During my 8th and 9th grade years I played football on the Jr. high team. My 8th grade year I didn’t get much playing time at all. My 9th grade year I was determined to make the starting team. I can recall one day during practice we were doing blocking drills. The objective of this drill was to have two players, were one player’s objective is to get past the other player and the other player’s job was to prevent him from getting past by blocking, not tackling. This drill was performed by placing two orange cones about six feet apart. Each player would then take a three-point stance facing one another within these two cones and neither player could go outside the cones.
When it became time for me I was matched up with a player who always played with a mad man attitude. He was the blocker trying to prevent me from getting past. We both took our position between the two orange cones, the coach blew the whistle, I quickly sprung into him---dropped my left shoulder back and while stepping forward with my right foot---I pushed him off to the side. As he fell to the ground I stepped past him and proceeded to take my position at the end of the line. But before I could get back in line the coach ordered us to do it again. As I began to take my position the coach began yelling at the other player, whom by now was huffing and buffing like some wild animal. So we took our positions and when the whistle blew I did the same thing, but this time turning my right shoulder and pushing him off. Well this time the other player hooked his right arm under my left shoulder and pulled me down with him. Once again the coach began yelling and screaming at him and for the third time he made us to it again. So we took our position again and as I looked into the other player’s eyes I got to see his anger and frustration, but by now I was even more distributed by what was going on. When the whistle blew, I jumped up just enough to get my right arm on top of the other player’s head and then with my body weight I drove him head first down into the ground.
Even though I took out my frustration out on the other player, my problem was with the coach. Not once did the coach ever acknowledge how well I did, he was driven and determined to make this other player do well against me, especially since this other player was one of the coaching staffs’ favorites.
I was one of the 4 or 5 blacks on a team of 30 plus players that year. The relationship among the black and white players was good since most of us attended elementary school together and played Pop Warner football. I knew after that day that in order to make the starting team I was going to have to be more than just a good player. Last season, I thought didn’t get to play because I was too small, but I was beginning to understand that it was more than just that. As mentioned earlier, I played Pop Warner football with most of these guys and I started. Now we are in Jr. High with a whole new coaching staff and I realized that things were going to be different.
I never did make the starting team that year, and I believe it had to do with the coaches not concerned with putting together a winning team, but being able to identify with the white players and wanting to see them grow and develop into good players. With the exception of one black player on the team the rest of us really never got the chance to prove our abilities since we did not have the speed nor the size he had and the lack of interest from our coaches. I realized back then that I wasn’t going to always get the same opportunities as my white counter parts and that I would have to work harder and be better than good to get a chance to prove myself.
Now the question comes to my mind "What was he feeling?" Here he was being pressured by the coach to stop me. In order to speculate how he perceived this incident I will---for the moment, flip the script and put myself in his position.
Well my first feeling is WOW the coaches do care how well I do. But that feeling is my feeling and not that of the "mad man". So let’s say that I know the coaches are as interested in me as they are towards the "mad man". Looking at it from this perspective I would feel somewhat embarrassed, because this incident happened in front of the other players. I would also feel that I have let the coach down, knowing that he has higher expectations of me. Feelings of guilt would also configure into this equation knowing that here is a guy that doesn’t get the recognition that I do, but he is out-performing me.
Now I am dealing with the problem of speaking for others, and in doing so my assessment of how he must have felt is maybe just a false impression. By putting myself in his position, my values that are deeply rooted in me cannot be removed nor can I possibly know what his values are, therefore making it a problem to speak for him. If I do not put myself in his position and try to speculate about what he was feeling, I would bet his feelings were that of anger and frustration. That is my speculation.
This is also the time when schools around the country are preparing for the upcoming football season. During the summer months we did a lot of running and weight lifting in preparation for football season. By the time practices start, there is a lot of excitement and anticipation for we have long awaited this moment.
During the first two weeks of practice there are many of us who want to play, but by the third week many have quit leaving only those who remain throughout the season. The environment takes on changes, the leaves begin to turn colors and the grass has a certain smell that to this day still reminds me of football. By now the coaches have a pretty good idea of who will start and who will not, but for most of us until that decision is announced we continue to play with all our heart. This leaves a lot of tension between players. Fights occur quite often and friendships are tested. Looking back, it is easy to see why we can become angry and frustrated with each other.
My analysis and interpretation of this incident is centered on the coach. It was he who made us repeat this drill several times. It was clear to me that he was showing favoritism towards the white player and never once did he acknowledge how well I did. Instead he was determined to push this other player to perform well against me.
What was the driving force behind his actions? Was it because he was white and could identify more with the white players? Or was it because I was black and viewed as being the bad guy? My interpretation is that he viewed me not from a perspective of being a member of the team, but more from the racial context of being the other.
In this coach’s view, how could this white player be dominated by this worthless other. To him I was inferior. Therefore he needed to regain domination by coercing this player to conquer and destroy me by issuing such instructions as "Come on I know you can do better than that, get low and explode into him."
In my view he was not only coaching this player to be a better player, but also coaching this player to be dominant over the other. I never received such interest or instructions from this coach, and I believe it was because being white he identified more with the white players and viewed me as the other.
Looking at this from a larger context during this time blacks were beginning to make an impact in college and professional sports. In 1970, the USC Trojans football team traveled to Alabama. The USC team was the first fully integrated team to play in Alabama. USC was led by an all-black backfield of quarterback Jimmy Jones, running back Clarence Davis a native of Alabama, and fullback Sam "Bam" Cunningham. After that year Alabama head coach "Bear" Bryant began recruiting black players. Suddenly, it was clear to Bryant that signing black players was no longer an issue of conscience: It was now a matter of winning.
However, there was still a lack of African American coaches in many college and professional sports. Even in the NFL there were only a couple of black quarterbacks. In contrast to today, we see that there are now many black coaches and even more black quarterbacks. However, the issue being asked now is, why aren’t there any black professional sport team owners?
Before we can begin to really take advantage of our diverse culture, we must remove the perception that white is better and embrace the truth---that there's parity between blacks and whites. In the long run the winner will be America.
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