Collegiate Athletics Hightlights

Collegiate athletics have presented a grueling playing field for student athletes of color over the past 15 years. And sometimes, just when it seems that players of color have gotten used to the terrain, new issues of equity explode on the field, making the footing even more precarious. The following 15 issues — and the personalities involved with them — have been at the forefront of that battle. While there is much scandalous behavior in collegiate sports, we have intentionally overlooked the general subject of scandals because they are never-ending — from point shaving, to criminal behavior, to academic cheating, and beyond. But because many of the issues discussed here overlap, they cannot be ranked. So pay no attention to the order in which they are presented.

1) Championship Coaches
 African American coaches have led teams to championships in numerous collegiate sports over the past 15 years. Among the luminaries in the NCAA's Division I, high-profile, revenue-producing sports are: national championship men's basketball coaches John Thompson of Georgetown University, Nolan Richardson of the University of Arkansas, and Tubby Smith of the University of Kentucky; and women's basketball coach Carolyn Peck of Purdue University.

2) Becoming One Voice
 While access to the collegiate coaching profession for Blacks remains a major problem, the founding of the Black Coaches Association in 1987 paid some early dividends. In 1988, 11 new African American basketball coaches were hired by Division I schools, growing their ranks by more than 25 percent. And because of pressure from the association, the NCAA also announced that it would be awarding 20 scholarships — 10 to minorities and 10 to women — as part of an effort to increase minority opportunities in sports coaching and administration. Another BCA protest in 1993 got the NCAA to agree to further increase minority opportunities.

3) Eligibility Battles: Where, When, and Who Can Play
There has been a persistent stream of rules and regulations — many of them disproportionately impacting student athletes of color — governing the level of competition at which they can participate, how often they can participate, and whether or not they can participate. In the mid-1980s, the NCAA passed Proposition 48, which tied athletic participation for Division I freshmen to high school grade-point averages and standardized test score results. Early in 1999, a U.S. Third Circuit Court judge — citing the NCAA's own reports and memos — ruled that the regulations were illegal because they had an "unjustified impact on African Americans." The case is currently under appeal.