RACE and SPORT in AMERICA: an INTRODUCTION Richard Lapchick

100Pio.qxp 12/2/07 6:05 PM Page 1 1 RACE AND SPORT IN AMERICA: AN INTRODUCTION Richard Lapchick Everyone knows the story of Jackie Robinson and the way in which his joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 began to change the face of American sports. He is celebrated in virtually every ballpark, his number has been retired, and there are regular ceremonies in his honor. When Americans are asked who the greatest racial pioneer in sport is, Jackie Robinson’s name will most often be mentioned. Yet, few know names of the people who broke the barriers in the American League just a few months later, in the NFL, NBA, NHL, who were the first African-American athletes to break down the barriers of segregation at the Southeastern, Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 8/Big 12, and Ivy League conference schools. Some know about Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson in tennis but few know the names of those who led the way in other sports. Many who know Muhammad Ali might not know Jack Johnson. Sports and race relations have traveled throughout most of history on a parallel plane. It was only with the breakthrough and courageous actions of the 100 pioneers written about in this book that sport was able to influence the perception that society had about African-Americans. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were a few individuals who crossed the color barriers in MLB and the early NFL. However, those athletes were often unable to eat in restaurants or stay in hotels with their teammates due to segregation. Then society began to impose its barriers over sport once more. Gentleman’s agreements to keep African-Americans out of sports were quietly made. Sport was re-segregated. Jesse Owens’ victories in the Berlin Olympics, coupled with Joe Louis’ defeat of Max Schmeling, highlighted African-American 100Pio.qxp 12/2/07 6:05 PM Page 2 2 Race and Sport in America:An Introduction athletes once again but this time on an international stage. There were some colleges that had African-American student-athletes, in- cluding those highlighted in this book in the Big Ten and Ivy League. The early Civil Rights Movement heated up. Although ten- sions at some of those schools were palpable, athletics became a common bond and focus once again. The brave acts of the early collegiate pioneers began to shape the unified spirit of a team, a college, a town, and sport as we know it today. However, there were many colleges and universities that dragged their feet and inte- grated their teams long after MLB, the NBA and the NFL. It took Jackie Robinson and the pioneers who followed him to finally re- ally open up sport in America. 100 Pioneers is designed to tell their courageous stories, our history, and the way in which sport positively impacted race relations in the United States. It is the second book in a series, following 100 Heroes: People in Sports Who Make This a Better World. The series began at the National Consortium for Academics and Sport (NCAS). Because of the work that we do in the NCAS and the DeVos Sport Business Management Program, we have become all too aware of the problems that exist in sport. Each day, it seems, we read about a rule being violated, an athlete getting in trouble with drugs, an athlete being arrested for sexual assault, steroid use in base- ball, the NFL, or track and field, the threat that gambling poses to college sports, or agents recruiting young athletes with illegal monetary inducements. The list goes on and on. That is why it was so joyous for me when Dr. Taylor Ellis, the dean of undergraduate education in the College of Business Administration at the University of Central Florida, came to my office in February of 2005. I had just put to bed a book called New Game Plan for College Sport and was frankly tired of writing. I vowed that I would not take up another book project for several years. Taylor changed all of that on the morning after the 2005 NCAS banquet. He came in, sat down, and said, “When I was a boy, I wasn’t involved in school. I had no sense of direction or sense of purpose.” He said, “Then someone gave me this book,” and placed a well-worn copy of Real Life Stories: Champions All the Way by Barlow Meyers, published 45 years earlier, on my desk. He said, “About that time in my life somebody gave me this book about seven athletes and the obstacles they overcame to do great things in life. This book transformed my 100Pio.qxp 12/2/07 6:05 PM Page 3 Chapter 1 3 life and gave me a sense of direction and hope.” Taylor continued, “Every year you honor five or six such athletes at the Consortium’s award banquet. You have to write a book about them.” So came the idea for 100 Heroes. It was a no-brainer to think about undertaking the project in spite of my vow to the contrary. This book could be, I thought, a real celebration of sport. It could portray the power of sport to transform not only individuals, but their impact on the broader society. I ran through my head the names of all the award winners I could recall and knew that their stories would inspire people collectively who could not be in the presence of these people in the halls when we honored them. With the 20th anniversary of the Consortium exactly a year away, I knew that we would have to work hard to get this project done. I enlisted the support of Jessica Bartter, who is the assistant director for communications and marketing of the National Consor- tium. We began to draw all of the names and addresses together and contact the previous award winners who were still alive. Their support for the project was overwhelmingly positive. We began to col- lect the biographical materials and stories that were the basis for the awards. We also asked Drew Tyler, Stacy Martin, Jennifer Brenden, and Brian Wright, all graduate students in the DeVos Sport Business Management Program, to help write the individual stories. 100 Heroes was published in February 2006. I knew there was more to do. In 100 Pioneers, we have gathered the stories of the first African-American players, coaches, general managers, and team presidents in the various professional sports. We hoped to have the first African-American male and female student-athletes to compete in each of the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 8/Big 12, and Ivy League schools, as well as the first African-American coaches and athletic directors in those conferences. We have John Thompson and Carolyn Peck, the first African-American coaches to win the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball championships, respectively, and Ty Will- ingham, the first to coach in a BCS Bowl Game. Included are Willie Jeffries, the first African-American Division I football coach, and Gale Sayers, the first African-American Division I athletics director. We also included those icons who did not neatly fit categories, such as Coach Eddie Robinson at Grambling State and renaissance 100Pio.qxp 12/2/07 6:05 PM Page 4 4 Race and Sport in America:An Introduction man Paul Robeson. Don Barksdale made more than one breakthrough. He was the first African-American to be named a basketball All-American and the first African-American to appear in an NBA All-Star Game. There are four “events” that shaped their times, in- cluding Joe Louis’ 1938 defeat of German Max Schmeling, widely viewed as the victory of democracy over Nazism; the clenched fist, black glove salute of John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics; the 1975 NBA Finals, at which two African- American head coaches first faced each other for any championship; and the 2007 Super Bowl when two African-American head coaches faced each other for the NFL title for the first time. 100 Pioneers is a mixture of historical research and interviews with those who broke down color barriers on college campuses and in cities around the country. I believe sharing the inspiring life stories of those who paved the way for other people of color in the world of sports can continue to make this world a better place. Such important figures deserve a platform from which to have their stories told and share what their experiences have meant to them. I am part of a team of writers and researchers made up mostly of my graduate assistants at the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program in the College of Business Administration at the University of Central Florida. As with 100 Heroes, the team was led by Jessica Bartter. The writers also included Stacy Martin, Horacio Ruiz, Jenny Brenden, and Marcus Sedberry. The editor was Catherine Lahey, and research support was offered by Zoie Springer. We are all proud to have played a role in publishing these stories, which include the ad- versities each pioneer conquered, the decisions each faced, and the accomplishments each achieved. The book is organized into three parts. The first is on professional sport and includes chapters on pioneers in MLB, the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, tennis, golf, and boxing. There is an introduction to each followed by the individual stories of the pioneers. The second part is on college sport and includes chapters on college coaches, athletics directors, and student-athletes.

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