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AS THE BLACK COLLEGE SPORTS PAGE BEGINS ITS 27th YEAR FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 4 - 10, 2020 "HBCUs Matter" the new slogan for 2020-21 By LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor #WeAreUnited This week begins the 27th and perhaps most To ensure future generations of college athletes will be treated fairly, #WeAreUnited. ™ precarious year of THE BLACK COLLEGE SPORTS Because NCAA sports exploit college athletes physically, economically and academically, and also PAGE. disproportionately harm Black college athletes, #WeAreUnited. Never in our previous 26 years going back In rejecting the NCAA’s claim that #BlackLivesMatter while also systematically exploiting Black to our beginning in August of 1994 have we athletes nationwide, #WeAreUnited. faced the challenges that await in the 2020-2021 Because we are being asked to play college sports in a pandemic in a system without enforced health athletic season. and safety standards, and without transparency about COVID cases on our teams, the risks to ourselves, Texas Southern University photo First, the rampant COVID-19 pandemic our families, and our communities, #WeAreUnited. DR. CAVIL: Texas Southern has felled athletic competition in all four HBCU Because we must have adequate COVID testing to help protect our health, #WeAreUnited. NEW professor has coined the term conferences (CIAA, MEAC, SIAC and SWAC) Because we are prohibited from securing representation while being asked to sign documents that DAY "Athletic Sharecropping" to identify the current state of this fall and threatens to wreak havoc on the may serve as liability waivers, #WeAreUnited. DAWNING major college athletics. coming winter and spring schedules as well. Because we should not be stuck with sports-related medical expenses, including COVID-19 related That means our ability to give you the expenses, #WeAreUnited. BCSP FEARLESSLY BEGINS 27th YEAR; latest developments as conference races unfold Because any player who does not feel comfortable playing this season should be free to opt out MEAC STANDOUTS MOVE; GALE PASSES and tell stories as players' and coaches careers without losing their scholarship or any eligibility, #WeAreUnited. advance will be non-existent this fall. We are Because immoral rules would punish us for receiving basic necessities or compensation for the use faced for the first time with the question of what of our names, images and likenesses, while many of us and our families are suffering economically from to cover in the absence of competition on the the COVID-19 fallout, #WeAreUnited. UNDER THE BANNER playing fields. Because we should be included in equitably sharing the revenue our talents generate, especially in a Honestly, that is a question we do not have pandemic, #WeAreUnited. WHAT'S GOING ON IN AND AROUND BLACK COLLEGE SPORTS an answer to right now. What we have resolved Because unjust rules prevent the 98% of college football and basketball players who won’t go pro from is to roll with the punches, even if they are to our capitalizing economically on what would otherwise be the most valuable years of our lives, including gut. many Black players from low-income homes, #WeAreUnited. What we can say is that the nascent Because eliminating lavish salaries and facility expenditures to preserve all sports must be prioritized, movement for racial justice and against #WeAreUnited. systemic and structural racism – invigorated Because the NCAA has failed us and we are prepared to ensure that our conference treats us fairly by the murder of George Floyd at the hands whether or not it continues its NCAA membership, #WeAreUnited. of Minneapolis police – coming in the midst In forming alliances with college athletes from other conferences to unite with us for change, of a worldwide pandemic, is a convergence #WeAreUnited. that certainly questions existing norms and MIKE GALE: (L. to r.) At Elizabeth City State, with the ABA's #WeAreUnited in our commitment to secure fair treatment for college athletes. Due to COVID-19 and New York Nets and with the NBA's San Antonio Spurs. potentially portends great change. One of those potentially great things is other serious concerns, we will opt-out of Pac-12 fall camp and game participation unless the following increased attention to and appreciation for demands are guaranteed in writing by our conference to protect and benefit both scholarship athletes CIAA LEGEND MIKE GALE PASSES: the schools and conferences we cover and a and walk-ons. Mike Gale, a Hall of Fame CIAA basketball better awareness of their history and place Because eliminating lavish salaries and facility expenditures to preserve all sports must be prioritized, player while at Elizabeth City State who went on to a historically in the movement for black identity, #WeAreUnited. professional career in both the ABA and NBA, passed accomplishment and advancement. Because the NCAA has failed us and we are prepared to ensure that our conference treats us fairly Saturday at the age of 70. Certainly that was reflected in the successful whether or not it continues its NCAA membership, #WeAreUnited. Gale, a Philadelphia native who played at Overbrook basketball recruitment of five-star athlete In forming alliances with college athletes from other conferences to unite with us for change, High School before enrolling at ECSU, was an all-CIAA Makur Maker to Howard University. It was #WeAreUnited. guard for the Vikings playing for legendary head coach a decision that Maker hopes ignites a movement #WeAreUnited in our commitment to secure fair treatment for college athletes. Due to COVID-19 and Bobby Vaughn from 1967-71. towards HBCUs by blue-chip hoopsters. other serious concerns, we will opt-out of Pac-12 fall camp and game participation unless the following As a 6-4 sophomore guard with his signature 'afro' But his decision is an indication that the demands are guaranteed in writing by our conference to protect and benefit both scholarship athletes haircut and proficiency at scoring and handling the ball, foundations of long-held beliefs and structures and walk-ons. Gale teamed with 6-6 center and fellow sophomore Israel are being challenged and could be seriously Oliver to lead ECSU to its first-ever CIAA Tournament shaken. championship in 1969 defeating a powerful Norfolk State Already there are echoes of other African- Equity including medical insurance, freedom The introduction to the work, which focuses team in the finals. In his final year at ECSU (1971), Gale American student/athletes starting to demand to secure representation and earn money for use on the 2011 through 2015 seasons, states, "This was named the CIAA Player of the Year. He was selected more of their institutions and starting to question of their images and likenesses, 50% of revenue study . reveals that National Collegiate to the CIAA Hall of Fame in 1985. structures that govern their participation. It's distributed to athletes in their respective sports Athletic Association (NCAA) rules will deny Taken in the third round of the 1971 NBA Draft by clear to many of them that the status quo is no and six-year athletic scholarships." FBS football and men's basketball players at the Chicago Bulls, Gale opted to play in the American longer acceptable. The letter attempts to address the current least $6.2 billion that they would otherwise Basketball Association after landing with the Kentucky This has been made clear by the demands state of major college athletics - particularly receive in a fair market." Colonels in the third round of the ABA draft. made by a coalition of Pac-12 student/athletes football and basketball that produce billions Both these articles are worth reading. Over three seasons in the ABA, Gale earned two that are advocating for change under the hash of dollars primarily on the backs of elite Where and what this leads to is uncertain but it All-Defensive Team nods. In 1974, Gale joined Julius tag #WeAreUnited. black student/athletes – that my colleague certainly is a great beginning. Erving and the New York Nets on their way to an ABA A letter, penned Sunday on The Player's Dr. Kenyatta J. Cavil, a professor at Texas No one has exemplified that "BLACK Championship. Tribune under the name 'Players of the Pac-12,' Southern University in the Department of LIVES MATTER" more than Historically After a short stint with the Nets, he played five begins, "To ensure future generations of college Health, Kenesiology & Sports Studies, terms, Black Colleges and Universities. No entity, seasons in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs. He had athletes will be treated fairly, #WeAreUnited." "athletic sharecropping." institution or organization has consistently over perhaps his best statistical season as a pro with the Spurs It goes on to say, "Because NCAA sports Sharecropping is where Black folks – in this their time in existence advocated, struggled and in 1976-77 when he averaged career highs of 10.3 points exploit college athletes physically, economically case elite African American student/athletes – do demonstrated that mantra more. And it's high and 5.8 assists per game. and academically, and also disproportionately all the work and create the wealth but don't share time that young elite black athletes and their After one season with the Portland Trail Blazers, harm Black college athletes, #WeAreUnited." in it. It was the game played on our ancestors parents demonstrated that awareness. Gale capped off his basketball career with the Golden At the end, the letter (copied above) makes following slavery. In other words, if Black Lives Matter, State Warriors. With Al Attles' Warriors, Gale started 70 demands for, among other things 1) Health and The current state of affairs was also so do Black Institutions, Black Businesses, games, averaging 5.6 points, 3.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds and Safety protections related to the COVID-19 addressed in a study co-authored by Drexel Black History, Black Communities and Black 1.6 steals per game.

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