences with their academic life. As a former manager for a professional basketball player, I have watched the maturation of several individuals as they progressed from the high school level to professional basketball or some other occupation. I also have spent time in the academic realm as an adjunct instructor and also in the collegiate athletic realm as a compliance assistant. Through these positions I have been privy to very personal contact with professors, student athletes, coaches, and administrators. These experiences have provided me the opportunity to view this phenomenon in a variety of ways. This study evolved when my personal experiences were combined with the broad perspective and insights from my coursework dealing with social justice, democracy, hegemony, class, race, ethics and Critical Race Theory (CRT). My first encounter with this issue was as an undergraduate. At this time I had a job as a barber, so I would spend hours cutting hair. I had neighbors who were members of the college basketball team. Many of them were also clients of my barbershop. During these interpersonal times spent with these student athletes I made startling discoveries about the nature of participation and matriculation at the Division I level. The major finding during these impromptu sessions was that these young men appeared to have had very little decision making authority after their decision to come to this particular university. After being accepted into the university and obtaining a scholarship to participate on the basketball team these gentlemen began their journey of assignments. They were assigned living arrangements, a roommate, a locker, a jersey number, a position, at times a nick name, team apparel, an advisor, a class schedule, a book voucher and finally the training and practice schedules. There may be some instances of possessing options but there seemed to be very few opportunities to decide for themselves as these options were very limited in scope. So, while the African American male student athlete arrives at college poised to engage in the important work of construction of self, the phenomenon that I witnessed was something else, something that resembled the tracking system found in the public elementary and secondary schools. As a compliance assistant I was the only young Black male in the athletic department. I was still relatively in the same age bracket as the student athletes. This dynamic was very

3 influential in obtaining the trust of the student athletes. It also assisted in creating the rapport that was necessary in opening the lines of communication in a fashion that fleshed out many of the concerns that troubled them. These concerns consisted of issues dealing with an assortment of topics which included, but were not limited to, paternity, finances, legal consulting and relationship advice. In this capacity I had my eyes opened to the stresses that accompanied the participation of students in big time collegiate athletics. I gained interest in the plight of African American male basketball players through my close personal relationships with them. As these individuals labored through the program it was their responsibility to mentor underclassmen that entered the program after them. Inevitably this led to my basketball player friends introducing me to their new teammates. I was afforded an opportunity to also serve as a mentor to the new players as I was to the older players. So my services were passed along to the next class and new recruits. Outline of the Dissertation I began this dissertation with a description of its purpose, followed by a brief personal narrative that sheds insight on the mechanisms that led to my interest in developing this study. The remainder of the dissertation is structured as follows. Chapter II presents a literature review of relevant related materials and an explanation of the terms and structures involved in the project. I give a detailed explanation of NCAA, Proposition 48, Proposition 16, NCAA clearinghouse, grade point average, qualifier, partial qualifier (as of 2005 this status has been eliminated), nonqualifier, satisfactory progress and revenue generating sport. These are important factors in understanding the process of becoming a student athlete. Also in Chapter II, I looked at the importance of maintaining eligibility. This is from the standpoint of the student and the criteria set forth by the university. It is relevant due to the nature of selecting courses for the student; it is also relevant for the “return on investment” by the university. The literature review then turns to the role that race plays in the structuring of the student athletes’ existence on the college campus. I examine the Black male athlete as a figure on collegiate campuses. From these ideas I turn to the issue of otherness. The chapter is undergirded by an examination of critical race theory, particularly the concept of interest convergence, which provided the main theoretical lens of the project. Chapter III presents the study design that I used to collect and investigate the responses of African American males who formerly participated in intercollegiate basketball at the

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Division I level. The responses to a series of conversation questions were used to gain insight into the narratives of the men. Chapter IV collects and organizes the responses from the participants to illuminate the unique tensions that this population of individuals encountered during their playing careers as presented in conversations with a select group of former players. These conversations covered many topics in their journey through college shedding light on the plight of the African American student athlete. Some of the topics that are addressed include: academic tensions, the inability to make choice, persistence, “otherness” (the singling out of an individual because of his affiliation to a certain group), the idea of the Black male and the notion of interest convergence by universities. Chapter V discusses these findings and concludes with some reflections on the broader meaning of this study and potential further avenues of needed study. Significance of the Study This study was intended to gain a better sense of how African Americans playing basketball at Division I universities understood the tensions between their material contributions to the university and the benefits gained by the student athletes. Perhaps the most important insight gained from this study relates to whether or not there is a fair exchange experienced by the players. The students’ inability to select an academic major that was interesting and compelling to them leads to questions of whether or not they gained a true education from their time at the university. When these individuals enter college, they should be permitted to pursue their lifelong dream—including the opportunity to choose their own future by enrolling in courses to explore and to prepare for their determined future. Having a major dictated to them appears to negate the promise that the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend college is supposed to enable them to make their own life choices and appears to diminish what the university provides to these students in exchange for what these athletes provide the university. Work may be the primary way for a person to develop self-image and self-worth as a human (Marx, 2000/1932, p. 31-32). One of the determining factors in the development of this construction of self is the person’s ability to choose what he/she will do in the world. When looking at the African American male athlete, many want to break the stereotypical chains that surround their seeming natural ability to perform in a superior fashion to others in the arena of sport. As with any group that has been marginalized, the African American male student athlete

5 wants the ability to define himself for the person he is or wants to be in the near future. The primary significance of this study suggests that policies designed to keep African American basketball players academically eligible in order to continue to play their sport may need to be changed to permit these students to choose their own majors and their futures outside of basketball.

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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE In this chapter I organized the information in a way that gives a direct lineage of the progression of this study. First, this section provides a history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), including the purpose for its existence, and the breakdown of classifications of divisions within the NCAA with special attention to Division I. I then delineate the processes involved in becoming eligible to participate in intercollegiate athletics. These processes include registering with the NCAA clearinghouse, gaining eligibility status and maintaining satisfactory progress. I also look at the revenue generating aspects of intercollegiate athletics. Second, I examined the Black male student athlete on Predominantly White Institutions. From this point forward the predominantly White institution will be referred to as PWI. Throughout the entire process of attempting to participate in athletics at a Division I institution the notion of race will be paramount in that these male basketball players at the PWI's are overwhelmingly in the minority racially. The negotiation of race and its importance is essential to the understanding of the plight of the individual. The racialization of these students affects their lived existence within the confines of the university as well as the broader community. The inequities that present these African American individuals as opposed to their White counterparts create and contribute to the feelings of helplessness that these individual struggle to deal with. Third, I examined the tensions of participating in intercollegiate athletics, which are at the forefront of the study due to the interconnected lived existence of the athlete. The student is coping with the strain of sustaining several dynamics at once. He must cope with the notion of being "Othered" in several ways due to his participation in athletics. The student is constantly positioned as an outsider in every group of which he is a part, even within his team. The last tension that I investigate is the notion of not having any choice in regards to the direction of their academic program. I believe that in an effort to maintain satisfactory progress these athletic students are wrangled into degree programs that are not very challenging. Fourth, in this chapter I also provide a section that addresses literature from areas that are similar and pertinent to this field of study. Included in this section will be a review of literature centered on student academic choice of major in higher education and persistence. The review of this literature will provide a broad general parameter for the more specific nature of this study.

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Fifth, the theoretical lens that gives support to this notion of tensions that exist for African American males who participate in Division I men's basketball is Critical Race Theory (CRT). Within the many facets of this theory, the primary component that I used to explain this phenomenon was interest convergence. I believe that the concept of interest convergence totally captures the nature of the dynamics present as you look at the issue of African American males who participate in intercollegiate Division I men's basketball. The final section of this chapter discusses many of the reasons that this study is important to the fields of education and sport. I believe that this study will serve to be a source of empowerment of the student athlete, in particular the African American male basketball athlete, but also all student athletes at every level of collegiate participation. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) In this section I give historic information on the NCAA. I also outline the process of becoming a student athlete. This section looks at the origins of the NCAA, the purpose of the NCAA, the Divisions of participation in intercollegiate athletics, the NCAA Clearinghouse, Proposition 48, Proposition 16, qualifier, nonqualifier, maintaining eligibility, satisfactory progress and revenue generation. The National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA is the governing body for all levels of intercollegiate athletic participation. According to Crowley (2006), President Theodore Roosevelt summoned college athletics leaders to two White House conferences to encourage reforms for the sport of football. In early December 1905, Chancellor Henry M. MacCracken of New York University convened a meeting of 13 institutions to initiate changes in football-playing rules. At a subsequent meeting on December 28 in New York City, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) was founded by 62 members. The IAAUS officially was constituted March 31, 1906, and took its present name, the NCAA, in 1910. (p. 9-10) This is the origins of the formalized system that is now in place called the NCAA. This governing body regulates intercollegiate sports by a system of rules that must be adhered to by collegiate institutions, their representatives, their faculty, staff, alumni, boosters and student athletes. Purpose of the NCAA According to the NCAA manual the purpose of the organization is

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designed to be a vital part of the educational system. A basic purpose of this Association is to maintain intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the educational program and the athlete as an integral part of the student body and, by so doing, retain a clear line of demarcation between intercollegiate athletics and professional sports. (NCAA, 2001 p.1) The NCAA was designed to be the governing body of amateur athletics. Its sole purpose is to maintain the integrity of amateur athletics and promote academic excellence in higher education. Division I, II and III The NCAA has divided the competitive playing field into three subdivisions or divisions: I, II, and III. In order to be considered a Division I member schools there must be a minimum number of sports for women, seven. Also the men must have seven. If there are more sports for women at the institution then the minimums change to six for men and eight for women. There also have to be two coed sports. In order to be classified as a Division II member there has to be a minimum number of six sports of men and women with two of these sports being coed. Also, if there are more sports for women, then the minimums are four for men and six for women. To be classified as Division III colleges must participate in a minimum of five sports each for men and women. Division III institutions do not offer scholarships for athletics according to (NCAA, 2011). By separating member institutions into Divisions, the NCAA regulates the level of competition amongst institutions. This provides equitable access to athletics by gender through the availability of sports programs by institution. NCAA Clearinghouse Prior to 1994, the universities’ directors of compliance had the assignment of gathering and analyzing each prospective student athlete’s SAT/ACT score, grade point average, and academic progress. To facilitate this process in 1994, the NCAA introduced the initial eligibility clearinghouse to take over the duties that the director of compliance previously handled. This was intended also to limit the amount of illegal activity involved with eligibility, such as falsifications of test scores and manipulation of transcripts. Huggins (1996) noted that the NCAA initial eligibility clearinghouse was developed to be a place where high school counselors could send the academic transcripts and information for student athletes recruited by Division I athletic programs. The clearinghouse calculates the information that the counselors submit and

9 determines the classification of the student athlete. The student athlete is ascribed a pass or fail status. The compliance director at the prospective university is notified of the student athlete’s status, which then dictates the methods of recruitment that the university will use. If the student athlete is classified as a non-qualifier, he/she and the high school are notified of the problem and alternatives are suggested as well as solutions. According to Swift (1994), the most common problem in qualifying prospective student athletes as qualifiers is the four-year English requirement. The clearinghouse has determined that for many high schools fourth-year English courses are unacceptable. In some instances the course title may be considered unacceptable. An example of this would be two courses by the same name; one will be considered acceptable at school “X,” however, at school “Y” the same course title is not acceptable. Skepticism and conjecture about the recruitment process led to the development of entities such as the clearinghouse and while the process still has critics, the performance of the clearinghouse was determined to be a success. According to Huggins (1996), the clearinghouse successfully processed the academic records of 99.5% of prospective student athletes’ applications in a timely manner. NCAA officials noted that when dealing with problems presented by the process the schools and colleges could take a more proactive approach to limit the problems. The NCAA’s initial eligibility clearinghouse was developed to ease the workload of the directors of compliance and to end falsification of student records. The NCAA clearinghouse is used to determine if athletes have obtained the proper number of academic credit hours and have completed the required number of core courses. While many of the standards have changed from the era that I will examine in my study, most of these changes have not been aimed at the problems this study is designed to address. The NCAA clearinghouse calculates the GPA and test scores, and examines the academic transcripts of the prospective student athlete. Students are asked to register with the clearinghouse after the completion of their junior year of high school. The collegiate coaches have to be aware of the possibilities that an athlete may be ruled ineligible by the NCAA clearinghouse in their freshman year. This may cause coaches not to recruit an athlete or recruit an athlete who is not as talented but who can participate immediately with the program. From the years of 1986 through 1996 the NCAA clearinghouse used a formula labeled Proposition 48 to determine academic eligibility for potential freshman collegiate athletes.

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Proposition 48 Proposition 48 is a concept developed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to promote academic integrity in intercollegiate athletics. According to Jesudason (1989), Proposition 48 requires a prospective student athlete to graduate from high school and have an accumulative minimum grade point average of 2.000 (based on a maximum of 4.000) in a successfully completed core curriculum of at least 11 academic courses including at least three years in English, two years in mathematics, two years in social sciences, and two years in natural or physical science (including at least one laboratory class, if offered by the high school) at the time of graduation from high school as certified on the high school transcript or by official correspondence, as well as a (minimum) 700 combined score on the SAT verbal and math sections of a (minimum) 15 composite score on the ACT. According to Jesudason (1989), the minimum required ACT or SAT score should be obtained before: (1) July 1 before the individual’s initial enrollment into college, or (2) the completion of the individual’s last term of high school. If the prospective student athlete achieves these requirements, the athlete is considered eligible to compete in intercollegiate athletics for the university in the freshman year of college. The fulfillment of these qualifications gives the individual the classification of a qualifier. If the prospective student athlete is deficient in any of the criteria, the individual is considered to be Proposition 48. When the student athlete is placed in this classification, the student athlete cannot receive financial aid from the athletic department in the form of an athletic scholarship, and the individual is not permitted to practice with the team or compete in games. Some critics have viewed Proposition 48 as an unfair stigma related to athletes. Stevens (1987) claimed that Proposition 48 was another method of labeling inner-city school students being considered for scholarships by colleges and universities. Stack (1984) agreed with the views of Stevens and added that the issue of Proposition 48 is a public relations ploy by universities. He concluded that the universities were striving for the image of being a caring, giving institution by reaching out to the underprivileged student athlete. Zingg (1983) saw the inevitable future for Proposition 48 and called for a reform for this issue to better accommodate the needs of the student. The system was too rigid and could not possibly address the needs of all student athletes. Steinbreder (1991) suggested that Black athletes test scores

11 cannot be compared to the test scores of other student athletes because of an academic and cultural bias in standard test scores such as the SAT and ACT. In summary, Proposition 48 was developed to provide a set of criteria to determine the college readiness and potential academic success of the student athlete. The turmoil over Proposition 48 stemmed from there not being an existing standard before this time and the lack of consideration for individuals who required more preparation. Due to inequalities in educational funding and tracking the opportunities of traditionally underprivileged individuals were further diminished by this Proposition. This led to a ratification of the rule and replaced by Proposition 16. Proposition 16 Proposition 48 was deemed to be antiquated after a period of roughly 10 years. A new measure to determine the eligibility of incoming freshmen was developed to accommodate the changes in rigor for high schools and universities. This new system was label Proposition 16. From the controversy of Proposition 48 came a ratification of the process to determine initial eligibility. Proposition 16 was developed to give more flexibility in the criteria of determining eligibility as well as to increase the academic standards needed for college entrance. Blum (1994) observed the impact of tougher academic standards. He noticed that the higher standards that were developed for academic eligibility to participate in intercollegiate athletics at the Division I level were greeted with more acceptance. This may be due to the absence of standards before the inception of both Propositions 48 and 16. Proposition 16 is the revision of Proposition 48. The NCAA introduced it in 1996. Proposition 16’s purpose is to increase the academic standards a prospective student athlete has to fulfill to be classified as a qualifier. Moran (1995) claimed that the NCAA permitted prospective student athletes the opportunity to organize their academic affairs, which delayed Proposition 16’s inception. Even with the overall acceptance of the new Proposition there were still individuals that were skeptical of the proposal. The prevailing argument was centered on the ways that Proposition 16 affected the academic standards that were already prescribed for the student athlete. Blum (1996) claims that coaches promoted the easier standards for students and were in opposition to the Proposition 16 standards, which include the sliding academic scale. An explanation of the sliding academic scale is that a student with a certain grade point average must obtain a certain score on the SAT/ACT to be considered a qualifier. The computation of this

12 new standard is described by Bagnato (1995) who gives the example of a prospective student athlete who must earn a score of 700 on the SAT, and also have an core grade point average of 2.5 from the 4.000 grading scale. Proposition 16 governs the NCAA's initial eligibility requirements for student athletes at more than 300 Division I colleges and universities. Implemented in 1995, Prop. 16 is a more restrictive successor to Proposition 48, which went into effect in 1986. High school graduates who do not meet Prop. 16's requirements are precluded from participating in intercollegiate competition and may be denied athletic scholarships. To qualify for full eligibility, student athletes must have a 2.0 grade-point average (GPA) in 13 approved academic "core" courses and an SAT of 1010 or a combined ACT of 86. Students with lower test scores need higher core course GPAs. The minimum test score for students with a GPA of 2.5 or higher is 820 SAT/68 ACT 18 (Bagnato, 1995, p. 5). In summary, many viewed Proposition 16 as a more complete proposal than its predecessor. The raising of academic standards for prospective student athletes was intended to help them to be a more successful college student. The fundamentals of this Proposition have been used as the blueprint for future academic proposals by the NCAA. These propositions were primarily used to determine if a student could participate in athletics on the collegiate level without any impediments. If there were not any issues with the student’s grade point average and test scores, the student received the classification of qualifier. Qualifier A qualifier is anyone who has earned the opportunity to practice, compete and receive institutional or athletically related financial aid during their first academic year (NCAA, 2009, p. 143). The NCAA, in 14.3.1.1, defines the Qualifier: A qualifier is defined as one who is a high school graduate and who presented the following academic qualifications: (Revised: 1/10/92 effective 8/1/95) (a) A minimum cumulative grade-point average as specified in Bylaw 14.3.1.1.2 (based on a maximum 4.000) in a successfully completed core curriculum of at least 16 academic courses per Bylaw 14.3.1.2, including the following: (Revised: 1/6/93 effective 8/1/96, 1/14/94 effective 8/1/96, 1/11/00 effective 8/1/00, 11/1/01 effective 8/1/05, 10/31/02 effective 8/1/03 and 8/1/05, 4/24/03 effective 8/1/08 for those student athletes first entering a collegiate institution on or after 8/1/08)

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English 4 years Mathematics (Three years of mathematics courses at the level of Algebra I or higher). (Computer science courses containing significant programming elements that meet graduation requirements in the area of mathematics 2 years natural or physical science (including at least one laboratory course if offered by the high school). (Computer science courses containing significant programming elements that meet graduation requirements in the area of natural or physical science also may be accepted.) 2 years additional courses in English, mathematics, or natural or physical science 1 year social science 2 years additional academic courses [in any of the above areas or foreign language, philosophy or nondoctrinal religion (e.g., comparative religion) courses] 4 years The record of the above courses and course grades must be certified by the NCAA Eligibility Center using either an official high school transcript forwarded directly from the high school or a high school transcript forwarded by an institution’s admissions office; and (Revised: 2/9/95, 4/27/06, 5/9/07) (b) A minimum combined score on the SAT critical reading and math sections or a minimum sum score on the ACT as specified in Bylaw 14.3.1.1.2. The required SAT or ACT score must be achieved under national testing conditions on a national testing date [no residual (campus) testing or regional testing dates] except that a state administered ACT may be used to meet the test-score requirement. (NCAA, 2009, p. 143) Nonqualifier A nonqualifier is anyone that fails to meet the criteria for a qualifier. These individuals are not able to practice, compete or receive any athletically related financial aid. It is permissible for these individuals to receive institutional financial aid (NCAA, 2009, p. 144). NCAA regulation 14.3.2.1 states that a nonqualifier is a student who has not graduated from high school or who, at the time specified in the regulation (see Bylaw 14.3), did not present the core-curriculum grade-point average and or SAT/ACT score required for a qualifier (NCAA, 2009 p. 144).

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Maintaining eligibility This section will include the regulations that a student athlete must adhere to in order to remain in good academic standing with the team and the university. In most cases the prevailing academic standard for establishing good academic standing is an overall grade point average of 2.0. This is true or the case for most universities and NCAA regulations. According to the NCAA: To be eligible to compete, you must: (a) have been admitted as a regularly enrolled, degree seeking student according to the published entrance requirements of your institution; (b) Be in good academic standing according to the standards of you institution; and (c) Be enrolled in at least a minimum full-time baccalaureate degree program (not less than 12 semester or quarter hours) and maintain satisfactory progress toward that degree, be enrolled in a full-time graduate or professional degree program (as defined by the institution for all graduate students in that program) or be enrolled and seeking a second baccalaureate degree at your institution. [Bylaws 14.01.2, 14.1.8 and 14.1.9] (NCAA, 2009, pp. 127-149). Continuing eligibility according to the NCAA is defined: In order to be eligible for competition at the end of each academic term, a student athlete must successfully complete six semester or six quarter hours of academic credit the preceding regular academic term in which the student athlete has been enrolled full time at a collegiate institution. [Bylaw 14.4.3.1-(a)] (NCAA, 2009 p. 149) Also a student athlete must: … satisfactorily must have completed at least an average of 12 semester or quarter hours of academic credit during each of the terms in each of academic credit during each of the terms in each of the academic years in which you have been enrolled, or you satisfactorily must have completed 24 semester hours or 36 quarter hours of academic credit since the beginning of the previous fall term or since the beginning of your institution's preceding regular two semesters or three quarters. [Bylaw 14.4.3.1-(b)] (NCAA, 2009 p. 149) In addition to the previous regulation, the NCAA (2009 p. 150) also states that,

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You must earn at least 75 percent of the semester or quarter hours required for satisfactory progress during the regular academic year. You may not earn more than 25 percent of the semester or quarter hours required for satisfactory progress the summer or through correspondence courses taken during the academic year and thereafter. [Bylaw 14.4.3.1.4] In terms of the grade point average criteria that accompanies satisfactory progress, the NCAA (2009) states, You must achieve the following minimum grade point average (based on a maximum of 4.000) at the beginning of the fall term or at the beginning of any other regular term of the academic year, based on you earning: i. 24 semester or 36 quarter hours: 1.800; ii. 48 semester or 72 quarter hours: 1.900; iii. 72 semester or 108 quarter hours: 2.000; and iv. 96 semester or 144 quarter hours. (NCAA, 2009 p. 150) You must meet the minimum grade point average at the certifying institution based on the method of calculation used by the institution for calculating grade point averages for all students and the calculation shall only include coursework normally counted by the institution in calculating the grade point average for graduation (NCAA, 2009 p. 1). The final piece of legislation that is applicable to the process of creating good standing is choosing a major. You must choose a major that leads to a specific baccalaureate degree by the beginning of your third year of enrollment. (This includes transfer students who have not completed an academic year in residence yet or used one season of eligibility in a sport at their current institution). [Bylaw 14.4.3.1.6] (NCAA, 2009 p.150) Satisfactory Progress According to The NCAA, (1984) satisfactory progress is the ability to complete courses within a specified major at an average of 25% yearly with a minimum grade point average of 2.0. The NCAA has dictated that for all practical purposes the student athlete basically only has to maintain a ‘C’ average and make a progression of 75% of his course work toward a degreed program; there may be variations by institution, but this is a paraphrased version of the general procedure. According to Hyatt (2003):

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Satisfactory Progress in Degree Requirements stipulates that athletes in Division I sports programs must complete 25%, 50% and 75% of the degree program requirements in their third, fourth and fifth years. Second, Satisfactory Progress in the School Year stipulates that the student must take and pass three quarters of their courses during the regular academic year, not in summer school. Third, Minimum Grade Point Average Requirement provides that any student athlete entering his third year of enrollment must maintain a percentage of the minimum GPA required for the institution's degree programs and graduation. (p. 260) The purpose of this is to assure that students are not simply matriculating in courses without any direction, which may lead to a student not receiving a degree. This also protects the academic reputations of universities. Athletes are required to maintain satisfactory progress to participate in athletics. This participation leads to the university having the ability to host athletic competitions that serve as revenue generating events. Revenue Generation At a vast majority of universities, the primary athletic programs that garner multiple revenue streams are football and men's basketball. A revenue generating sport is one that earns the university funds that can then be allocated to assist in offsetting the expenses incurred by the athletic department. Ways to create revenue streams in collegiate athletics are through ticket sales, radio and television contracts, marketing opportunities, and concession sales. According to NCAA (1999), athletics departments use revenue generating sports to earn money that is allocated throughout the athletic department to provide funding for other sports programs. The university model approach is very similar, where revenue-generating portions of the institution assist in supporting those that do not generate revenue. The Black athlete is a driving force in process of revenue generation within the market place of collegiate sport. Rhoden (2006) speaks about the conveyor belt system: “Black athletes has become a vital commodity in the sports industry, which necessitated a full-service delivery system to identify, prepare, and carry Black muscle to ‘market’” (p. 169). To demonstrate revenue growth, consider that all institutions shared approximately $45 million per year for football in various television contracts in the mid-1980’s (Zimbalist, 1999). Total revenue for men’s basketball–the other heavily televised sport – was approximately 25% of total revenue for football in 1985 (Fulks, 1995), so the total annual revenue from television

17 contracts in the mid-1980s was likely in the range of $55 million to $75 million. In recent years, the total annual revenue from television contracts has risen to over $1 billion (Fort, 2010; Peloquin, 2011), an increase well over 1,000% since the mid-1980s. According to Schlabach (2011), "The NCAA expected to distribute $180.5 million to its Division I members that participated in the men's basketball tournament. The payments are determined by each school's performance in the tournament over a rolling six-year period." (p. 1) According to Schlabach (2011), "In April 2010, the NCAA signed a 14-year, $10.8 billion contract with CBS and Turner Sports to televise the men's tournament. The NCAA expects more than $740 million to be distributed to its members annually through 2024." (p. 1) According to the NCAA (2012), the CBS/Turner broadcast provided the NCAA with over $705 million dollars in 2011-12, and makes up over 81% of the NCAA's annual revenue. The revenues from these contracts are divided up with the majority or 96% going to the Division I schools and the remaining 4% going toward operating costs. NCAA (2012) writes for 2011-12, the most recent year for which audited numbers are available. Total NCAA revenue was $871.6 million dollars, an increase from the 2010-11 total of $845.9 million, most of which came from the rights agreement with Turner/CBS Sports. Predominantly White Institutions (PWI’s) From this point forward the predominantly White institution will be referred to as PWI. The PWI is the label placed on institutions of higher education that have an enrollment consisting of majority White students. In terms of athletics these colleges and universities comprise the overwhelming majority of Division I institutions. According to the NCAA (2013), there are 335 institutions that participate in men's basketball at the Division I level. Of the 335 there are only 23 institutions that participate in Division I men's basketball that are considered majority Black or HBCU- Historically Black Colleges and Universities. There are 13 HBCU’s that participate in Division I men's basketball from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and another 10 institutions in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. According to the NCAA (2013), Black males comprise 58.9% of Division I men's basketball teams. In the arena these men are the majority; however, at their respective institutions they are overwhelmingly underrepresented in enrollment numbers. The Black male is the person who earns the wealth in college athletics. According to Hawkins (2010), this reality will impact several components of the lived existence of these student athletes including but not

18 limited to their social lives, educational experiences, a sense of self, feeling of otherness, and varying levels of feelings of disenfranchisement or empowerment. Scholarship at the PWI The Black male at a predominately White institution (PWI) has the unenviable status of frequently having the moniker placed upon him of "dumb jock." According to Hawkins, this dumb jock label is more likely to be placed on the Black athlete than on his White counterpart. Hawkins writes that "despite his academic credentials, his race, gender, and athletic identity constrained him to historical stereotypes and images that sustain the system of White supremacy" (Hawkins, 2010 p. 119). The Black male athlete occupies a space at the PWI that is very distinctive. It is one of being a minority on campus yet a majority on revenue generating teams within the athletic department. This positioning situates him in space that then further creates a separation between himself and the non-athlete Black male. Black males and Black male athletes share race and gender in common and this commonality occasionally causes them to occupy the same space, however, their experiences vary significantly when athletic identity cloaks the racial identity of the Black male athletes. Therefore, a Black male means one thing and a Black male athlete means something different in the context of PWIs. (Hawkins, 2010, p. 120) Black males struggle in the attempt to navigate the landscape of the PWI due to it not being designed with them in mind. According to Chavous, Green, Harris, Helaire, and Rivas (2004) Black males are seen as being overrepresented in college athletics and this causes them to experience pressure to perform academically as well as athletically. These men have the burden of being the representative for their race in these spaces. According to Higher Education Report (2007) Status on Minorities indicates that for all Black students matriculating in higher education nearly 80% of these individuals attend a PWI. Even with this high level of enrollment at PWI Fleming (1986) states that the White institution has an environment that is not welcoming to athlete or non-athlete Blacks. There is this sense of not having a social framework that is conducive to the manners in which Blacks commune. Most PWIs have events geared toward Blacks and other people of color. However, these events are few and far between. The most notable are any Black History Month activities and any cultural diversity events.

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The statistic that receives the most overwhelming attention in regards to Black male athletes is the graduation rate of these individuals in comparison to their counterparts. According to the NCAA (2012), the graduation rate for the freshman class of 2005 at Division I institutions for Black students was 38% compared to 60% by their non-student athlete cohorts. This statistic leads one to believe that the Division I environment may be beneficial to Black student athletes, that is until one views the converse of the statistic by looking at the graduation rate for the freshman class of 2005 at Division I institutions for White students (63%) compared to 80% by their student athlete cohorts. So when viewed in this dynamic it can be seen that the environment of the PWI is more beneficial to the White student and student athlete. Black Masculinity In this section, I provide a brief summary of the notion of Black masculinity. The purpose of examining Black masculinity is to provide a foundation for the disparity in understanding the tensions of “being a Black male” and the common misconceptions and beliefs about the capabilities of Black males. The Black male form has been commodified in the United States for many years prior to the formation of the country. Sport, according to Hoberman (1997), “is the point where it is embraced as a foundation of Black identity” (p. 4). Matthew Henry (2004) states that Black masculinity--one defined mainly by an urban aesthetic, a nihilistic attitude, and an aggressive posturing--has made its way into the cultural mainstream in the last two decades. Though there are numerous contributing factors, this image of Black masculinity has developed largely as a result of the commodification of hip-hop culture, and the ubiquity of rap music and the 'videomercials' that sell it. More specifically, it is the result of the popularity of the urban 'gangsta.' (p. 1) In contemporary times the Black male is viewed as a dominant physical specimen both athletically and socially. As discussed in earlier sections the Black male has not been given the benefit of being thought of as an intellectual being. Harry Edwards (1984) states: They must contend, of course, with the connotations and social reverberations of the traditional 'dumb jock' caricature. But Black student athletes are burdened also with the insidious racist implications of the myth of 'innate Black athletic superiority', and the more blatantly racist stereotype of the 'dumb Negro' condemned by racial heritage to

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intellectual inferiority. Under circumstances where there exists a pervasive belief in the mutual exclusivity of physical and intellectual capability. (p. 8) The frameworks for Black masculinity are positioned with negative overtones. The overwhelming sentiment is that the Black man has a beastly personality and an exaggerated performative sense of machismo. This style is described according to Rhoden (2006) as “Black style is a state of mind; something felt something seen and immediately identified as one’s own” (p. 143). bell hooks (1992) writes that the masculinity of the Black man is represented as violent, misogynistic, sexist, phallocentric, and homophobic. According to Lewis (2008) Black masculinity has historically been framed in notions of Brute Negro, Stud, noble savage, Uncle Tom, and Bad Nigger. In the modern world, sports culture and music frame Black masculinity as Hustler, Militant/Bad Nigger, Super Jock or Womanizer, lazy, flashy, greedy, violent and dumb. (p. 7) Another of the narratives of Black masculinity is the notion of the Black man as a well endowed individual. Collins (2005) states that "White elites reduced Black men to their bodies, and identified their muscles and their penises as their most important sites" (p. 57). Many Black men have embraced the concept of Black masculinity as being tied to their penises. By embracing this stereotype, some Black men have helped create the illusion that the stereotype is true. This embracement seems to straddle the realms of stereotype and fact. According to Staples (1982), Black males have traditionally had a strong sexual orientation because the sexual conquest of women was considered a masculine trait. Since other symbols of masculinity have been denied them in the society, sexual prowess became a partial substitute for achievement in other areas. (p. 81) In keeping with the notions of CRT, Black masculinity in sport is a microcosm of the broader culture. Mary Jo Kane (1996) writes, "Sport consists of a set of ideological beliefs and practices that are closely tied to traditional power structures" (p. 95). These power structures often are attached to the notion of Black males possessing according to Ferber (2007) "their animal-like nature, emphasizing their sexuality, aggressiveness, and physical power" (p. 19). This ideology of what constitutes Black masculinity is also underpinned with as Jay Coakley (2006) states, the athletic abilities of Black men are viewed as God given, however White men are viewed as having "fortitude, intelligence, moral character, strategic preparation, coach-ability

21 and good organization" (p. 288). The paradigm of Black man as athlete or entertainer further perpetuates the dynamics of White supremacy in that the Black man is viewed according to Ferber (2007) as a safe individual if he can be controlled by the White man. This is indicative of the "coach is similar to the White male father figure" (Ferber, 2007, p. 20). Collins (2005) states that the image of Black men is viewed as naturally violent. This combination of violence and sexuality made Black men inherently unsuitable for work until they were trained by White men and placed under their discipline and control. To explain these relations, White elites created the controlling image of the buck. Unlike images of African natives who roam their wild homelands like beasts untamed by civilization (colonialism), the representations of the buck described a human animal that had achieved partial domestication through slavery (Collins, 2005 p. 56). However when there is a Black man who does not conform to the narrative of being a child under the control of his White father figure, he is viewed as a troublemaker. The troublemaker is ostracized and made an example of by the media especially when the person is involved in an altercation that stems from what is assumed to be the primitive nature of the Black man. Violators of the safe Black man role have very public interactions with the law. Some of these violators have been O.J Simpson, Aaron Hernandez, Ray Lewis, Plaxico Burress, Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Michael Vick, Rae Carruth, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods and Latrell Sprewell. Collins (2005) states that Latrell Sprewell, who was suspended by the National Basketball Association for an altercation in which he attached and choked his head coach P.J. Carlesimo, received an undue amount of scrutiny from the media that may be indicative of the ways in which Black masculinity is depicted as over sexed, aggressive, violent, confrontational, and reckless. Black masculinity in the United States has been directly associated with criminal activity. Black men are arrested and convicted at a disproportionate rate compared to other racial groups. Weathersbee (2006) shows that one third of Black men from the age of maturity to age 40 will have an encounter with the legal system including probation, incarceration or parole. Feagin, Vera, and Batur (2001) state that "A majority of Whites still stereotype Black people as violence- prone, inclined to live on welfare, and disinclined to hard work, and a substantial majority still stereotype Black Americans as unintelligent" (p. 188).

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Black masculinity is a subjective notion that has very little validity in the depiction of the lived existences of Black men. It might be considered a cloak spread over the Black man to subjugate him to conform to the notions that the dominant society perpetuates as their narrative of what constitutes Blackness. Otherness This section provides an examination of how the African American male is deemed to be an outsider in several ways at the institution where he participates in athletics. I identify five ways in which the African American male is Othered as a member of a revenue generating sport team, as a participant in the sport of Men's Basketball, as an African American male, as a community icon and celebrity with vast earning potential, and finally as a catered-to student matriculating in a degree program without a substantial amount of rigor. Edward Said (1978) received the credit for popularizing the term "other" in his book Orientalism where he traces the roots of othering to philosophy. The evolution of the concept of othering has indicated that there are a vast variety of connotations and implications. A sampling of the areas that are impacted by othering are politics, economics, education, social interactions and psychology. Marginalized groups often gain a status of being an ‘other’" (Collins, 1986, p. S18). In essence, you are "an other" if you are different from what Audre Lorde calls the mythical norm. ‘Others’ are virtually anyone who differs from the societal schema of an average White male. The sociological term for this is ‘othering’ or specifically attempting to establish a person as unacceptable based on a certain criterion that fails to be met. (Ritzer, 2007 p. 205) As a member of a revenue generating sport team, the student is viewed as an outsider to the rest of the athletic program teams. The reason for this is that typically at the Division I level there are only two sports teams, football and men's basketball, that generate revenue, whereas the other 15 to 25 or so teams do not generate revenue (Fulks 2002). So what this means is that as a member of the revenue generating sports team you are afforded better facilities, more plush locker rooms, apparel sponsored by marquee athletic corporations, television exposure and merchandising opportunities (Fulks, 2002). Finally, revenue generating sports participants have the opportunity to be selected to compete professionally for huge sums of money. Although this is not exclusive to revenue

23 generating sports, these are the only sports that require participation at the collegiate level to be considered eligible to be selected for professional participation (Hawkins, 2010). In men's basketball there are some exceptions to this standard. To be eligible to compete in the National Basketball Association an individual must be over the age of 19, have completed a year at a collegiate institution or have international competition experience (NCAA, 2004 p. 63). These opportunities may cause members of other programs to become envious toward the members of revenue generating sports programs. As participants in the sport of men's basketball, these individuals are Othered on the campuses of Division I institutions. This is due to the notoriety that accompanies the participation in this sport. There are campus rituals that give men's basketball players more exposure than other sports programs on campus. The most notable of these rituals is Midnight Madness, which opens the basketball season (Hawkins 2010). At many Division I institutions Midnight Madness is televised nationally. As opposed to football, basketball players do not have their faces covered for the majority of the time that they are participating in the sport. This gives them added exposure, in that they are very visible at competitions and on television. Another important ritual that accompanies the sport of men's basketball is March Madness. This is the annual basketball tournament that begins at the end of the regular season and conference tournaments. This tournament determines which team will be crowned national champion for Division I men's basketball. Among many nuances of the tournament is the very captivating selection show. The selection show is where the governing committee decides which teams qualify to participate in the tournament. At many Division I institutions, the student bodies have pep rallies and viewing parties to witness if their school is selected to the tournament and to find out where and when they will play. As an African American male these basketball players are also Othered due to race. African American males at a Division I institution are in the minority racially. According to United States Census, (2005) African Americans males constitute 5.5% of the college population in the United States. African American males participate in percentages upwards of 40% in intercollegiate athletics at Division I institutions and on average comprise less than 3% of the undergraduate population on Division I campuses (Associated Press, 2007-2008). This reinforces the notion that African American males are represented at very low levels at Division I institutions.

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The African American male is Othered in terms of being a community icon and celebrity. These athletes are separated from other students because of their participation in athletics. For many institutions the identity of the school is forged through athletics, especially the sports of football and basketball. Coupled with this, marketing of the sport usually includes the advertisement of the athletes in printed materials including but not limited to: posters, pocket schedules, television commercials, billboards, internet postings, newspaper ads, magazine articles, game programs and media guides. The level of exposure contributes to the amount of attention that these athletes garner from the public. As a component for fostering good public relations, many members of the athletic department participate in community outreach opportunities. Habitat for Humanity is one of the major organizations that benefit from participation of athletes in activities such as building homes for underprivileged families. "There is a thin line between admiration and resentment by the university community" (Leach & Conners, 1984, p. 36). Premiere athletes also have the opportunity to have merchandise sold that replicates their presence on the team, usually in the form of a jersey. The assumption that athletes, especially African American male athletes, are enrolled at the university for their athletic prowess and not there for their intellectual acuity prompted Anton L. Allahar (1993) to state, An ideology, once having taken root in a concrete context, can develop a life of its own and spread to encompass different individuals and groups in different situations that are far removed from the original context in which the ideology developed. (pp. 39-55) For the African American male athlete, this is grounding for how they will experience a predominantly White institution. Too frequently, the sentiment is that the African American athlete does not have the ability to compete in the classroom. African American male athletes are stereotyped by classmates and faculty as low academic performers (DeFrancesco, 1996). This leads to the assumption that in order to be at the university the athlete must be receiving additional academic help. Many believe this help exists outside of the permissible academic tutors and study tables that athletes have at their disposal. According to Hawkins (2010), In sports, the dumb jock belief has functioned to cast a veil over athletes in general, and Black athletes specifically. The dumb jock belief is a means of typecasting and racial profiling that, once internalized, reveals the power that works to set parameters and socially control Black athletes. (p. 79)

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The aforementioned parameters lead to these athletes being placed in academic programs of lesser rigor to promote successful completion of a degree program. This is done with little regard to the athletes' ability to generate any level of professional development for a working career as opposed to an athletic career. According to Hoberman (1997) the entrapment of the African Americans in the world of athleticism is the result of a long collaboration between Blacks seeking respect and expanded opportunity and Whites seeking entertainment, profit, and forms of racial reconciliation that do not challenge fundament assumptions about racial difference. (p.4) The Inability to Make a Choice Does the African American male athlete have the ability to make a choice about the direction of his academic program? I also ask if there are any mechanisms in place to promote academic choice. The most visible variable is that the African American male student athlete who participates in intercollegiate athletics at the Division I level has to "play ball" in essence to participate in athletics and remain a member of the institution. My study seeks to find out if the athlete has to go along with the prevailing norms of the athletic department in terms of degreed program selection to maintain satisfactory progress in order to continue athletic participation. I also investigate whether there are any support systems that promote and encourage academic choice within the athletic departments of these Division I institutions. The major components that I suspect to be missing for the athlete are a lack of social emotional support, advocates for academic choice of student athletes and a lack of academic mentoring that creates accountability. In the following sections, I examine the three lacking support systems. Social emotional support has to deal with the ineptitude of Division I institutions to provide the African American male student athlete with the resources to transition into the living experience of being on campus, as well as provide support systems for not only the physical relocation but the emotional transition that could lead to depression or withdrawal. When these young men arrive on campus, they often experience culture shock. According to Braddock (1991), there are not many mechanisms in place to assist the student athlete in assimilating to the culture of the campus. A lack of advocates for academic choice of student athletes is an issue that promotes student athletes to just play ball so to speak. There are not many academic advocates for the

26 student athlete within the PWI. This may be due to the mindset of the athlete having more privilege than the traditional student. Many detractors believe that there is a lack of academic mentoring and accountability on the college campus in regards to the student athlete. The student athlete has ample opportunity to meet with potential sports agents and agencies, professional athletes, coaches, and management who will offer advice on a career in athletics. These individuals may also offer insights into training camps that could bolster their ability or likelihood to become professional athletes. However, these same student athletes have few who can instruct them on the perils of focusing on a career in athletic participation as opposed to increasing the rigors of their academic course load to accommodate the demands of the work force. Persistence Persistence is a student’s continuous behavior leading to a desired goal, in this instance the goal is graduation from a four-year institution of higher education. The significance of persistence to this study is these student athletes have historically had lower graduation rates than their White counterparts. Factors that generally affect persistence are grouped into cognitive, non-cognitive, and environmental. Cognitive factors relate to the intellectual factors that contribute to persistence. Non-cognitive factors relate to the motivational factors that contribute to persistence. Environmental factors are grouped into the categories of internal and external (Astin, 1975; Tinto, 1993). These factors may work independently or in conjunction to influence the student athlete to discontinue his education. I give an example of each of the factors that affect the retention of the typical Black male student athlete who participates in Division I intercollegiate basketball. An example of a cognitive factor is that student athletes have the pressure of remaining in good standing academically with the university. This is not unlike the general student body population. The difference is that the student athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average and complete a certain portion of the core curriculum for a degree program. These regulations could potentially add higher levels of pressure to these individuals to perform academically. An example of a non-cognitive factor is that graduation eludes many African American men's basketball players at a substantial rate compared to their White counterparts. The latest data indicates that African American graduations success rate (GSA) is 23 percent less than their White counterparts. African American males have a GSA of 61 percent compared to the GSA of

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White males of 84 percent (NCAA, 2011, p. 11). A primary variable that affects this statistic is the ability to forego collegiate participation for the pursuit of a career as a professional athlete. An example of an environmental factor would be the pursuit of a career as a professional athlete contributes greatly to the lack in retention of male basketball players at Division I institutions. This is because these athletes are permitted to forego their amateur status after the age of 19 and have been removed from high school for a year or completed one year at the collegiate level (Nbapa, 2009, p. 225) There are many different factors that contribute to persistence for the student athlete. I have put them into four categories: academics, athletics, social, and personal. Some academic factors include: becoming eligible, choosing a major, scheduling classes, maintaining satisfactory progress, entertain the possibility of transferring schools, and working toward graduation. Some athletic factors include: abiding by NCAA regulations, staying eligible, practice schedule, playing schedule, travel schedule, injury, rehab, recovery, playing time, exposure, draft potential, professional development, agents, time management, and building relationships with teammates. Some social factors include: peer group, relations with public, relations with faculty, relations with staff, relations with student body, assimilation, race relations, an adjustment to weather climate, and adjustment to climate of the university. Some of the personal factors that affect persistence are: family, friends, children, significant others, finances, housing, working, transportation, drugs, alcohol, mental health, and physical health. With the multitude of contributing factors that affect persistence there is a necessity for the institution to assist in the retention of students. Tinto (1993) states "The key to successful student retention lies with the institution, in its faculty and staff, not one formula or recipe" (p. 4). Assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation and reformation are key components to an institutional retention plan. Commitment to those components to be coupled with multiple levels of commitment including administrative and institutional (1993). According to Person & LeNoir: One initiative institutions can take in improving this area is to hire more staff of color to serve as role models. The lack of representation in the main office and coaching staffs

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mirrors the minimal numbers of African American faculty and staff at institutions; this often leaves the student with very few mentors and adds to their feelings of marginality. (1997, p. 84) These remedies to this issue need to be investigated for the overall well-being of the African American student athlete. It is imperative to improve persistence in this group of college students. Student Athletes must have a sense of connection to the institution. With this connection these students must also have a goal commitment. According to Astin (1975), the level of dedication to the student’s goals is measured by the commitment to obtain the goal of entering college and obtaining a degree. It can be stated that all student athletes have the expectation of receiving an education when attending college. What cannot be measured is the level of goal commitment. This may serve to be the determining factor when looking at persistence. Critical Race Theory (CRT) In this section I begin with an introduction to Critical Race Theory as this theoretical lens that serves to ground this study. I give a history of the theory. I then introduce the tenets of the theory established in the early writing on CRT. I identify some of the original contributors of the theory and their area of influence on the evolution of the theory. I also detail how Critical Race Theory, and specifically the concept of Interest Convergence, is used in this study. The Critical Race Theory (CRT) movement is spearheaded by scholars, activists, and individuals committed to the ideology of creating a more socially just relationship among race, racism, and power. CRT’s origins are often attributed to Derrick Bell and Alan Freeman, but should also include important figures such as Richard Delgado, Jean Stefancic, and Kimberlé Crenshaw. CRT is an evolution and tangent of Critical Legal Studies, a legal movement that confronted the prevailing scholarship in legal studies that is centered around standards in law that spoke to the cultural and social norms (Gordon, 1990). Today CRT has expanded far beyond legal studies to any field that might benefit from a critique of liberalism and its reliance on systemic structures to address injustices and inequities of the society at large. CRT questions the foundations of the status quo, including enlightenment rationalism, legal reasoning, and equality theory. CRT originally focused on hate speech, hate crimes, and misuse of affirmative action laws but now has spread far beyond that area. According to Ladson-Billings, CRT gained notoriety as counter-legal scholarship that

29 challenged the positivist and liberal legal discourse of civil rights. "Critical race theory begins with the notion that racism is normal in American society and critical race theory critiques liberalism and argues that Whites have been the primary beneficiaries of civil rights legislation" (Ladson-Billings, 1996, p.7). Angela Harris describes CRT as sharing "a commitment to a vision of liberation from racism through right reason" (Harris, 1994 p. 743). The activist paradigm that exists in CRT attempts not only to understand how society positions itself through the use of race and class, but also creates counter hegemonic movements in an attempt to form a society that is committed to social justice. Five Tenets of CRT According to Delgado and Stefancic (2001), CRT is composed of five tenets. The first tenet is that, "racism is ordinary, not aberrational" (p. 7). In the United States of America, racism is the standard; “Racism is difficult to cure or address because it is the ordinary usual way society does business, the common, everyday, experience of most people of color in the country” (Delgado & Stefanic, 2001, p. 3). Delgado (1988) indicated that "White people rarely see acts of blatant or subtle racism, while minority people experience them all the time" (p. 407). As a result of White peoples’ inability to see racism, Delgado suggests that the only proposed remedies, even for the most blatant forms of discrimination, are those based on conceptions of equality that insist on treating all parties the same. This approach results in a privileging of the form of equality over its substance (Delgado & Stefancic, 1992). Another implication of this tenet is the notion that people of color will only incur temporary advancements. These advancements will subsequently be followed by setbacks. According to Bell (1993), it is vital that Black people acknowledge that racism is alive and well and that racism is a constant in society. This “racial realism,” provides a critique of liberalism and gives CRT scholars an avenue to declare their resentments with the notion that "racial realism" speaks to issues of race in American society. For example, many liberals advocate a colorblind approach to race relations that assumes the American Constitution and its evolving body of laws to be race neutral. Racial realism directly refutes this notion of racial neutrality and colorblindness. According to Bell (1992c), this approach of thinking in colorblindness denies an individual authentic acceptance for their individuality. To negate an individual’s race is as condescending as negating an individual’s sex. Such negation requires people to deny a

30 fundamental part of who they are. The second tenet of CRT according to Delgado and Stefancic (2001), referred to as either interest convergence or material determinism locates racism in the material world rather than in the world of ideas. Since Whites, whether elites or poor, benefit from the racism that is built into the material stratification of society, they have little incentive to eliminate it. The result is that Whites tolerate advances for racial justice only when it suits its interest to do so or when the material interests of Whites “converge” with those of people of color. According to Derrick Bell (2004), this “interest convergence” alone can explain why those who are generally opposed to policies supporting racial equality would suddenly concede and appear, at least on the surface, committed to the highly touted American concept of equality of opportunity for all as it supposedly manifest itself in decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education in the 1950s. According to Bell (1993), school desegregation was only achieved through the capitalist greed of American Whites as they plotted to obtain the vast physical resources of the continent of Africa. This concept of interest convergence and material determinism will be used in this study at great length to assist in explaining the experiences of my target population. Delgado and Stefancic (2001) refer to their third tenet of CRT as the Social Construction Thesis, which is the idea that "race and races are products of social thought and relations" (2001, p. 8). Social constructs are used in a variety of ways to the convenience of those individuals in the majority. This also includes the ability to give or negate credibility to empirical data. Disregarding biological scientific evidences as it relates to race has been done in some societies (Delgado & Stefanic, 2001). This “convenience” of race to alter as the moment demands produces differential racialization, which according to Delgado "points to the ways in which the dominant society racializes different minority groups at different times in response to the shifting needs of the labor market" (Delgado, 2001, p. 9). One of the important contributions of CRT scholars is its attention to the portrayal of minority groups in societal images and cultural stereotypes, paying particular attention to how these portrayals transform over time. According to Delgado and Stefancic (2001), a fourth tenet of CRT is its acceptance of the concepts of intersectionality and anti-essentialism. Intersectionality, a concept developed by feminist Leslie McCall (2005) and used by Crenshaw as a methodology for studying the relationships among multiple aspects and positioning of individuals and social interactions, becomes an important counter to the dominant idea that races are essential categories.

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According to Crenshaw (1993), intersectionality reflects the reality of individuals who all belong to more than just one subculture. Each subculture has markers that are used to identify or create the essence of the individual. This positioning in the intersection of multiple identity groups gives way to the sociocultural pressures that accompany being identified as a member of each of these groups. These pressures include, but are not limited to, "structural, political, and representational dynamics" (Crenshaw, 1993, p. 112). Intersectionality implies that the oppressions within a given society, such as sexism, racism, homophobia, and religion-based bigotry are not separate from one another. They actually are intertwined, creating a system of oppression which identifies the varieties of subjugations that an individual may encounter (Knudsen, 2007). A society may view how the perception of ones' identity is formed by using the notion of intersectionality (Collins, 2005). To better understand anti-essentialism, we must first look at the notion of essentialism. Essentialism assumes that every member of that category holds some set of common, essential characteristics and furthermore it attempts to reduce the complexity of experiences of people who live in the world at the intersections of their multiple identities so that only one of those identities counts. Basically, essentialism assumes all oppressed people share the same experience as a result of a commonality of oppression. However, oppression varies by social category, gender, class, race, etc., which means the outcomes and tactics cannot be identically applied to each group (Delgado & Stefancic, 1993). Gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity and all other group characteristics, according to an essentialist view, are fixed traits; however, anti-essentialism argues that “everyone has potentially conflicting, overlapping identities, loyalties and allegiances that cannot be reduced to such essentialist positions” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001 p. 9). CRT seeks to combat the notions of essentialism with an anti-essentialism that gives rise to the unique voices of color. Drawn from the anti-essentialism notion of Ludwig Wittgenstein that rejected the essentialism that is expressed in the identity of language (Lawn, 2005). From Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language, CRT scholars developed an anti-essentialism that indicates that there are no static nor rigid assessments that can be applied to any member in a group that in order to make them homogenous. Delgado and Stefancic (2001) suggest a fifth tenet of CRT claims a unique voice of color which results from the varied experiences that people of color have with oppression, which enables nonWhites to effectively communicate their plight to others groups that may be ignorant

32 to their plight. According to Delgado and Stefancic, (2012) the "legal storytelling movement urges Black and brown writers to recount their experiences with racism and the legal system and to apply their own unique perspectives to assess law's master narratives" (p. 10). As a result of these differential experiences, counterstory, according to Bell, provides a mechanism for people of color to counteract the stories of the dominant group. Counterstory gives a voice to marginalized groups and makes the revision of the racism of the dominant histories possible. According to Delgado & Stefancic (2012), "revisionist history re-examines America’s historical record, replacing comforting majoritarian interpretations of events with ones that square more accurately with minority’s experiences" (p. 24). Examining the revising of history to benefit the majority may shed light on the stories that have been covered up. Some Other Important Ideas of CRT CRT has some very important ideas that are vital to the moment. The body of critical race scholarship embodies several characteristics that highlight these tenets. These components may be viewed as the outcomes of a critical analysis through the lens of CRT. Delgado (1990, p. 95) argued that critical race scholarship is characterized by the following themes: (1) an insistence on "naming our own"; (2) the belief that knowledge and ideas are powerful; (3 ) a readiness to question basic premises of moderate/incremental civil rights law; (4) the borrowing of insights from social science on race and racism; (5) critical examination of the myths and stories powerful groups use to justify racial subordination; (6) a more contextualized treatment of doctrine; (7) criticism of liberal legalisms; and (8) an interest in structural determinism--the ways in which legal tools and thought-structures can impede law reform. CRT critiques inequities attributed to whiteness as it aligns with power and dominance over peoples of color. Due to this, whiteness takes on a personality, so to speak. The personality of whiteness is that it is not solely concerned with subjugating individuals of color. It is also concerned with the protection and cultivation of all things associated with the enforcement and perpetuation of the privilege of whiteness. According to Harris (1990) and Bell (1992c), whiteness should be considered as property because whiteness confers particular rights and privileges to those who are said to possess it, while denying those rights and privileges to those who are said to not possess it. According to Delgado & Stefancic (2012), "White privilege refers to the myriad of social advantages, benefits, and courtesies that come with being a member of the

33 dominant race" (p. 87). Critical Race Theory should lead individuals to become more activist in nature. In order to combat this White privilege, people of color must provide the counterstories that can lead to a revisionist history and the activism to change future history. Simply telling counterstories is not enough. Bell (1992b) urges that the knowledge learned through these counterstories and other examinations of racial inequality should be used by activists to make social change for social justice. One important aspect of such activism for change and justice, Delgado (1993) stated, is critical pedagogy. Critical Race Theory, in general, and interest convergence, in particular, provide a compelling framework for my study on the experiences of Black male basketball players at institutions with Division I athletic programs. Through this lens, racial tolerance at the Division I level may be shown as more of a mechanism for maximizing the material rewards to society’s elites while sustaining and maintaining the racial status quo. The practices and concessions of the university to attract and retain the student athlete should make an individual wonder why institutions bend as much as they do to accommodate these young men. Surely we must consider the possibility that interest convergence plays a role in actions that might appear, on the surface, to promote racial equity, but in reality protect the status quo for white privilege. Critical Race Theory in Education In this section I examine how CRT can be a useful tool in the field of education where it is constantly evolving. Perhaps the first appearance of CRT in education can be found in Gloria Ladson-Billings and William Tate’s "Towards a Critical Race Theory in Education" (Ladson- Billings & Tate, 1995) which adjusts the focus from legal issues of education to ones of institutional issues of education. In examining these institutional issues of education the concepts of "equal opportunity," "voice," and "counterstorytelling" have a prominent role. In education, American liberalism, with its emphasis on formal equality rather than substantive equality, has led to colorblind policies which refuse to recognize that people exist in social and cultural intersections which remain blind to liberal formalism has required the application of sameness to individuals. This liberal favoring of formal equality rather than substantive equality liberalism has proceeded with the assumption that sameness of schooling provides equal opportunity in life and with the assumption that treating everyone as an individual unlinked from their social positions produces equality. This assumption, based on the principle

34 of meritocracy, has been claimed through the repeated telling of success stories. As Zamudio, Russell, Rios, and Bridgeman explain, "CRT challenges the liberal doctrine that equates individual political rights with equality" (Zamudio, Russell, Rios & Bridgeman, 2010 p. 19). As discussed previously, in CRT counterstorytelling is understood to be vital to the expression of Black experience within majority White institutions. Counterstorytelling permits the marginalized individual to express their experiences in their own languages and in their own way, and not regulated by the standard discourse and narratives of the dominant society. According to Gillborn (2009) Whiteness is a matter of normality which is assumed to be the standard starting point for all meaningful interactions between individual of different racial groups resulting in positioning any member of a minority group in a subordinate status. Counterstorytelling leads to the development of voice. According to Ladson-Billings (2009), voice is powerful in labeling or naming the experiences and realities of individuals in a way that causes the oppressor to be affected. Delpit (1988) states that the silencing of the voice of people of color interferes with our ability to understand some of the more prominent issues of education such as inequities in funding, stereotyping of minority students, the achievement gap, high stakes standardized testing performance, discipline disparities, and curriculum tracking. Ladson-Billings (2009) suggests that this silencing can be addressed by CRT, but she also cautions that CRT may not serve as the end all, be all for all issues. According to Gillborn (2009), sport is the only area that the White majority concedes conditional inferiority to certain minority groups. In doing so the issue of White supremacy is juxtaposed by the CRT tenet of interest convergence. In the next section I examine CRT as it relates to sport. Critical Race Theory and Sport In this section I examine how CRT can be used as a useful tool to examine sport. The use of CRT as the lens of this study implicitly assumes that there are injustices and inequalities in the field of sport that revolve around race--in other words, where the central loci of the problems stem. According to Hylton (2004) "the political 'race' focus, the emancipatory edge for Black people, is not the starting point, yet this is a crucial element of CRT" (p. 92). To make color invisible in sport is to import the same problems that colorblindness brings to education. As Sumi Cho (2009) put it, "Colorblindness offers a largely normative claim for a retreat from race that is aspirational in nature" (p. 1598). The notion is especially applicable to the issue of sport

35 where the majority has conceded superiority to the minority. In doing so, the minority that performs a particular sport at its highest level may be viewed by the majority as more superior than his race. In fact, the participator may be viewed as raceless. The phenomenon of becoming raceless not only exists in the sport; it also exists in other professions. When speaking about her career as an educator Ladson-Billings states (2009) "In that instance, my class and social position override my racial identification and for that moment I become 'White'" (p. 19). This notion is seen explicitly in the country of Argentina which, according to Bass (2005), has constructed an Argentinian exceptionalism to effectively designate itself as White in contrast to the other Latin American countries. Argentina’s self-image is quite congruent with an imperialist European country. When Argentina’s soccer players compete in international matches, they present themselves as White, or as raceless. Hylton (2009) makes the argument that when “players ‘deprioritise’ their identifiable ‘Asian culture’ [it] has serious ramifications for the identities of Asians in football, sport and the wider society” (p. 14). The ability to be other than what is observable is something that individuals identified as Black do not have the option of adhering to in forming their identity. Gillborn (2009) states that the positioning of Black and White has been static in society while the meanings and make-up of these categories evolve with the historical moment. These classifications create the binary necessary for the “other” to exist. In popular culture, the most notable attempt of an individual in sport to exempt themselves from being positioned in the Black category is golfer Tiger Woods. He classified himself as ‘Cablinasian’ a mixture of the racial classifications of Caucasian, Black, Indian and Asian. What is notable is that the Caucasian is listed as the primary classification. In this study CRT is used as a way to justify giving voice to the Black athlete. CRT provides the theoretical justification to provide the opportunity for Blacks in sport to speak about their experiences from their point of view, instead of the story being told from the perspectives of the dominant community. Counterstorytelling, according to Hylton (2009), gives the observer the opportunity to hear testimonies that may be viewed as disturbing to an academician because academicians typically have a notion of knowledge as constituted by an objective, neutral truth; however, this “truth” is not objective nor neutral but formed from an onlooker’s perspective. Meaning manufactured through ethnographic studies can merely reflect the subjectivity of the research and can keep the voice of the observed minimalized. "For those lost in the

36 epistemological strictures, [counterstorytelling] provided new ways of seeing and understanding" (Hylton, 2009, p. 52). For academics, the use of counterstorytelling can offer an opportunity to examine the ontological reality of being a Black athlete. According to Susan Birrell (1989), counterstorytelling "will yield the epistemological grounding for a new analysis that would celebrate the distinctiveness of Black culture" (p. 215). CRT in sport can provide a lens to examine the lived existence of the Black male student athletes that participate in Division I intercollegiate basketball at a predominantly White institution (PWI). Counterstorytelling can provide these student athletes a chance to share their stories as they see fit without the overbearing gaze of the institution upon them. I agree with Zamudio, Russell, Rios, and Bridgeman (2010) when they state that "CRT has a tradition of interrogating or questioning ideologies, narratives, institutions and structures of society through a critical lens" (p. 11). As such, CRT provides an excellent foundation for my proposed study. Contributions of the study There are several major contributions of this study to the fields of education and sport. The list of these contributions are:  This can be a very enlightening and illuminating study of a singular person that in many regards is considered fortunate and oppressed simultaneously depending upon who is critiquing it and whose interest is being served. My intention is to make this study a ground breaking piece that helps to begin the cogs of liberation to turn and instill democracy where none was present;  Identifying if there is an opportunity to give the African American male basketball player a voice for democracy;  Identifying any possible ways to reform any unjust policies or practices in intercollegiate athletics as a whole but also that are specific to African American males who participate in Division I basketball;  Identifying a possibility to create a template to assist potential collegiate student athletes navigate the landscape of institutions of higher learning;  This study will add to the overall understanding of culture, pedagogy, curriculum development, urban studies, power, sports studies, economics, student assessment and social justice issues in regards to students athletes; and  Identifying and engaging power structures in the academy that are still oppressive

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These are the some of the more poignant reasons that I have developed to substantiate the execution of this study. I believe that this study will lead to additional research topics. I believe that this study will prove to be a cornerstone in the research of education and sport, in particular, where the two intersect.

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

The primary question for this research study was, "How do Division I African American male intercollegiate basketball players narrate their university experience and what do those narratives reveal about their understanding of the material conditions of their labor? In addressing this question I explored the social, emotional, personal, academic and athletic tensions associated with participation of intercollegiate athletics at the Division I level by African American male basketball players? My study touches on other issues such as economic exploitation of student athletes in revenue producing sports, feelings of otherness felt by these students, and experiences of racism on campus. This study aimed at understanding how these tensions are understood by the players themselves as revealed in the narratives they tell and will likely examine issues that arise far from the basketball court, but, primarily, in their narratives of their experiences in their academic life. The most effective way to examine this phenomenon for me was to gather data from conversations with African American males who have played Division I intercollegiate basketball. I asked individuals to tell me in their own words stories about their experiences in college and how those experiences have shaped their lives. Using template analysis (Johnson, 1998; Crabtree & Miller, 1999; King, 2012) to examine their responses, this study presents some sensitizing concepts that will permit readers to gain a deeper appreciation of the tensions that fill these student athletes’ lives. Sensitizing concepts do not involve using "fixed and specific procedures" to identify a set of phenomena, but instead give "a general sense of reference and guidance in approaching empirical instances" (Blumer, 1969, p. 148). So, whereas definitive concepts "provide prescriptions of what to see, sensitizing concepts merely suggest directions along which to look" (Blumer, 1969, p. 148). Template analysis (Johnson, 1998; Crabtree & Miller, 1999; King, 2012) was the primary analytic method for this study. Template analysis is a process for organizing data obtained through interviews by developing a thematic template to apply to the interview data. A template may be generated ahead of time, but is always reconstructed against the actual interview data until a meaningful set of themes is identified. These themes provided the basis for developing a

39 deeper understanding of the wide social context of the situation of African American male basketball players at Division I universities. Critical Race Theory (CRT) places storytelling at the center of its methodology. According to Gloria Ladson-Billings (2003), “the value of storytelling in qualitative research is that it can be used to demonstrate how the same phenomenon can be told in different and multiple ways depending on the storytellers" (p. 417). Through their narratives my participants convey the meaning that they have made of the world so as to "retain the holistic and meaningful characteristics of real-life" (Yin, 2003, p. 2). According to Edward Buendia (2003), the importance of the narrative is that it provides a counter argument for the metanarratives of the dominate society. The narrative gives insight to the knowledges of a particular individual or group of individuals. This epistemology, according to Ladson-Billings (2003), is a "'system of knowing' that has both an internal logic and external validity" (p. 399). Narratives, according to Buendia (2003), chronicle the historical dimensions that explain how the racial self is subjected to symbolic misrepresentation while consciously interjecting other metaphors of the self, the other and the social in order to highlight the discursive realm that privileges certain metaphors to circulate over time. (p. 64) Metaphors are one of the elements of narrative whose use aids the analysis of the respondent’s experiences. Buendia (2003) states "When researchers engage in seeing (i.e., conceptualizing) and telling racial stories, the narrative structure, of story line of these stories is structures metaphorically" (p. 55). Buendia (2003) adds that "it is this connection between our conceptual systems--or beliefs and assumptions--and socially constructed and shared metaphors that form, in part, the entry point into interpreting the realm of the social" (p. 54). My intent was to use the narratives of former African American male Division I basketball players to facilitate a thematic understanding of the tensions that are present in the academic and personal lives of these student athletes both from their own point of view and in regards to the material realities within which their experiences occurred. Narrative gathering I used a sample size of 10 former African American student athletes who have participated in Division I intercollegiate basketball at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI) within the past 15 years. These former student athletes all have exhausted their NCAA playing eligibility. The age ranges of these respondents is 25-45 years old. The respondents are from a

40 variety of locations and participated in a variety of locations across the nation. Some of the respondents went on to work in professional athletics in the National Basketball Association and others in foreign leagues. Respondents also have gone into the work force or become business owners. These student athletes were selected from various intercollegiate Division I athletic conferences. Former student athletes had to have completed their eligibility through either attrition or graduation. The criteria for selecting former student athletes was a convenience sample due to my relationships with former players from my position of compliance officer and sports manager. I attempted to contact my population through email and via telephone. As a qualitative study, the stories of the participants will paint a picture, which if written eloquently and persuasively will provide readers with new insights into these student athletes’ experiences. The procedures of this study consisted of a conversation with individual respondents with a follow up interview approximately two weeks after the initial interview. This is to ensure that I have probed until I have reached saturation. I conducted the interviews at locations mutually agreed upon by myself and the participants. I audio recorded the conversations and later coded them by grouping common themes. I conducted the interviews for a period less than two hours with each individual and then the follow up two weeks later for a period not exceeding one hour. This created a time line of approximate two weeks of data collection. I also maintained their confidentiality by using pseudonyms. The procedure for gathering the narratives began with a conversation. As an introduction to the conversation, I presented the former student athlete with a photo of themselves in action on the basketball court in their college playing days. This photo served as a slight nudge to jumpstart the conversation. I provided the student athletes with prompts to nudge them into an area of concern for my study. I asked about academics by showing the student athlete their photo from the team media guide. This guide usually has the declared major and the grade point average of the player. As a nudge to get the discussion focused on the social aspects of the conversation, including campus life, I showed the student athlete an uncompleted application for admission to their respective institution. Finally, if the topic had not been introduced I nudged,

41 the conversation to the topic of personal and private life with a question involving dating and family. Regular human subject procedures will protect those I have conversations with from exploitation or exposure. I provided each participant with enough information for him to decide whether or not to participate. I protected each respondent’s confidentiality both in my records and in the final document. Finally, I used member checks after analysis to assure that the participants had a chance to clarify or challenge my analysis. Limitations A possible limitation for this study may arise due to my own personal experiences as a close confident to former Division I basketball players. To offset these possible biases, I maintained an attitude of reflexivity that required me to continually interrogate my analyses and conclusions in light of possible bias (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995). Despite my personal experiences as a close confident to several student athletes, I recognized the need to continually reflect on my position and hold in front of me the realization that I have not lived the experiences of these individual and am, therefore, an outsider. Since my purpose is to help clarify and present an insider view, my outsider view needed careful watching.

Conversation Questions

1. What is it like being a scholarship athlete at a big time basketball program?

More specific questions about college career 1. Tell me about academics. 2. Tell me about campus life. 3. Tell me about your race. 4. Tell me about race relations. 5. Tell me about tensions of being a scholarship Black athlete at a big time basketball program.

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CHAPTER IV FINDINGS

The purpose of this study was to develop an in-depth understanding of the experiences of African American male basketball players who participated in Division I collegiate athletics by engaging several former players in conversations about their experiences. The recruitment of African American males to Division I institutions for the purposes of participation in intercollegiate basketball has been an area of contention since the inception of the integration of sports teams in Division I athletics. This contention has created several tensions that are revealed in the conversations I had with the respondents about their lived experiences on campus. The respondents of this study allow “us,” as outsiders, to have a glimpse at an extremely exclusive and, in some respects, reclusive fraternity of individuals who have very public faces, but often hidden private lives. What follows is a statement of common topics discussed and some of the important themes that arose. Discussion of these findings will be presented in Chapter 5. Major Topics and Themes Topic 1: Student in the classroom One of the more obvious areas of interest regarding the lived experiences of these student athletes is their experience in the classroom. The responses to this question show a common conscientiousness of these students to perform well in classes. Some of the common themes can be seen in these brief excerpts from the transcripts. The speaker of the excerpted words is indicated by initials of a pseudonym representing each respondent. Theme 1.1: The felt need to avoid acting like a “stereotypical athlete.” . As an athlete sit up front, shows that you are interested in class and forces you to pay attention. This was taught by my high school and AAU coach, as a preparation for college (RL) . Don’t want to be labeled as a stereotypical athlete by sitting in the back (MN) . I did not want to come off as dumb. (JS) Theme 1.2: The institution provided athletes a lot of support for academic success. . There was a lot of attention given to what needs I have as a student (LN) . I got a lot of help academically because I was an athlete (MD)

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. Didn’t get any special treatment academically but did use the tutors to the fullest of my ability. My girl would help me with papers, that’s wifey she ain’t gonna let me flunk out (AS) . I had a tutor and a help group (MD) Theme 1.3: Many of these students felt that the transition from high school to college was a difficult one. . I had to learn how to study cause high school was easy (AP) . For me personality I started at a Div I school in Cali, it was tough. I spoke to coach and he got me some tutors (AS) . The expectation was a little different. I did not come on an academic scholarship so we will work on him in the classroom but he can play ball (AS) . College was more difficult than high school (SH) . Learning was the hardest thing to do. Learning to be an adult, student and athlete (LN) Theme 1.4: Many of these students were essentially assigned their major and the classes that they would take by their academic advisor or other university officials. . You are given classes that are going to keep you eligible (TD) . My advisor pointed me to sociology so I could stay eligible (RL) . The academic advisors did try to steer me in a different way from the major that I wanted to take because they thought I was not ready academically for the degree program (AS) Theme 1.5: Individuals and institutional representatives were willing to find ways for the athlete to circumvent the academic system.  We had people that would do papers for you and teachers that would tell us don’t worry about the paper that’s due (LM)  If you didn’t study there were ways to get answers. Other students helped, or some professors that would give retakes on tests. The coaches would steer us away from professors that were tough and hard to deal with. I felt like some were trying to fail athletes purposely (MN) Theme 1.6: Ways in which race entered their classroom experiences . Only having one or two other Black kids in class was different (MD)

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. The perception is the Black kids in the classroom are athletes, at the time out of 25000 students 3% was Black and the majority was athletes (LM) . I got good grades like a 3.3, it was tough being the only Black person in class. It was uncomfortable to talk about certain topics. I felt like I would have to take on the whole class (MN) Theme 1.7: Some of these students had very positive and typical student experiences in their classrooms. . Professors didn’t single me out, it was a lot of athletes in the classes. I never had any bad experiences in my time (TD) . The academic experience was pretty much what I gathered as normal (AP) . I graduated early because I had a heavy summer load and those were the harder classes, like economics, calculus and sciences cause you had more time to study (JS) . The academics were not that bad because I came from an excellent high school (AP) Theme 1.8: Faculty tended to fall into one of three categories, biased against athletes, supportive of athletes, or neutral toward athletes Theme 1.8.1: Some professors appeared to have a bias against athletes.  Some professors were hard asses, they felt like you were getting a free ride because you were an athlete (RL)  I had some teachers that would let me skip class if we were having a big game and have me sign stuff for them. Then I would have other teachers that would make an example out of me by calling my academic adviser if I miss a class or make comments in front of the class if I got up and left class early, like oop there goes an athlete leaving class early to try to embarrass me. I would get emails like am I going to do work or be one of those athletes that don’t do a thing (MN) Theme 1.8.2: Many instructors were very supportive of athletes.  Some professors were former athletes and were cool (MN)

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Theme 1.8.3: Many professors treated athletes neither better nor worse than other students.  Professors didn’t single me out (LM)  The professors treated us the same (AS)  The teachers showed more interest in the student athletes (SH) Topic 2: Otherness The respondents indicated that they were always cognizant of the “otherness” that was apparent on campus. This sense of not belonging was directly correlated to their existence at a predominately White institution. The specificity of the perceived “not fitting in feeling” was the awkwardness that encounters with their White student body peers created. As mentioned previously faculty sometimes appeared to act on a preconception of the students’ academic ability due primarily to their categorization as an athlete. Well, there was also a perceived perception about these African American males amongst the student body. According to the respondents, there were a variety of ways in which they were received at their participating institution. Theme 2.1: Positive Experiences . People were nicer to me I got in good with the White guys and even got a White girlfriend (MD) . You were put on a different pedestal as an athlete (TD) . You were considered a celebrity (RL) . Well recognized on campus and in the city (JS) Theme 2.2: Negative Experiences . You were labeled as a charity case, not a regular student (TD) . Some people were afraid to interact with you (LN) . If it wasn’t for basketball aint no way I would of been by nobody college, that wasn’t even on my radar until basketball (AS) Theme 2.3: The Athletes Sense of Privilege  Other students were looked down upon (LM) Theme 2.4: Recognition toward athletes  We were in the city and ranked in the top 20 my four years so I got a lot of love and had status on campus (MN)

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 I felt like a celebrity on campus especially when we were winning (RL)  We had a couple good seasons so we were pretty popular (TD)  They showed love, but we were terrible. I think that if we had a better season, we would have got better perks (SH)  I think that barrier was broken through because of how well the team was (MD)  The Blacks got more attention, it seemed like the White folks wanted to be like us. They admired us (LN)  It’s still love after leaving the school, I go back and they look out (AS)  The team was ranked and was a main attraction of the school. It was like being a pro (RL)  Everyone loved us, no matter what, Black White whatever (LM)

Topic 3: Social life on campus The social life for the African American male student athlete that participates in Division I athletics is the third tier of his existence at the university. The first tier is as an athlete and the second tier is as an academic. These three segments of the livelihood of the student overlap and intersect in a variety of ways. The social is considered by the respondents as the most vital of the three segments. This is not due to the presumption that these individuals are geared toward partying and mingling. According to the respondents, this is the area in which they had little to no direction in how to navigate the space. In athletics there were coaches to give them direction in how to perform, in academics there were faculty members and academic support staff to assist in navigating the landscape of higher education; however, for their social lives these athletes were left to their own devices and had to fend for themselves in learning how to fit in and interact with the environment of the institution. Several respondents mentioned that it is very awkward when everyone knows who you are and where you are from because as a member of the athletic team your personal biography is publicized. On the other hand, knowing the publicized biography is not the same thing as actually knowing the person. In reality, the other students had no real idea who the athletes actually were. Social life meant several different things to different individuals. These are some of the more salient themes when it comes to social life on campus.

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Theme 3.1: Celebrity Status  People know who you are (JS)  You were considered a celebrity (RL)  You were put on a different pedestal as an athlete (TD)  Frat boys showed love, especially at the game, they painted the faces and all of that (AS)  The ladies were very nice to us, there was no professional team, we were the professional team (RL)  We were celebrities, 18.19.20 years old it felt good, one time the security at the mall took us out the mall because we were causing a commotion because kids were following us around trying to get us to sign stuff. It could be overwhelming. (JS)  We were the focus of the social scene (the basketball team) (LN)  We had a couple good seasons so we were pretty popular (SH) Theme 3.2: Race  It was cool, majority White, it was a selective number of Blacks and all the Blacks knew each other. It was a country school but it was a party every night (SH)  The Blacks got more attention, it seemed like the White folks wanted to be like us. They admired us. (MD)  Being a Black man on campus, they showed love, but we were terrible. I think that if we had a better season, we would have got better perks (SH)  College was the first time I had to interact with White people, I did not want to come off as dumb. It was scary. Everything they did was different, the food and music. When in Rome do as the Romans do. (MD) Theme 3.3: Campus activities  Most of the activities at the school were with non-African Americans. I think that barrier was broken through because of how well the team was (JS)  It was a country school but it was a party every night (SH)  A lot of frat parties, and the White people threw parties every night and there were a lot of bars (SH)

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 We were the focus of the social scene (the basketball team) (LN)  When in Rome do as the Romans do (MD) Theme 3.4: Joining organizations  My teammates would look at you funny if you joined a frat, because basketball is the biggest frat in the world and only a select group of people can join (RL)  Frat boys showed love, especially at the game, they painted the faces and all of that (AS)  The Greeks didn’t too much socialize with us (LN) Theme 3.5: Living situations  I live in an apt not the dorm so I didn’t have a typical college experience (AS)  I just wanted to be on my own (JS)  Coach was cool with it as long as I made it to class and practice (AS)  I could have lived on the moon as long as I made it to back and forth on time (AS) Topic 4: Being Black The African American male participating in Division I basketball at predominately White institutions generally has the unenviable task of creating solidarity within the environment of the educational community as well as the general public of the surrounding region. This task is unenviable due to the racial disparity that exist at these institutions. The lack of similar ethnic backgrounds may cause a divide or foster isolation from the mainstream constituency. Along with the notion of being othered for a variety of reasons, the African American has to also be concerned with the stigma of being Black and the philosophical, ideological, and pragmatic connotations that accompany that reality. The difference is visible to the naked eye and jam packed with historical meanings, social meanings, cultural meanings, subjective meanings, as well as objective meanings. The mountainous heap of meaning that shrouds the existence and presence of these young men might appear to be a burden too weighty to bear. The idea of creating a collegiate experience that is considered normal is a difficult objective. This includes the ability to navigate the spaces within the campus in a similar fashion as their peers, having a social life that may include dating and the overall notion of pursing a productive and enriching experience while attending the predominately White institution of higher learning.

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Theme 4.1: Being Black on Campus  City school urban environment, pretty good team, well recognized on campus and in the city, people would come to the room at 1 2 in the morning to ask you to talk on the phone to their dad (JS)  You were labeled as a charity case, not a regular student (TD)

 People knew who you were and what your primary reason for being there (RL)  I never felt any animosity, I did get some fake love, and real love but when I got on the court it was all love, They gave me looks like who is the new kid but after they saw what I could do it was all love (AS)  Being Black people were more friendly in the south (LN)  There were racial tensions but not at that school (AP)  I did feel like a Black jock at times, it was just a feeling I got but I didn’t want to rock the boat (LM)  It played a role, I felt like there was a hierarchy, the Black athletes and the Caucasian boosters and students we were on one level and everyone else was beneath us (MN)  Other students were looked down upon, I saw other Black people done wrong and that affected me. If I was White I would have not gotten the same status after playing (AP)  I felt like a lot of the stuff was geared toward White people, it wasn’t for Black folk, there was a barrier of cultural understanding (JS) Theme 4.2: Perceived solidarity with other Blacks  It was cool, majority White at the school, it was a selective number of Blacks and all the Blacks knew each other (SH) Theme 4.3: Being Black Socially  Some professors were hard asses, they felt like you were getting a free ride because you were an athlete (MN)  We did have an incident coming from a concert and a few drunk White boys followed us to our complex, we invited them in and they soon departed (AS)

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 Being Black you have to be careful (JS)  There was no Black male role models at the school but we did have one assistant coach that was Black that helped out (TD)  I did feel like a Black jock at times, it was just a feeling I got but I didn’t want to rock the boat (LM)  Racism was alive and well in this area, it did come into play and affect me, even with the preferential treatment (LN)  You try to fit in and I was almost acting White, I assimilated my first year and then my second year I started acting more like myself (MD)  Coming from the north, I couldn’t get used to the racial barriers. I saws Blacks kind of accept their role. The Blacks were always in the kitchen never in the front as a server or host. You made it if you were a bellman (AP)  We were targets (RL) Theme 4.4: Dating while being Black  Caucasian women showed us a lot of love, they wanted to party and hang out with us but the Black girls wanted to be “girlfriends” they wanted to be the ones that sat with the family (JS)  The movie ‘He Got Game’ was similar to the recruiting process at my school, White girls threw themselves at us (RL)  I had a few friends have the ‘Jameis Winston’ happen to them (LM)  There was a lot of interracial dating in the city, but I wasn’t trying to go anywhere with a White girl in public cause you get labeled and Black girls don’t want to go out with you anymore. But it’s hard cause they just threw themselves at you with the little Barbie voice. I had a Black coach at the time and I could tell he really didn’t like to see us Black guys with the White girls (MN)  People were nicer to me I got in good with the White guys and even got a White girlfriend. It was funny, cause I didn’t know how to talk to White people especially women, there are things that you can say to a White girl that you can’t say to a sista. It was ok especially for an athlete to date a White girl (MD)

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 I remember several instances where we would get terrible looks, and I don’t think that the coaches didn’t like that. As a 21 year old you didn’t pay it much mind but upon reflection you can tell that some of the comments were directed toward the interracial date (AP) Theme 4.4.1: Interracial dating  I had a Black coach at the time and I could tell he really didn’t like to see us Black guys with the White girls (AP)  Interracial dating was frowned down upon (SH)  It was ok especially for an athlete to date a White girl (JS) Topic 5: Components of being a Student athlete Because the student athlete plays so many roles, they are presented in many different and, sometimes, incompatible ways leading to multiple identities. These individual are many things to many people. They are role models, celebrities, icons, historical figures, representatives of the university community, ambassadors of the institution, and public property. At its foundational level these individuals are merely young college students who participate in intercollegiate athletic competitions. As spectators, the general public may not have any concept of what constitutes the lived existence of these young people. The assumptions that surround the decision making ability and the maturity levels of these individuals is heavily scrutinized by pundits and supports alike. An examination of the tensions that pull at these individuals has revealed the magnitude of the level of dedication that these individuals exert. The time commitments to both athletics and academic while attempting to negotiate some sort of time for social endeavors displays a keen sense of time management that is far beyond the range of most individuals in this age bracket. Theme 5.1: Student Athlete  The work load in college was 60/40 athletics academics (AP)  The work load was 65 athletic 25 school and the rest was play (SH)  I think the work load was easily 60-40 basketball (JS)  The workload was 98 basketball and 2 school (MD)  Athletic student, you spend more time on activities related to sports more than academic life (TD)  Definitely athletic student not student athlete (LN)

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 Was more of an athletic student as opposed to a student athlete (RL) Theme 5.2: Most Difficult Thing as a Student Athlete  Learning was the hardest thing to do. Learning to be an adult, student and athlete (LN)  Separating school and basketball from partying. You could easily get side tracked (SH)  Managing time, and keeping your body in one piece (RL)  5am hit the weights, team breakfast shower, class, a break, study table, practice, team dinner, hour break then study table again and that was our day (JS)  Trying to study when you are in physical pain, ankle hurting and you just want to lay down (MN)  Staying on top of the academic, staying eligible. Didn’t want to be in the paper for that and be that guy (AS)  The schedule, practice and study. After an away game, 2-3am back in room then 7am practice, weights, class, tutor, study table and back in the room at 9-10 at night (LM)  The schedule was difficult, the academics were not that bad because I came from an excellent high school (AP)  Getting notes from other students. Taking test early cause you on the road a lot, missed a lot of class time (TD)  I didn’t want to go there and play for that coach so I didn’t enjoy my time there (MN) Theme 5.3: Choosing a course of study  My major was chosen because I transferred from a juco and it was the one that I could graduate easiest from, but it was fun too. It was Sociology (RL)  My real major was NBA (RL)  I was a communication major. In high school I wanted to major in criminology and forensics but my school didn’t have it (SH)

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 The amount of games and practices we had would have made it hard to study that major (MN)  Social Science Criminology was my major, I wanted to be a political science major but it was too hard to do it and play ball. Plus I had all criminal friends at home so I wanted to be like a probation officer or something like that (MD)  My major was political science, I chose it, I thought I wanted to go into corrections (LM)  Business Management was my major. That was what I wanted to take when I went there. My advisor gave me a test to see if I would do well in that major. They did try to steer me in a different way (RL)  My major was business management, I wanted to major in criminal justice. I graduated early because I had a heavy summer load and those were the harder classes, like economics, calculus and sciences cause you had more time to study (JS)  Business communication was the major I had and I wanted it before I got there, I don’t know if I wanted a harder major if they would let me change it to something else (SH)  Criminal justice, was always what I wanted. I wanted to be a detective as a kid. They wanted me to do communication and said it would be easier. I told em I think I communicate pretty good and didn’t like it. They pushed it and I pushed back enough to where the coach said ok you can to the criminal justice (AS)  My initial major was education but I would not be eligible to play basketball if I stuck with it (MN)  My advisor pointed me to sociology so I could stay eligible (TD)  They made the schedule so that I would not miss practice (AP) The African American male that participates in Division I basketball occupies a multitude of positions within the environment and community of the collegiate institutions of which they matriculate. These student athletes represent something different and specific to several segments of the population. These individuals are a

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commodity to the universities that they represent. They are generators of revenue for the university through their play, ambassadors for the institution, harbingers of good will to the geographic regions in which they have relocated, symbols of achievement to be admired by individuals of all ages and influencers of public opinion. With all of the hats that these individuals don it could be quite difficult to establish a line of demarcation that indicates exactly what the parameters are of what constitutes a student athlete. This is vital to the understanding of the enormous undertaking that these young people so willingly volunteer to engage. Topic 6: Play for pay Theme 6.1: Payment for play  As much money as we bring in we should get something (MN)  We are the only show in town (RL)  There was no professional team in the city just us (LM)  I don’t know how much we should get but we had 21 straight home sell outs and my face was on the front of the program (MN)  It’s too much money changing hands for none to touch mine (AS)  Ain’t nobody sleeping outside overnight to see college soccer games (TD)  It ain’t the old days no more, they need to be break bread (JS)  Coach gets a new luxury SUV every year but I can’t even get a lil taste (SH) The prevailing sentiment amongst the respondents was one of being left out of the financial windfall that collegiate basketball has experienced. In many instances the references to earning a wage stemming from participation in collegiate athletics only reifies the laborer owner paradigm that is exhibited in college athletics.

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CHAPTER V DISCUSSION

This study provides insight into the tensions experienced by some African American male basketball players who participated in Division I collegiate athletics at predominately White institutions. The immutable factor of being African American creates a landscape in which these young men must learn to navigate. This study provides a glimpse of how the academic tensions they experienced intersected with their identities. The social ramifications of these stresses are played out not only on the court but in the hallways of higher education, the dorm rooms, and within the public sphere of the larger university community. The African American male basketball player is familiar to all those who applaud his accolades on the television screen and on floors of arenas but they are very unfamiliar when viewed making the trek across campus to an 8:00 A.M. course after an extremely early morning of weight training, film sessions, and team breakfast or after a late night of travel to return to the university from an away contest at some distant university. Perhaps we gain some understanding of the pressure of preforming in front of strangers uttering and yelling obscenities while attempting to win a competition for the benefit of his home institution and within a 12 hour window returning to the class room to compete intellectually against the star pupil, who merely watched the game. The African American male basketball player that participates in Division I basketball has been commodified in a multitude of fashions including his body, race, athletic ability, and intellect. These individuals also have to accept that even though they are sacrificing themselves for the reputation and prestige of the university, they may not be accepted authentically as stake holders in the institution. Being a member of a racial minority on a primarily White institution (PWI) increases the visibility that you receive from the college community. ’Others’ are virtually anyone who differs from the societal schema of an average White male. The sociological term for this is ‘othering’ or specifically attempting to establish a person as unacceptable based on a certain criterion that fails to be met. (Ritzer, 2007, p. 205) When you couple that with the iconic social status of being an athlete, it takes on a seemingly overwhelming sensation according to the respondents of the conversational questions. The navigation of the typical college experience has different dynamics due to the African American

56 male not being the typical college student. According to Bell (1993), it is vital that Black people acknowledge that racism is alive and well and that racism is a constant in society. This knowledge helped several of the respondents to maintain a focus outside themselves. For this reason, several of them had the understanding that they were not representing the university but they were representing something which they were much more connected. This something was their immediate family members, friends, ex-teammates, and neighborhoods. The representation of these factors are evident in the displays that these individuals conduct during on-court antics as well as through their elaborate body art. These antics may be holding up hand gestures that represent a part of town that they have lived or pointing to a tattoo on their body that has some symbolism for them. This is usually done after what appears to be an exciting play. Many of the tattoos are pieces of art that are as symbolic as a family crest associated with the aristocratic members of royal lineage. Many of the respondents have tattoos that depict images of the states they hail from, parents’ names, deceased family members, or their neighborhoods. Race is a very important component in the lived experience of the respondents. It is the first and most obvious indicator of difference as these young men begin to matriculate at these institutions of higher learning. This difference is pronounced due to the infrequency of encountering another individual with similar ethnicity. The assumed philosophical, cultural, ideological and spiritual adornments associated with the racial identification often times impedes the ability for authentic acceptance into a homogeneous group of individuals. This pressure of internalizing the notion of being the other is problematic to all parties involved. "There is a thin line between admiration and resentment by the university community" (Leach & Conners, 1984, p. 36). It is my understanding that the individual that believes he/she is the other resists interaction due to the assumed rejection of the majority group. I also believe that conversely the majority group believes that the othered individual subscribes to a value system that is not cohesive with that of their own dominant group. According to Hoberman (1997), the entrapment of the African Americans in the world of athleticism is the result of a long collaboration between Blacks seeking respect and expanded opportunity and Whites seeking entertainment, profit, and forms of racial reconciliation that do not challenge fundament assumptions about racial difference. (p. 4) The vast majority of the respondents in this study spoke of the pressures associated with being the first in the family to attend college. So while their expectations were lofty there were

57 few points of reference for them to adhere to in this endeavor. It is very difficult for parents who have no idea what the culture of college is to administer advice and counsel on subjects of which they are ignorant. The importance of attending a Division I institution is that, for all practical purposes, this is the gateway to professional basketball. This is the highest level of amateur basketball in the United States. For this reason many individuals, including several of the respondents, carry the attitude that if I am successful in this arena, it will lead me to a professional career in athletics. Generally speaking this belief is not out of context with the nature of collegiate basketball. A successful collegiate season can lead to national exposure and could potentially transition into an opportunity to be drafted by a team in the National Basketball Association. So to quote respondent RL, “I am majoring in the NBA.” The majority of respondents echoed this sentiment. Respondent JS indicated that from a very early age he was groomed to be a professional basketball player. He was educated in Catholic schools his entire life in order to learn how to succeed as an “other” in predominantly White institutions. Throughout his academic career he has been the sole representative of his racial group. This eases his contempt for being the other and it begins to resemble a natural state of being. Throughout his academic career the individual also becomes comfortable with the designation of being a financial aid recipient. This is another form of condition to ease the prideful nature of the African American young man. Not being prideful assisted the young man in becoming more of a team player on the court and give the impression that he had a high level of professionalism. His athletic ability was far superior to that of his White counterparts throughout his K-12 educative journey, so much so that it garnered him the accolades and designation of being one of the best players in the entire state and a heavily sought after recruit for Division I basketball programs. The recruitment process included telephone calls to his home, letters, and even visits from some of the most notable coaches in the country. As representatives for some of the more prestigious universities in the country and historically successful basketball programs, this was the gateway to the National Basketball Association. Selecting the correct institution was paramount in getting a leg up on the competition to become a highly sought after draft prospect. The respondent indicated that he chose a university that was consistently ranked within the top ten in basketball nationally. This university also had several individuals in its history who had been drafted into the National Basketball Association. With all

58 this in mind, the obvious choice was to attend this university, play well and “go pro.” According to respondent RL, his entire degree program was “to go to the N.B.A.” The stories these young men told reveal an important reserve of integrity in their desire to be scholars and not just athletes. According to Astin (1975), the level of dedication to the student’s goals is measured by the commitment to obtain the goal of entering college and obtaining a degree. The acknowledgement of the necessity of and embracement of their educational pursuits counters some of the stereotyped narratives often told about them. Student athletes have a propensity to be competitive in various areas of their lives, but it is often suggested that that this character trait does not extend to the classroom. Respondent JS told a story centered on the notion of plagiarism. He indicated that he had a paper due to a professor who was known for being a stickler and borderline perfectionist. This paper was due as the final project for the semester going into the spring semester. As the student was participating in basketball over the winter break, he was notified by the university that there were some inconsistences with a paper that he had submitted to said professor. With the allegation of plagiarism looming over his head and understanding the space that he occupied in the hierarchy of the college environment, he decided to drop out. This decision was predicated on the factors of being a Black student at a predominately White institution and not feeling as though his presence had much worth. He also believed that if it developed into a situation that his word was in direct objection to that of the professor, he would lose that competition. JS stated, “Who would believe me and not the old White dude?” The one redeeming factor that this young man possessed was that prideful competitive nature associated with athletic performance. He indicated that he knew how much work he did on the paper and would not be called a cheater without standing up for himself. This pride led him to go the meeting with the department chair and professor to address this accusation of plagiarism because his reputation was in question. (JS) stated, “When you hear plagiarism that makes it sound like I stole something or cheated, I worked my ass off on this paper, you ain’t gonna call me a liar.” For this young man this was an attack on him as a man, his integrity, and his honor. In his mind, if you call him a thief or cheater, those were allegations that are to be met with a fight, whether it be physical or verbal. The end result was that because of the respondents’ unfamiliarity with the uses of APA citing in his paper the uncited quotes constituted plagiarism.

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Allegations of academic impropriety are vicious rumors that can damage the integrity of the athlete and the institutions that they represent. The venomous nature of the allegation is that it undermines the hard work of the student athlete and perpetuates the stereotypical notion of the African American male athlete as dumb jock and needing to cheat to receive satisfactory marks in the academic arena. The respondents of the conversational questions mentioned in the brief the notions of academic impropriety as it related to their experiences at the PWI. The competitive natures of the respondents that were possible developed through participation in athletics were not limited to athletics but it also extended into the classrooms. The excerpts from the responses of the interviews indicate that these individuals were very conscientious students in the classroom. In many cases the respondents indicated that in their opinion their level of commitment to the classroom was superior to that of their non-athletic peers. Being concerned with their approach to the classroom these individuals also had to be concerned with the stigma that accompanied their presence in the classroom. The interpretation and acceptance of their presence by the faculty and peer group was a very salient subject in these conversations. The area of primary concern was that of the reception of their presence in these institutions of higher learning by the professors. According to respondent MN, “I would have other teachers that would make an example out of me by calling my academic adviser if I miss a class.” The study was revealing as to the ways in which these students interpreted the attentions given to them by the professors as either productive or destructive. According to the respondents, the faculty was the most threatening hurdle to encounter in their entrance into academia in these prestigious institutions. According to respondent MN, “I would get emails like am I going to do work or be one of those athletes that don’t do a thing.” There were the usual areas of concern regarding the ability to compete at this lofty level of education. Along with this common concern there was the accompaniment of the notions of being an athlete. There is the age-old notion of being a “dumb jock,” a label that seems to follow most athletes but in particular is associated more often with African American male athletes in recent times. “I did not want to come off as dumb” (JS). According to respondent RL, “some professors were hard asses, they felt like you were getting a free ride because you were an athlete.” The responses to these conversational questions yielded very similar responses from all of the respondents. This gives the impression that many of the faculty that engage and instruct student athletes are very impartial. The responses to this

60 would leave one with a very optimistic outlook on the matriculation process of the African American male athlete in Division I institutions as it pertains to treatment as an included student body member. Overwhelmingly these respondents mentioned that it would be impossible to matriculate at this high level of education and be a contributing member of the athletics program without the assistance of academic personnel. Tinto (1993) states, "The key to successful student retention lies with the institution, in its faculty and staff, not one formula or recipe" (p. 4). Primarily as an organizer of sorts to aid in the planning of class scheduling and degree completion, the academic personnel are an invaluable source of succor to the student athlete. The academic personnel is also influential in affecting the recidivation of the dropout rate of student athletes from institutions of higher education. “You are given classes that are going to keep you eligible” (TD). According to the responses of the conversational questions the participants’ academic assistance is paramount in the success rate of these athletes. The assistance of academic support staff was credited for the respondents’ decrease in anxiety related to classroom performance and speculative perception of being ineffective students by the faculty. “There was a lot of attention given to what needs I have as a student” (LN). With this, however, leaves another speculative perception on ineptitude that exists in the relationship with the African American male student who participates in Division I intercollegiate basketball and the peer group that is constituted of the remaining student body enrollment. With the gaze of the student body, faculty, and general public upon them, the student athlete has pressure to perform not only in the playing arena but also in the classroom. Unfortunately, because these expectations may generally be low due to the lack of confidence that accompanies the students as they enter these institutions of higher education, many individuals assume that these athletes receive assistance other than from tutors and academic personnel. As a result, the notion of academic impropriety comes up often in regards to student athletes. When these athletes received assistance from other students, girlfriends or even professors, it was sometimes thought of as other people doing their work for them as though they were not contributing to the completion of their assignments. The assistance can be misconstrued as being too overbearing on the student’s ability to successfully accomplish the

61 goal of independently leaving the curriculum of the institution. This would constitute a violation of the rules and regulation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as well as the member institution. Such a violation would render the athlete ineligible to compete and also could result in an academic probation, suspension, or expulsion from the institution. This would inevitably damage the reputations of the individual and the damage his social standing in the university community. The African American male that participates in Division I basketball has a very stringent schedule. Having the ability to participate in campus activities is a luxury that is not always afforded to them. This is one of the many unfortunate repercussions of participation in athletics. Your work is the entertainment of your peers. An experience when the common student goes to unwind and release the stresses of their lives is a tension filled competition for the male basketball player. According to Braddock (1991), there are not many mechanisms in place to assist the student athlete in assimilating to the culture of the campus. According to respondents AP, SH and TD, on occasions when there were no curfews or early morning practices these young men could go blow of some steam at a local party. Even when interacting in the typical party scene these student athletes had a different set of rules than the other students. The visibility of these young men limited the options in which they could choose to represent themselves. They never had the options of going out and acting wild and crazy because there where ramifications surrounding any and all incidents that may arise from any indiscretion that they may have. A seeming small transgression by an African American male basketball participant could become a huge issue. Respondent LM indicated to me during our conversation a time when he went to an auction for a date. His girlfriend at the time was a member of a sorority that conducted an auction of single date nights with a member of the organization and the highest bidder from the audience. The audience consisted of students from the general student body of the university. He attended the event with the honorable intention of purchasing the dating rights to his girlfriend and make his contribution to the charity that would benefit from the proceeds of the event. As most people were aware of who the respondent was they also knew who his girlfriend was. This set the stage for people to become very belligerent and disrespectful to the young man as they attempted to create an altercation with him over his bidding. Other men attempted to bother him by trying to outbid him for his girlfriend. The back and forth banter created a tumultuous situation that led to arguing and

62 threats of physical violence. (LM) stated “I wanted to kill one of those bitches.” It was rumored that there was also an individual present that brandished a firearm. “I’m glad that I had some self-control or that shit could have gotten way out of hand and ain’t no tellin where I would have wound up at” (LM). This is a personal story of how the status of the athlete prevented him from participating in a campus function designed to raise funds for a charitable organization. It is commonly accepted that many college students join organizations during their attendance at an institution of higher education. The organizations are as varied as the individuals who join. There are fraternal Greek organizations, interest groups, political organizations, athletics club groups, academic groups, etc. that serve as recreational and networking outlets for students. Many of the organizations are used to assist students in becoming better-rounded as a young adults. According to the respondents of this study, there was not much support or encouragement for these athletes to become a part of any organization. Respondent RL states, “My teammates would look at you funny if you joined a frat, because basketball is the biggest frat in the world and only a select group of people can join.” Many of the respondents wanted college life to be more of an emancipatory experience in which they could find their own way and make a name for themselves. So many of the respondents were not enthusiastic about the idea of joining an organization because they were in search of individuality during their collegiate years. Another way in which to gain emancipation is obtaining one’s own living accommodations. As young men these individuals were in search of a space and place of their own. According to the respondents, the consensus was that the dorms were not for them for a variety of reasons. Respondent JS states, “I just wanted to be on my own.” After hours of spending time with teammates and other students, these athletes wanted solitude. One of the most interesting reasons that the dorm room was unaccommodating to these young men was the lack of a physical space congruent with their physical size. The African American male that participates in Division I basketball has a variety of tensions that present themselves as he navigates the landscape of college. These tensions are not unique to any particular institution. There appears to be similar circumstances at institutions that have been dedicated to maintaining a competitive basketball program. The social issues that arise at universities are influential in formulating the perceived reality of racial dynamics and levels of acceptance from the majority culture by these young African American men. The notion of emancipation for these young men addresses several areas of their lived existence. The

63 first of these is the obligatory notion of being an adult and living independently from parents and guardians. Another way is the ability to make choices in terms of degree program and class offerings. Creating a reputation is also a mechanism in which these young men are actively seeking a coming out party of sorts. The reputations are being formed on various fronts within the predominately White institution. These young men are creating reputation in the class room, on the court, in the community, with their professors, with their coaches, and with their peers. The relationships with all of these entities are vital for the successful survival of these young men at the institution. Conclusion As described in the literature review, Delgado and Stefancic’s (2001) second tenet of Critical Race Theory (CRT), referred to as either interest convergence or material determinism, locates some fundamental aspects of racism in the material world rather than in the world of ideas. Since Whites, whether elites or poor, benefit from the racism that is built into the material stratification of society, they have little incentive to eliminate it or even to recognize its existence. The result is that Whites tolerate advances for racial justice only when it suits their interest to do so or, put differently, when the material interests of Whites “converge” with those of people of color. According to Derrick Bell (2004), this “interest convergence” alone can explain why those who are generally opposed to policies supporting racial equality would suddenly concede and appear, at least on the surface, committed to the highly touted American concept of equality of opportunity for all as occurred in the Brown v. Board decisions in the 1950s. When examining Division I male basketball, the interest convergence is packaged in illusions of equality. This equality is an illusion for a couple of reasons. The first is that collegiate Division I basketball financially benefits the stakeholders considerably more than it does the participants. As stated in the literature review, the average student athlete aid award is in the middle twenty thousand a year range, where the average annual earning for Division I institutions from participation in men’s collegiate basketball is closer to $200 million. According to Schlabach (2011), "The NCAA expected to distribute $180.5 million to its Division I members that participated in the men's basketball tournament. The payments are determined by each school's performance in the tournament over a rolling six-year period."

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CRT as the lens to view the phenomenon of interest convergence in athletics is particularly enlightening in that the notion of emancipatory freedoms are at the forefront. Hylton states (2008), “critical race theorists support the view that racism is effortlessly reproduced and perpetuated in sport” (p. 3). African American males who participate in Division I athletics are the driving force behind the enormous amounts of revenue allocated to purchase the rights to televise these competitions. Their abilities outshine the strategies and coaching of the game. According to Hawkins (2010), “the control over Black males’ body and profiting off its physical expenditure is in the hands of White males. As the most powerful commodity that generates the revenue that drives the top intercollegiate programs in the nation” (p. 143). The ability to do the improbable physically and make it look routine is a primary factor in the increase of viewership. The stakeholders are gaining a substantial revenue increase from the sweat equity of the African American male basketball player that participates in Division I collegiate athletics. The promise of a college education is a trade for the generation of millions in dollars. The athlete is convinced that it is in his best interest to not only come to the university to compete but also to behave tamely and not rock the boat. The falsehood told to the athletes is that they will become gainfully employed business professionals by gaining a degree and, as a result, transform the lives of their loved ones and themselves. They are promised that by playing college ball at a Division I institution that they have a real opportunity to play professional basketball either in the National Basketball Association, the Harlem Globetrotters, or in professional leagues abroad. At bare minimum, they are assured, they will increase their earning possibilities by obtaining a college degree and landing a salaried White-color position.. Of course, few will realize either of these promises. There seems to be a sense of apathy among these athletes regarding the amount of agency that they truly possess. If these individuals had a notion of how much power and influence their mere presence demanded, collectively they could change the dynamics of the system that they heavily contribute to, but minimally benefit from. According to the NCAA (2013), Black males comprise 58.9% of Division I men's basketball teams. In occupying the space of the majority with in Division I basketball programs, there should be authentic democratic power in this positioning. Most organized sports have a players association that acts as advocate for the rights of the players. In collegiate sports this is nonexistent.

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But respondents in my study showed little sign that they thought they were getting manipulated in this regard even though their lack of personal control was evident before they ever stepped on campus. For example, RL stated, “My major was chosen because I transferred from juco.” Many of these young men view themselves as simple cogs in the machine with little to no input in terms of how things are handled. “In Rome do as the Romans do” (MD) indicates that you go along with the culture and do not make any trouble. “You just try to fit in” (MD). This feeling leaves this group of student athletes looking for a role model or advocate to connect to on the campus of the university. Unfortunately, they find very few individuals to reach out to. “There was no Black role models at the school but we did have one assistant coach that was Black, that helped out” (TD). When I was employed at a Division I institution, I witnessed this phenomenon among young Black student athletes. They seemed to gravitate to the Black employees within the department, especially the younger one or two of them that they could find. In this regard, speaking for myself, I felt as though I was being used by the university as the token Black, there to relate to these young Black student athletes. The feeling of not being empowered only reinforces the attitude of helplessness that perpetuates the cycle of events. “I felt like they were trying to fail athletes purposely” (MN). Whether it was in the classroom or the dorm, these students often felt as if they had no agency in their lives. They had little sense that they could do anything other than “go along.” These African American males are not afforded the democratic freedoms that other students have while attending college. The recorded conversations found in this study show that these individuals had few real advocates within the athletic department, but, across the board, when speaking to former male basketball student athletes, the sentiment of being taken advantage of does not appear to be an issue for them. This is true even though they agree that, regardless of their personal interests and desires, academic advisors and coaches persuade them to enroll in degree programs that have a history of being receptive to student athletes. As RL said, “My advisor pushed me toward sociology so I could stay eligible.” Along with that persuasion come the nudging to enroll in the course of professors who were considered to be “friends” of the athletic department. “Some professors were former athletes and were cool” (MN). These practices, carried out with the declared intent on helping these athlete, denies the student the fundament right to major in the field he wishes. The right to choose the career path

66 which has been his lifelong dream instead of being directed into a career path of least resistance. The requirement to remain eligible supersedes the student’s desire to become a professional in his chosen field of study. As the respondents in this study indicated, their workload was heavy on basketball and light on academics. As DM told me, “The workload was 98% basketball and 2% school.” There seems to be complicity in creating the illusion that these athletes are students, when they are really little more than athletes and being prepared for little more than professional basketball, which for most of them, will never happen. Due to the huge revenues that are generated by institutions during the playing season and especially during the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament, given the relative time spent on athletics versus education, perhaps it is more honest and ethical to pay them equitably. The respondents were very vocal on this subject, in fact MN indicated, “I believe that we should have been paid.” However, as far as the non-player stakeholders are concerned, the convergence of interest between them and the majority African American players does not require providing the young men any more than a public tryout for the NBA. Limitations of the Study There are many, many facets to the situation of African American males playing Division I collegiate basketball; this study does not attempt to address all of them, but instead zeros in on the reflections of a small sample of young men as reflected in their stories about life on campus and in the classroom while they were playing ball. This sample of 10 cannot provide the breadth necessary to provide a comprehensive overview of the collegiate basketball industry. As I have not conducted conversations with the entirety of individuals who have participated in Division I basketball, I cannot make any universal claims but this study can provide some sensitizing concepts that others might consider when analyzing and interpreting their own particular concrete settings. Furthermore, though using a small sample, these individuals’ stories can provide insights that follow-up studies might address. This study only addresses African American males in Division I collegiate basketball and should not be used as a basis for drawing conclusion about women in sport, any other racial group, or any other intercollegiate sport. Implications for Future Research

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It is my view that this study could be extended to examine other racial groups. As this study only examined a portion of the tensions affecting the group of African American males. I also believe that the study could be applied to males who participate in football and women who participate in Division I basketball. The democratic notions of choosing degree programs and creating professional development in terms of employability after graduation could also be significant area of study. Several respondents indicate that they wanted to work in some professional field. “I wanted to be a probation officer” (MD) and “I wanted to be a detective” (AS). With any conversation about the revenue generated from athletics, the topic of paying amateur athletes will arise. The prospects of doing such will continually be an area of interest for all parties involved. According to the NCAA (2012) the CBS/Turner broadcast provides the NCAA with over $705 million dollars in the 2011-12, and makes up over 81% of the NCAA's annual revenue. The revenues from these contracts are divided up with the majority or 96% going to the Division I schools and the remaining 4% going toward operating costs. The increases in salaries paid to coaches coupled with the seemingly yearly increase in television revenue reifies the notion of scholarship compensation as a minimum investment in the lofty return generated from the African Americans’ participation in Division I men’s basketball. A final area of needed research might be an examination of the ability for African American male athletes to gain agency within the athletic departments at these predominately White institutions. Once again, according to the NCAA (2013), Black males comprise 58.9% of Division I men's basketball teams. This figure indicates the high enrollment rates of Black males in the particular area of basketball. With numbers this significant it would seem to necessitate a higher number of Black advocates and advisors for this group. According to Chavous, Green, Harris, Helaire and Rivas (2004), Black males are seen as being overrepresented in college athletics and this causes them to experience pressure to perform academically as well as athletically. Advocates hired purposefully to represent the interests of the student athletes and to assist them in their role as student could be one important way beyond monetary compensation that universities could adopt to indicate their sincere desire to serve the interests of these young men. Tinto (1993) states "The key to successful student retention lies with the institution, in its faculty and staff, not one formula or recipe" (p. 4). Most of them will not play professional basketball, so a genuine college education completed in the major field that they desire to pursue

68 and leading to professional employment off the basketball court might go a long way in showing that the universities are not merely exploiting the young men, but are also providing something important in return. Final Comments The African American male who participates in Division I basketball is an intriguing individual, especially in the ways in which he has been commodified in the name of his betterment. In all actuality, the stakeholders in the business of basketball have co-opted the sanctity of higher education and used the lure of gaining a degree to further pigeonhole these young men. In many spaces, the most prominent concept of African American males is that of athlete. Sport has been the vehicle that has transported several young men from abject poverty to great wealth. But all collegiate basketball players will not earn money in similar fashion to Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, or LeBron James. The hoops and hurdles that have to be navigated to achieve that goal are too cumbersome. For most African American males who participate in Division I basketball, these obstacles include but are not limited to: the National Collegiate Athletic Association, coaches, academic advisors, athletic department staff, faculty, peers, community members, community officials, family, friends, scouts, otherness, and several forms of racism. Advocacy for athletes needs to take precedence over maintaining the status quo of athletic departments. The status quo dictates that these young men remain academically eligible to participate in athletics while matriculating in a degree program at a successful pace of twenty-five percent completion yearly. This formula does not address the wants and desires of the student athlete. It does not afford the student athlete the opportunity to enter the workforce labor market to become gainfully employed or carve out a niche for himself in the broader community of the institution other than being a ball-bouncing contributor to the revenue generation of the athletic department. The facade of benevolent righteousness needs to be extinguished as it is a patronized notion that is condescending, insulting, and disrespectful to all parties involved. Hawkins states (2010), “Black males athletes are invisible as men but strategic in bearing the burden of generating revenue for athletic departments across the United States” (p.102). Some may critique my claim that that the Black male student athlete who participates in Division I basketball at Predominantly White Institutions is being exploited by pointing out that my study reveals that he often finds himself in a position of privilege above and beyond that of

69 individuals who participate in sports programs with less visibility at the same institution. These athletes also have privilege that other Black non-athlete students do not receive at the same PWI. The perception of whether their situation is one of privilege or exploitation is an issue in itself. From an outsider’s perspective, I may see that you are involved in a relationship that possesses all of the earmarks of an abusive relationship; however, you, as the individual involved in the relationship, may believe it to be a fulfilling one. Granted, depending on the sociocultural and financial circumstances of these Black student athletes before enrolling in the PWI, economically and educationally things could have been a much worse for this young man. To paraphrase an age old slavery analogy, “If this master does beat me as much as my old master, is he kind of okay.” The critique may also be that these individuals experienced a level of celebrity that many other people will never achieve but this level of celebrity should not negate the inequities that they are subjected to. In other words, even with all of the positives that these Black male athletes receive they should not be required to give up their basic right to determine their educational and occupational futures. Overall the tensions surrounding the participation in Division I basketball by Black males are varied and numerous. This study has identified several of these tensions but by no means does it provide an exhaustive list. The Black male in athletics has been a frequently studied body in the United States of America, going all the way back to the accomplishments of Olympic track and field star Jesse Owens. His was one of the earliest showcases of athletic talent by Black males, which resulted in relentless scrutiny. Today, Black men showcase their talents in educational institutions across the country on a weekly basis. According to Hawkins (2010), “the intercollegiate athletic industrial complex has emerged as a profitable economic investment that places a demand on the Black athletic talent” (p. 83). It is my sincere desire that this genre of men gain the right to authentic democratic freedom and can be released from the chains of oligarchy within the systems of higher education and academia. Until this objective is realized these Djangos will continue to be chained.

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