Hoop Masters Blog

The Role Sports Played In Changing My World January 19, 2009

Jerome Green

On Sunday, OTL (Outside The Lines) on ESPN had a great segment on the role that Sports has served in changing our world for the better. It looked at Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Althea Gibson, Billie Jean King, the Williams sisters, Tiger Woods, Joe Louis, Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Not only the physical, but also the social actions of these athletes changed many things in our country. The question asked was whether the changes we experienced in our country would have happened as fast (some may feel it was slow) if not for these pioneers of Sport.

As I watched the segment, I reflected on my own life and the important role that Sports played in changing it. I was born in 1953 in New York, but often traveled to the South to visit my grandparents, who lived in Georgia. At that time, I didn’t know much about segregation, racism or hatred. I remember being on a family car trip from New York to Georgia. We stopped in South Carolina. Having been in the car for 10 hours, I was very thirsty. I got out of the car, saw a water fountain and ran to it. But before I could get there, I felt someone grab me by the collar. I turned around and it was my Dad. He directed me to what he called a “better” fountain around back. We never really spoke of it, and I just thought he was directing me to a better drinking fountain. It wasn’t until years later that I realized how frighten my dad had to have been to see his 5-year-old son about to experience the same pain of segregation and hatred that he had experienced all of his life.

I then reflected on the time that I was kicked by my second grade teacher because a fellow student (who was appointed by our teacher as the class room-monitor) told her that I was talking while she was out of the room. Even though I refuted my white classmate’s accusations, it didn’t matter. The teacher kept me after class and told me that I was never to question an adult. Then she told me to bend over and she kicked me – right in my butt! What she did next was devious. She told me

“You better not tell your parents because (knowing my parents were very much about respecting adults) that will get you in more trouble.” I remember going home feeling totally worthless.

About 5 years later, while sitting with my mom, I told her the story. My Mom was so livid that she went to the school board to find out the whereabouts of this teacher. Mom was told that she was no longer teaching.

During the teachers’ strike of 1967, I saw Albert Shanker, the UFT president, on TV. He stated that his teachers needed to be paid more to teach kids like me. This was the final nail in my education coffin! I became totally shut down to education and white teachers.

I went into High School refusing to learn and academically, had a totally forgettable first year. Then I met Mr. Miller, who was the track coach at Far Rockaway High School. He was someone I could talk to; someone I would learn to trust. He encouraged me to get interested in School so that I could go to college. He assisted me into becoming a champion miler which assisted me in getting a scholarship to college. He also helped me erase a lot of the pain and anger that had built up inside of me over the years. Mr. Miller was a white, Jewish man that made a huge difference in my life. So, yes, Sports played a most important role in my life!

In the age of D1 athletics and media attention on youth sports to see who’s the best or the next sensation, I sense that we have lost sight of the real value of Sports in the lives of the students. In my case, Sports, and a coach with a heart of gold, gave me a new lease on life and provided me with hope and an understanding that bad people come in all sizes, genders and colors and that great people come the same way.

We are approaching a new moment in our lives with the inauguration of President-Elect Obama. His message is very simple. It is not based on blue states or red states. It’s based on the color of our hearts and our ability to continue to rise up beyond oppression towards a greater hope for opportunity for ourselves and our children.

I have been very fortunate to have lived at a time of overt and covert segregation. I lived in the time of Ali and of Woods, and I’ve seen the world around me change by their impact. Yet, there is still more change needed and more changes will come.

As you travel to practice and go to games remember what Darwin said about change:

“It’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

Sports affords each of us the opportunity to learn how to embrace change and make adjustments. While a college scholarship may be in the offering it is not the only thing at stake here.