TIDES


	Articles by Dr. Lapchick Date of Release: April 15, 2008 MLB's diversity would have Jackie shaking his head by Richard Lapchick Tuesday is Jackie Robinson Day, commemorating the 61st anniversary of Robinson's 1947 debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, which broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. A few weeks ago, I sat with Rachel Robinson, Jackie's elegant and extraordinary wife who works to carry on his legacy, at the Jackie Robinson Foundation Banquet at the Waldorf in New York City. She knew that the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida was about to publish the 2008 MLB Racial and Gender Report Card, as we do annually near the start of the baseball season, and she asked how it looked. More... Date of Release: March 24, 2008 Graduation rates show promise, room for improvement by Richard Lapchick As the Sweet 16 approaches, the glory and dreams of alumni, fans, students, faculty, administrators, and especially the student athletes of the 16 men’s and women’s teams that have survived to this point have raised spirits throughout the country. With the television, print and Internet coverage, the excitement comes with a fever pitch. But the question I ask at this time each year is “What happens to those student athletes whose eligibility expired when their teams were beaten, and even still what about those whose eligibility will end after the Final Four for those that get there?” Their fate depends largely on their school’s commitment to the balance between academics and athletics. More... Date of Release: February 28, 2008 Scott and Smith gave new look to Tobacco Road by Richard Lapchick I remember talking to Dean Smith about Charlie Scott nearly 25 years after Scott became the first African-American scholarship athlete at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Coach Smith had called me after he read that the Center for the Study of Sport in Society, which I had founded at Northeastern University, had started a program that was using former athletes to train young people to deal more effectively with racial tensions and conflict. It was called Project Teamwork and went on to be called "America's most successful violence prevention program." Coach Smith was inquiring about it because he thought Scott would be a perfect leader for Project Teamwork. Amazingly, Smith made the call during the week that UNC was about to play in the Sweet 16 at the 1990 NCAA Tournament. What coach calls someone during that week to talk about a player who had left his program decades before? More... Date of Release: February 20, 2008 Breaking the college color barrier: Studies in courage by Richard Lapchick By now, many in sport celebrate the lives and courage of the first African-American pro athletes to break the color barriers, especially during Black History Month. Pretty much everyone knows the story of Jackie Robinson in Major League Baseball. And more and more often, we read about Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, Earl Lloyd and Chuck Cooper in the NBA, Kenny Washington and Woody Strode in the NFL and Willie O'Ree in the NHL. More... Date of Release: January 28, 2008 Could diversity have prevented volatile images, words? by Richard Lapchick Suspensions and firings resulted after a strange few days of offensive remarks and images from people in the media. It all started with Kelly Tilghman, the Golf Channel’s Anchor for the PGA Tour. She seemingly suggested as a joke that young players should take Tiger Woods and “lynch him in a back alley” in order to open opportunities for them to win championships. Not much was said for the few days after that until the media picked up on it and then the Golf Channel suspended her for two weeks. More... Date of Release: January 4, 2008 Tony Elliott's life, death took tragic turns by Richard Lapchick Much of Tony Elliott's life was dominated by murders, guns and drug addiction. Because he played in the NFL for seven seasons, the images recall too many current stories about out-of-control athletes. But his 6-foot-4, 300-plus-pound frame, often draped in a mink coat, drew the immediate attention of students who met him. The stories he told left them mesmerized and reflective about choices they would make in their own lives. This was the Tony Elliott I knew well since his early days with the New Orleans Saints. More... December 10, 2007 Group's growth a positive step for diversity in sports business by Richard Lapchick For man years, the window of opportunity for people of color in professional sports may have seemed to be only narrowly open. As the last few Racial and Gender Report Cards have shown, the window has been opened more widely in the past few years. Seizing on that momentum with the goal of opening it all the way, a group of professionals in sport has been formed. More... Date of Release: October 16, 2007 Lessons for the Jena 6 by Richard Lapchick Mychal Bell might not know the lessons of Darryl Williams and Marcus Dixon, but the latest turn in Bell's case makes his story the next chapter in a series that includes the tales of those other two African-American high school football players from earlier generations. Together, they inform us that racism is still too virulent in our society. More... Date of Release: October 8, 2007 Racial-bias issues shadow the case of Ronny Thompson by Richard Lapchick With all the attention being paid to the racial issues being raised in Jena, La., it is easy to see how far we are from the assurance of racial justice in America. In my opinion, the racial issues raised by the case of Ronny Thompson and his departure from Ball State University as basketball coach after a single season have been largely ignored. More... Date of Release: September 28, 2007 Take Notice of Latinas as Leaders in the Sports World by Richard Lapchick When we talk about diversity in America, too often the conversation is limited to African-Americans and whites. The dimensions of diversity have expanded to include different racial and ethnic groups, disabilities, sexual orientations and other distinctions, but too often, when we think about diversity, it is only in that two-dimensional field. More... Date of Release: August 28, 2007 Magic Owner Gives Generously, without fanfare by Richard Lapchick I have followed the comments by Harris Rosen about Rich DeVos, and while I have admired Rosen for his personal giving, I feel I need to respond. More... Date of Release: July 31, 2007 WNBA had fewest female head coaches in 2006 by Richard Lapchick The WNBA had more male head coaches last season than ever, a development the author of an annual diversity study of the league called "a positive sign." More... Date of Release: May 9, 2007 NBA diversity makes for a pretty big picture by Richard Lapchick Recently, there has been a wide-open discussion in the media about a study that suggests a disproportionate number of calls against black players are being made by white officials in the NBA. ESPN.com alone has carried at least six articles on the study, which was written by Justin Wolfers, an assistant professor of business and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, and Joseph Price, a Cornell graduate student in economics. More... Date of Release: April 18, 2007 Can We Talk? The Imus Story is Helping by Richard Lapchick We might finally be approaching the end of the story about Don Imus and the obscene, vulgar, racist and sexist language he used on the air to describe the women's basketball team at Rutgers University. It's fitting that Imus was removed from both MSNBC and CBS, and it's good that coach C. Vivian Stringer's team is being recognized as a classy, intelligent group of outstanding student-athletes. More... Date of Release: April 5, 2007 Eddie Robinson by Richard Lapchick I am a blessed man. I was asked to write the autobiography of Coach Eddie Robinson with Coach Rob in 1996. I did not know him personally before that but enthusiastically agreed because of the incredibly high regard in which I held him after following his legendary career. Eddie Robinson was a rare gift to humanity. More... Date of Release: February 28, 2007 Full circle for NC State's Irwin Holmes by Richard Lapchick Richard Lapchick says Irwin Holmes broke the late-1950s mold at North Carolina State from the classroom to the tennis team to intramural football. More... Date of Release: February 6, 2007 Gaines traveled a hard road at Va. Tech by Richard Lapchick It wasn't easy, but Jerry Gaines, the first African-American scholarship athlete in the history of Virginia Tech, survived, thrived and is giving back. More... Date of Release: February 6, 2007 Georgia Tech's McAshan Helped Pave the Way by Richard Lapchick History sometimes has a strange way of playing out. As we get into Black History Month, much attention is placed, understandably, on events in the civil rights movement and the National Civil Rights Museum located in Memphis, one of the centers of protest activities in the South during the movement. Arguably the saddest event in the civil rights era happened there when Martin Luther King was gunned down on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in April 1968. More... Date of Release: January 17, 2007 My Gift to Ali: Hope for Peace by Richard Lapchick In my 61 years, I have visited more than 125 countries. Wherever I traveled, as soon as it was discovered I had anything to do with sports, someone asked if I knew Muhammad Ali. Even the first time I visited Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, he asked if I knew Ali. When I said, "Yes," he smiled wryly and said, "I do, too!" More... Date of Release: December 13, 2006 Report Card: Colleges Have long way to go by Richard Lapchick The University of Miami's hiring of Randy Shannon as its head football coach made headlines last week, but it wasn't enough to improve the grade that college football received for its hiring practices this year under the College Racial and Gender Report Card released Wednesday. College sports received a B-minus for race and a B for gender hiring practices, but it received an F in the area of hiring college football coaches, with only 5 percent of the Division IA head coaches being African-American, compared to 45 percent of the players. The report card, which I co-authored with Jenny Brenden, was published by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida. More... Date of Release: November 27, 2006 (Sports Business Journal) NBA Pioneers stood tall on racial issues by Richard Lapchick As the NBA season opened, two men who helped found the league were in the news. Red Auerbach, who was involved in every NBA season until his death at the age of 89 in October, has helped shaped all of the different eras of the league’s history. The other was my father, Joe Lapchick, who was a rival coach of the New York Knicks from 1946 through 1956. “Lapchick: The Life of a Legendary Player and Coach in the Glory Days of Basketball” was written by one of his former players, Gus Alfieri. The biography was published 36 years after my father’s passing. My dad had also played professionally for 20 years, mainly with the Original Celtics, and coached St. John’s University for another 20 years. More... Date of Release: October 14, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) A reason to celebrate sports: Buck O'Neil by Richard Lapchick It's been a week of celebration, regrets and reflections after the passing of the legendary Negro League star, Buck O'Neil on Friday. Those who knew him or knew of him are celebrating all he did to open doors for African-American athletes through his own brilliant career as a player and coach, and as an ambassador of the game. The regrets grow from the many things he was not able to do because his country was not ready for full integration, and from a special committee's failure to vote him into the Baseball Hall of Fame this February in his 94th year. Now there will be no 95th year. Posthumous induction into Cooperstown will be nice; but his in-person acceptance would have been right. More... Date of Release: September 25, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) Growth in Latin participation good business by Richard Lapchick If sports fans notice America celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, they might think of the great Latino players in Major League Baseball, in which 29 percent of the players are Latino. Some might think of Latino boxers. Depending on their interests, they might know that 20 percent of Major League Soccer players are Latino. Still others might know that more than 3 percent of NBA players and Division I college student-athletes are Latino. More... Date of Release: September 11, 2006 (Sports Business Journal) Power at the top by Richard Lapchick The footballs are flying again with the NFL, college and high school seasons now under way. The excitement is building, hopes are high, Cinderella stories will be written, hearts will be broken, championships won. All across the nation fans are cheering either live or in front of their TV sets. As the seasons begin, it seems as if everyone has a chance to win. More... Report Card: Tagliabue's legacy includes new model for racial hiring Date of Release: August 17, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) by Richard Lapchick There are many tributes pouring in as Paul Tagliabue steps down as NFL commissioner. He leaves a sport that is thriving beyond most forecasters' imagination. The economic vitality of the league is beyond compare and seemingly secure with labor peace, loyal fans and fabulously wealthy TV contracts. More... One man's vote for commissioner: Reggie Williams Date of Release: July 5, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) by Richard Lapchick Reggie Williams is being considered for the commissioner's position in the NFL. While I know that he is an out-of-the-box choice, I have known Reggie since the 1980s and hope that he is chosen to succeed Paul Tagliabue. I consider him to be an out-of-the-box candidate because he is not currently an NFL insider, and there has never been an African-American commissioner in any major pro sport. More... Change coming? Diversity in the newsroom Date of Release: June 25, 2006 (The Orlando Sentinel) by Richard Lapchick A year ago Fitz Hill, the former head football coach at San Jose State, and I were addressing the Associated Press Sports Editors Convention in Orlando about the racial and gender hiring practices in college and professional sport. Garry Howard, one of the few African-American sport editors in America, interrupted and said “it is great that you do this on sport, but you should also do one on the media. Women and people of color are certainly not represented well here.” John Cherwa, the Tribune Sports Coordinator, left the room and came back 15 minutes later to say that he consulted with the APSE leaders and they agreed to help facilitate the study which was released Thursday afternoon at the 2006 APSE convention in Las Vegas. More... Who's covering whom? Sports sections lag in diversity Date of Release: June 22, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) by Richard Lapchick Two years after Ralph Wiley died so young at age 51, the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, which I direct, released a study of key sports department positions at all of the Associated Press Sports Editors newspapers in the United States and Canada. The lack of diversity we found in that study underlines the importance of Wiley's contributions to our understanding of sport in America, especially at a time when people of color dominate the percentages of players in the NBA and the NFL, as well as in college football and basketball. More... Promise to prominence for Asian athletes Date of Release: May 18, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) by Richard Lapchick It has been almost 60 years since the New York Knicks selected the University of Utah's Wat Misaka in the first round of the 1947 draft, making him the NBA's first player of Asian descent. My dad was the Knicks' coach back then, and liked what he'd seen of the Japanese-American, a 5-foot-7 guard, at Utah. There was no big reaction to Misaka's signing, nor was there much reaction when he was let go only three games into the Knicks' season. He had scored seven points...As we celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month this May, I've been thinking about those disparate reactions. The institution of slavery and the slaughter of Native Americans probably top the list, but the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II is right up there among the most racist and antidemocratic episodes in our nation's history. It puzzles me that Misaka starred at Utah and was the Knicks' first draft pick in the same decade that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, in the same decade that we interned thousands of Japanese-Americans and in the same decade that we dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities. More... The hiring of Keith Tribble raises the bar Date of Release: May 1, 2006 (The Orlando Sentinel) by Richard Lapchick When UCF announced that Keith Tribble will be the new athletic director, it was an historic occasion. Not only did UCF have its own first African-American athletic director, Tribble is one of less than 20 in the history of 119 member schools in Division IA. In 2006 Tribble became the 11th African-American man to head up a program along with two Latino men. There are no Asian or Native-American men or women, and no African-American or Latino women in that position. It is a hire that got noticed all across the country.More... Major League Baseball and the Issue of Race: Selig Makes a Difference Date of Release: May 1, 2006 (Sports Business Journal) by Richard Lapchick As the Director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, I recently released the Major League Baseball Racial and Gender Report Card. On the issue of race, it seemed to show a world with two different hemispheres in MLB. The first hemisphere is the one where Commissioner Bud Selig has the most influence. In that realm, so much of the news is positive regarding racial hiring practices. In the second realm of the individual teams, the news is that of stagnation at best and decline at worst.More... Nats' no-brainer: minority ownership Date of Release: April 18, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) by Richard Lapchick This week, Bud Selig is expected to name baseball's choice to be the new owners of the Washington Nationals, who have been owned and operated by Major League Baseball since February of 2002. Selig has a big opportunity with this decision to continue the improvement in baseball's hiring practices for race that already has been a mark of his tenure as commissioner. As the majority of Washington's population is African-American, a choice of the so-called Smulyan group, named for its leader, Jeff Smulyan, would be another sign of Selig's determination to keep the issue of race on the sport's front burner. More than $50 million of the Smulyan group's capital comes from African-American partners. More... The blame game for graduation rates Date of Release: March 15, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) by Richard Lapchick When a team wins a national championship, one of the fringe benefits is the traditional visit to the White House and a meeting with the president of the United States. It's an amazing feeling, being in the Oval Office with the president. In my role with National Student-Athlete Day, I experienced it on a number of occasions during the Clinton administration, including several times when national championship teams were being celebrated. National Student Athlete-Day on April 6 honors all that is right about sport in America, recognizing people who contribute to the effort to keep the "student" in student-athlete; and I am proud to have been involved in the special day's creation. More... Do the right thing in D.C. Date of Release: February 9, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) by Richard E. Lapchick Major League Baseball has a unique opportunity to renew African-American interest in the sport, from the youth level through the major leagues. There have been a sharply declining number of black participants and spectators over the past 20 years. After months of heated debate, the Washington, D.C., city council finally voted this week to provide $611 million in District funds to finance a new stadium for the Washington Nationals. Washingtonians were so excited during the inaugural season last year, and I think most baseball fans felt good that the nation's pastime had returned to our nation's capital.More... The big screen makes us think Date of Release: January 24, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) by Richard E. Lapchick The release of "Glory Road" has once again given us a movie that prompts a discussion about the issue of race in America. The movie "Crash" went far deeper into stereotyping and racism across all racial and ethnic groups, but it was seen by a limited audience. Sports movies like "Glory Road," "Remember the Titans" and "Hoop Dreams" are seen by wider audiences. The depiction of life in these films raises many important questions and inspires discussions about the state of America's race relations today. More... NBA players should dress up Date of Release: October 24, 2005 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) by Richard E. Lapchick I welcome the NBA's new dress code. Living in Orlando, I attend many Magic games and see the injured players on the bench wearing sport jackets and dress pants. I often hear comments in the stands about what a professional-looking team it is, on and off the court. More... Black coaches win big Date of Release: September 21, 2005 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) by Richard E. Lapchick It was one of the last games of a long weekend of football, with nearly 60 Division I-A games and 14 NFL games. The Arizona Cardinals were just a few yards shy of a great comeback engineered by quarterback Kurt Warner. Down 17-12, he drove the Cardinals to the St. Louis 5-yard line in the final seconds. But the drive failed after a sack and a false start. Had the Cardinals won, the victory for coach Dennis Green's team would have meant that every single (nine at present) African-American NFL and I-A college coach would have won on the same weekend for the first time in the history of sports. It would have been a remarkable achievement indeed, in light of how few African-American coaches have had the opportunity to be head coaches either in the NFL or in college -- there have been only 19 African-American I-A head coaches, and only nine African-American NFL head coaches. More... Another Sad Day for New Orleans Date of Release: October 2005 (Sports Business Journal) by Richard E. Lapchick It is surprising that people have not become numb after so many sad stories and so much nightmarish news that has come out of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. Loss of life, loss of home, loss of memories, loss of hope – have all been recurring themes of news stories coming from the Gulf. More… The healing power of sport Date of Release: September 14, 2005 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) by Richard E. Lapchick I flew to Baton Rouge on Wednesday with anger in my heart because of what happened in New Orleans. I was angry that my country could not respond adequately to the horror in those streets when water became the enemy, that thousands of Americans were stranded in the Superdome and at the Convention Center, that almost all were poor and African-American. ...Saints running backs Deuce McAllister and Fred McAfee spent last weekend in shelters set up in Mississippi. McAllister, well-known for his philanthropy and commitment to the community, has joined McAfee, Saints wide receiver Michael Lewis and San Diego Chargers punter Mike Scifres to form a coalition they are calling Athletes Making a Difference to encourage athletes and other residents of the United States to join in assisting the victims of Hurricane Katrina. All four grew up in Mississippi or Louisiana and were personally affected by Katrina. More... Mascots are a matter of respect Date of Release: August 26, 2005 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) by Richard E. Lapchick The NCAA has made many controversial decisions in its long history, but I doubt any of them caused more of a public outcry than its attempt to stop 18 schools from using "hostile and abusive" Native American names, mascots and/or imagery. There were unhappy people on both sides of the issue. Affected colleges and universities expressed outrage that the NCAA had stepped into the fray, while proponents of an all-out ban on ethnic names and mascots thought the organization hadn't gone far enough. The NCAA began preparing for the appeals process from the moment it made the initial announcement. So far, Florida State is the only school to appeal, and the NCAA ruled in its favor on Aug. 23. I think the NCAA, led by president Myles Brand, took a gutsy, if not perfect, stand that finally turned the issue into a nation debate... More... Bold Move at Delaware State Date of Release: July 26, 2005 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2) My goal, and the goal of most who work in diversity management, is to push for the best person to be hired, whether that person is African-American, Latino, Asian, Native American or white, and whether that person is male or female...Today, I applaud Delaware State University, a historically black university, for its courage in hiring Chuck Bell, who happens to be white, as its new athletics director in the face of certain opposition. Already, people at the school are saying it's wrong for a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) to have a white athletics director. More... "Celebrating Asian-American athletes" Date of Article: May 26, 2005 (Special op ed to the Orlando Sentinel) by Dr. Richard Lapchick May is Asian American Heritage Month. I was the speaker for the Asian American Heritage Council's gala earlier this month. Part of its mission is to promote and enhance the positive image of Asian-Americans. More... "Pro hoops set the standard" Date of Article: May 24, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2) by Dr. Richard Lapchick The NBA conference finals and the new WNBA season both began this past weekend – exciting times for basketball fans. Twenty-one years ago, David Stern took over as commissioner of an NBA in decline. Attendance was down, the 1980 NBA Finals between the Lakers and 76ers was shown only on tape-delay after the late-night news, and the game had no iconic players. Critics worried the league was "too black" and expected changes that would increase its popularity among its predominantly white fan base. Stern made it clear from the start that his policy...More "Where's the next D-Train?" Date of Article: April 14, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2) by Dr. Richard Lapchick It has been pointed out before. But as the Nationals first take the field Thursday night for their home-opening series, it's worth mentioning again that they are playing in Washington, D.C., which is home to one of the highest concentrations of African-Americans of any major American city. That stands in stark contrast to the persistent decline of African-American players in major-league baseball. More... "Progress continues--in the NFL" Date of Article: February 9, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2) by Dr. Richard Lapchick As the NFL season concluded with the proclamation that the New England Patriots are now officially a dynasty, another NFL dynasty seems to be crumbling. As a longtime fan of Robert Kraft and the Patriots, I am delighted to see their on-the-field dynasty reach this point. After many successful years as an assistant, Romeo Crennel is now in charge. And as someone who has followed the NFL's hiring practices for more than two decades, I am also pleased to see the "good old boys network" among head football coaches -- a dynasty of sorts itself -- continues to fall apart now that Romeo Crennel has been hired as the new head coach of the Cleveland Browns.More... "Stop the hazing" Date of Article: February 8, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2) by Dr. Richard Lapchick “Parents: Bishop Moore Athlete Hurt in Hazing” in the Orlando Sentinel’s February 3rd edition was disturbing to me on several levels. Most striking was that, like other hazing incidents reported across the country, no action seemed to be taken by the school against the girls who allegedly hazed a 15 year old player on the girls’ soccer team. She reported that she was dropped on her head after teammates tried to dunk her head in the toilet and suffered a cerebral contusion. More... "Shocked and Surprised: Notre Dame Fires Ty Willingham" Date of Article: December 1, 2004 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2) by Dr. Richard Lapchick If you believe in equal opportunity in sport, today may be the saddest day in the history of American college football. I was in a state of disbelief when Dr. Fritz Polite, my colleague at the University of Central Florida, emailed me earlier this afternoon that Ty Willingham had been fired from the University of Notre Dame. I thought he was joking. Dr. Polite knew how closely I followed the situation of the lack of African-American head coaches in Division IA football. More... ARCHIVES

Articles by Dr. Lapchick

Date of Release: April 15, 2008
MLB's diversity would have Jackie shaking his head
by Richard Lapchick

Tuesday is Jackie Robinson Day, commemorating the 61st anniversary of Robinson's 1947 debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, which broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. A few weeks ago, I sat with Rachel Robinson, Jackie's elegant and extraordinary wife who works to carry on his legacy, at the Jackie Robinson Foundation Banquet at the Waldorf in New York City. She knew that the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida was about to publish the 2008 MLB Racial and Gender Report Card, as we do annually near the start of the baseball season, and she asked how it looked.
More...

Date of Release: March 24, 2008
Graduation rates show promise, room for improvement
by Richard Lapchick

As the Sweet 16 approaches, the glory and dreams of alumni, fans, students, faculty,
administrators, and especially the student athletes of the 16 men’s and women’s teams that have survived to this point have raised spirits throughout the country.
With the television, print and Internet coverage, the excitement comes with a fever pitch. But the question I ask at this time each year is “What happens to those student athletes whose eligibility expired when their teams were beaten, and even still what about those whose eligibility will end after the Final Four for those that get there?” Their fate depends largely on their school’s commitment to the balance between academics and athletics.
More...

Date of Release: February 28, 2008
Scott and Smith gave new look to Tobacco Road
by Richard Lapchick

I remember talking to Dean Smith about Charlie Scott nearly 25 years after Scott became the first African-American scholarship athlete at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Coach Smith had called me after he read that the Center for the Study of Sport in Society, which I had founded at Northeastern University, had started a program that was using former athletes to train young people to deal more effectively with racial tensions and conflict. It was called Project Teamwork and went on to be called "America's most successful violence prevention program." Coach Smith was inquiring about it because he thought Scott would be a perfect leader for Project Teamwork. Amazingly, Smith made the call during the week that UNC was about to play in the Sweet 16 at the 1990 NCAA Tournament. What coach calls someone during that week to talk about a player who had left his program decades before?
More...

Date of Release: February 20, 2008
Breaking the college color barrier: Studies in courage
by Richard Lapchick

By now, many in sport celebrate the lives and courage of the first African-American pro athletes to break the color barriers, especially during Black History Month. Pretty much everyone knows the story of Jackie Robinson in Major League Baseball. And more and more often, we read about Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, Earl Lloyd and Chuck Cooper in the NBA, Kenny Washington and Woody Strode in the NFL and Willie O'Ree in the NHL.
More...

Date of Release: January 28, 2008
Could diversity have prevented volatile images, words?
by Richard Lapchick

Suspensions and firings resulted after a strange few days of offensive remarks and images from people in the media. It all started with Kelly Tilghman, the Golf Channel’s Anchor for the PGA Tour. She seemingly suggested as a joke that young players should take Tiger Woods and “lynch him in a back alley” in order to open opportunities for them to win championships. Not much was said for the few days after that until the media picked up on it and then the Golf Channel suspended her for two weeks.
More...

Date of Release: January 4, 2008
Tony Elliott's life, death took tragic turns
by Richard Lapchick

Much of Tony Elliott's life was dominated by murders, guns and drug addiction. Because he played in the NFL for seven seasons, the images recall too many current stories about out-of-control athletes. But his 6-foot-4, 300-plus-pound frame, often draped in a mink coat, drew the immediate attention of students who met him. The stories he told left them mesmerized and reflective about choices they would make in their own lives. This was the Tony Elliott I knew well since his early days with the New Orleans Saints.
More...

December 10, 2007
Group's growth a positive step for diversity in sports business
by Richard Lapchick

For man years, the window of opportunity for people of color in professional sports may have seemed to be only narrowly open. As the last few Racial and Gender Report Cards have shown, the window has been opened more widely in the past few years. Seizing on that momentum with the goal of opening it all the way, a group of professionals in sport has been formed.
More...

Date of Release: October 16, 2007
Lessons for the Jena 6
by Richard Lapchick

Mychal Bell might not know the lessons of Darryl Williams and Marcus Dixon, but the latest turn in Bell's case makes his story the next chapter in a series that includes the tales of those other two African-American high school football players from earlier generations. Together, they inform us that racism is still too virulent in our society.
More...

Date of Release: October 8, 2007
Racial-bias issues shadow the case of Ronny Thompson
by Richard Lapchick

With all the attention being paid to the racial issues being raised in Jena, La., it is easy to see how far we are from the assurance of racial justice in America. In my opinion, the racial issues raised by the case of Ronny Thompson and his departure from Ball State University as basketball coach after a single season have been largely ignored.
More...

Date of Release: September 28, 2007
Take Notice of Latinas as Leaders in the Sports World
by Richard Lapchick

When we talk about diversity in America, too often the conversation is limited to African-Americans and whites. The dimensions of diversity have expanded to include different racial and ethnic groups, disabilities, sexual orientations and other distinctions, but too often, when we think about diversity, it is only in that two-dimensional field.
More...

Date of Release: August 28, 2007
Magic Owner Gives Generously, without fanfare
by Richard Lapchick

I have followed the comments by Harris Rosen about Rich DeVos, and while I have admired Rosen for his personal giving, I feel I need to respond.
More...

Date of Release: July 31, 2007
WNBA had fewest female head coaches in 2006
by Richard Lapchick

The WNBA had more male head coaches last season than ever, a development the author of an annual diversity study of the league called "a positive sign."
More...

Date of Release: May 9, 2007
NBA diversity makes for a pretty big picture
by Richard Lapchick

Recently, there has been a wide-open discussion in the media about a study that suggests a disproportionate number of calls against black players are being made by white officials in the NBA. ESPN.com alone has carried at least six articles on the study, which was written by Justin Wolfers, an assistant professor of business and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, and Joseph Price, a Cornell graduate student in economics.
More...

Date of Release: April 18, 2007
Can We Talk? The Imus Story is Helping
by Richard Lapchick

We might finally be approaching the end of the story about Don Imus and the obscene, vulgar, racist and sexist language he used on the air to describe the women's basketball team at Rutgers University. It's fitting that Imus was removed from both MSNBC and CBS, and it's good that coach C. Vivian Stringer's team is being recognized as a classy, intelligent group of outstanding student-athletes.
More...

Date of Release: April 5, 2007
Eddie Robinson
by Richard Lapchick

I am a blessed man. I was asked to write the autobiography of Coach Eddie Robinson with Coach Rob in 1996. I did not know him personally before that but enthusiastically agreed because of the incredibly high regard in which I held him after following his legendary career. Eddie Robinson was a rare gift to humanity.
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Date of Release: February 28, 2007
Full circle for NC State's Irwin Holmes
by Richard Lapchick

Richard Lapchick says Irwin Holmes broke the late-1950s mold at North Carolina State from the classroom to the tennis team to intramural football.
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Date of Release: February 6, 2007
Gaines traveled a hard road at Va. Tech
by Richard Lapchick

It wasn't easy, but Jerry Gaines, the first African-American scholarship athlete in the history of Virginia Tech, survived, thrived and is giving back.
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Date of Release: February 6, 2007
Georgia Tech's McAshan Helped Pave the Way
by Richard Lapchick

History sometimes has a strange way of playing out. As we get into Black History Month, much attention is placed, understandably, on events in the civil rights movement and the National Civil Rights Museum located in Memphis, one of the centers of protest activities in the South during the movement. Arguably the saddest event in the civil rights era happened there when Martin Luther King was gunned down on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in April 1968.
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Date of Release: January 17, 2007
My Gift to Ali: Hope for Peace
by Richard Lapchick

In my 61 years, I have visited more than 125 countries. Wherever I traveled, as soon as it was discovered I had anything to do with sports, someone asked if I knew Muhammad Ali. Even the first time I visited Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, he asked if I knew Ali. When I said, "Yes," he smiled wryly and said, "I do, too!"
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Date of Release: December 13, 2006
Report Card: Colleges Have long way to go
by Richard Lapchick

The University of Miami's hiring of Randy Shannon as its head football coach made headlines last week, but it wasn't enough to improve the grade that college football received for its hiring practices this year under the College Racial and Gender Report Card released Wednesday. College sports received a B-minus for race and a B for gender hiring practices, but it received an F in the area of hiring college football coaches, with only 5 percent of the Division IA head coaches being African-American, compared to 45 percent of the players. The report card, which I co-authored with Jenny Brenden, was published by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida. More...

Date of Release: November 27, 2006 (Sports Business Journal)
NBA Pioneers stood tall on racial issues
by Richard Lapchick

As the NBA season opened, two men who helped found the league were in the news.

Red Auerbach, who was involved in every NBA season until his death at the age of 89 in October, has helped shaped all of the different eras of the league’s history. The other was my father, Joe Lapchick, who was a rival coach of the New York Knicks from 1946 through 1956. “Lapchick: The Life of a Legendary Player and Coach in the Glory Days of Basketball” was written by one of his former players, Gus Alfieri. The biography was published 36 years after my father’s passing. My dad had also played professionally for 20 years, mainly with the Original Celtics, and coached St. John’s University for another 20 years. More...

Date of Release: October 14, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)
A reason to celebrate sports: Buck O'Neil
by Richard Lapchick

It's been a week of celebration, regrets and reflections after the passing of the legendary Negro League star, Buck O'Neil on Friday.

Those who knew him or knew of him are celebrating all he did to open doors for African-American athletes through his own brilliant career as a player and coach, and as an ambassador of the game. The regrets grow from the many things he was not able to do because his country was not ready for full integration, and from a special committee's failure to vote him into the Baseball Hall of Fame this February in his 94th year. Now there will be no 95th year. Posthumous induction into Cooperstown will be nice; but his in-person acceptance would have been right. More...

Date of Release: September 25, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)
Growth in Latin participation good business
by Richard Lapchick

If sports fans notice America celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, they might think of the great Latino players in Major League Baseball, in which 29 percent of the players are Latino. Some might think of Latino boxers. Depending on their interests, they might know that 20 percent of Major League Soccer players are Latino. Still others might know that more than 3 percent of NBA players and Division I college student-athletes are Latino. More...

Date of Release: September 11, 2006 (Sports Business Journal)
Power at the top
by Richard Lapchick

The footballs are flying again with the NFL, college and high school seasons now under way. The excitement is building, hopes are high, Cinderella stories will be written, hearts will be broken, championships won. All across the nation fans are cheering either live or in front of their TV sets. As the seasons begin, it seems as if everyone has a chance to win. More...

Report Card: Tagliabue's legacy includes new model for racial hiring
Date of Release: August 17, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

by Richard Lapchick

There are many tributes pouring in as Paul Tagliabue steps down as NFL commissioner. He leaves a sport that is thriving beyond most forecasters' imagination. The economic vitality of the league is beyond compare and seemingly secure with labor peace, loyal fans and fabulously wealthy TV contracts. More...

One man's vote for commissioner: Reggie Williams
Date of Release: July 5, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

by Richard Lapchick

Reggie Williams is being considered for the commissioner's position in the NFL. While I know that he is an out-of-the-box choice, I have known Reggie since the 1980s and hope that he is chosen to succeed Paul Tagliabue. I consider him to be an out-of-the-box candidate because he is not currently an NFL insider, and there has never been an African-American commissioner in any major pro sport. More...

Change coming? Diversity in the newsroom
Date of Release: June 25, 2006 (The Orlando Sentinel)

by Richard Lapchick

A year ago Fitz Hill, the former head football coach at San Jose State, and I were addressing the Associated Press Sports Editors Convention in Orlando about the racial and gender hiring practices in college and professional sport. Garry Howard, one of the few African-American sport editors in America, interrupted and said “it is great that you do this on sport, but you should also do one on the media. Women and people of color are certainly not represented well here.” John Cherwa, the Tribune Sports Coordinator, left the room and came back 15 minutes later to say that he consulted with the APSE leaders and they agreed to help facilitate the study which was released Thursday afternoon at the 2006 APSE convention in Las Vegas. More...

Who's covering whom? Sports sections lag in diversity
Date of Release: June 22, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

by Richard Lapchick

Two years after Ralph Wiley died so young at age 51, the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, which I direct, released a study of key sports department positions at all of the Associated Press Sports Editors newspapers in the United States and Canada. The lack of diversity we found in that study underlines the importance of Wiley's contributions to our understanding of sport in America, especially at a time when people of color dominate the percentages of players in the NBA and the NFL, as well as in college football and basketball. More...

Promise to prominence for Asian athletes
Date of Release: May 18, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

by Richard Lapchick

It has been almost 60 years since the New York Knicks selected the University of Utah's Wat Misaka in the first round of the 1947 draft, making him the NBA's first player of Asian descent. My dad was the Knicks' coach back then, and liked what he'd seen of the Japanese-American, a 5-foot-7 guard, at Utah. There was no big reaction to Misaka's signing, nor was there much reaction when he was let go only three games into the Knicks' season. He had scored seven points...As we celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month this May, I've been thinking about those disparate reactions. The institution of slavery and the slaughter of Native Americans probably top the list, but the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II is right up there among the most racist and antidemocratic episodes in our nation's history. It puzzles me that Misaka starred at Utah and was the Knicks' first draft pick in the same decade that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, in the same decade that we interned thousands of Japanese-Americans and in the same decade that we dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities. More...

The hiring of Keith Tribble raises the bar
Date of Release: May 1, 2006 (The Orlando Sentinel)

by Richard Lapchick

When UCF announced that Keith Tribble will be the new athletic director, it was an historic occasion. Not only did UCF have its own first African-American athletic director, Tribble is one of less than 20 in the history of 119 member schools in Division IA. In 2006 Tribble became the 11th African-American man to head up a program along with two Latino men. There are no Asian or Native-American men or women, and no African-American or Latino women in that position. It is a hire that got noticed all across the country.More...

Major League Baseball and the Issue of Race: Selig Makes a Difference
Date of Release: May 1, 2006 (Sports Business Journal)

by Richard Lapchick

As the Director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, I recently released the Major League Baseball Racial and Gender Report Card. On the issue of race, it seemed to show a world with two different hemispheres in MLB.

The first hemisphere is the one where Commissioner Bud Selig has the most influence. In that realm, so much of the news is positive regarding racial hiring practices. In the second realm of the individual teams, the news is that of stagnation at best and decline at worst.More...

Nats' no-brainer: minority ownership
Date of Release: April 18, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

by Richard Lapchick

This week, Bud Selig is expected to name baseball's choice to be the new owners of the Washington Nationals, who have been owned and operated by Major League Baseball since February of 2002. Selig has a big opportunity with this decision to continue the improvement in baseball's hiring practices for race that already has been a mark of his tenure as commissioner. As the majority of Washington's population is African-American, a choice of the so-called Smulyan group, named for its leader, Jeff Smulyan, would be another sign of Selig's determination to keep the issue of race on the sport's front burner. More than $50 million of the Smulyan group's capital comes from African-American partners. More...

The blame game for graduation rates
Date of Release: March 15, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

by Richard Lapchick

When a team wins a national championship, one of the fringe benefits is the traditional visit to the White House and a meeting with the president of the United States. It's an amazing feeling, being in the Oval Office with the president. In my role with National Student-Athlete Day, I experienced it on a number of occasions during the Clinton administration, including several times when national championship teams were being celebrated. National Student Athlete-Day on April 6 honors all that is right about sport in America, recognizing people who contribute to the effort to keep the "student" in student-athlete; and I am proud to have been involved in the special day's creation. More...

Do the right thing in D.C.
Date of Release: February 9, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

by Richard E. Lapchick

Major League Baseball has a unique opportunity to renew African-American interest in the sport, from the youth level through the major leagues. There have been a sharply declining number of black participants and spectators over the past 20 years.

After months of heated debate, the Washington, D.C., city council finally voted this week to provide $611 million in District funds to finance a new stadium for the Washington Nationals. Washingtonians were so excited during the inaugural season last year, and I think most baseball fans felt good that the nation's pastime had returned to our nation's capital.More...

The big screen makes us think
Date of Release: January 24, 2006 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

by Richard E. Lapchick

The release of "Glory Road" has once again given us a movie that prompts a discussion about the issue of race in America. The movie "Crash" went far deeper into stereotyping and racism across all racial and ethnic groups, but it was seen by a limited audience. Sports movies like "Glory Road," "Remember the Titans" and "Hoop Dreams" are seen by wider audiences. The depiction of life in these films raises many important questions and inspires discussions about the state of America's race relations today. More...

NBA players should dress up
Date of Release: October 24, 2005 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

by Richard E. Lapchick

I welcome the NBA's new dress code. Living in Orlando, I attend many Magic games and see the injured players on the bench wearing sport jackets and dress pants. I often hear comments in the stands about what a professional-looking team it is, on and off the court. More...

Black coaches win big
Date of Release: September 21, 2005 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

by Richard E. Lapchick

It was one of the last games of a long weekend of football, with nearly 60 Division I-A games and 14 NFL games. The Arizona Cardinals were just a few yards shy of a great comeback engineered by quarterback Kurt Warner. Down 17-12, he drove the Cardinals to the St. Louis 5-yard line in the final seconds. But the drive failed after a sack and a false start. Had the Cardinals won, the victory for coach Dennis Green's team would have meant that every single (nine at present) African-American NFL and I-A college coach would have won on the same weekend for the first time in the history of sports. It would have been a remarkable achievement indeed, in light of how few African-American coaches have had the opportunity to be head coaches either in the NFL or in college -- there have been only 19 African-American I-A head coaches, and only nine African-American NFL head coaches. More...

Another Sad Day for New Orleans
Date of Release: October 2005 (Sports Business Journal)

by Richard E. Lapchick

It is surprising that people have not become numb after so many sad stories and so much nightmarish news that has come out of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. Loss of life, loss of home, loss of memories, loss of hope – have all been recurring themes of news stories coming from the Gulf. More…

The healing power of sport
Date of Release: September 14, 2005 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

by Richard E. Lapchick
I flew to Baton Rouge on Wednesday with anger in my heart because of what happened in New Orleans. I was angry that my country could not respond adequately to the horror in those streets when water became the enemy, that thousands of Americans were stranded in the Superdome and at the Convention Center, that almost all were poor and African-American.

...Saints running backs Deuce McAllister and Fred McAfee spent last weekend in shelters set up in Mississippi. McAllister, well-known for his philanthropy and commitment to the community, has joined McAfee, Saints wide receiver Michael Lewis and San Diego Chargers punter Mike Scifres to form a coalition they are calling Athletes Making a Difference to encourage athletes and other residents of the United States to join in assisting the victims of Hurricane Katrina. All four grew up in Mississippi or Louisiana and were personally affected by Katrina. More...

Mascots are a matter of respect
Date of Release: August 26, 2005 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

by Richard E. Lapchick
The NCAA has made many controversial decisions in its long history, but I doubt any of them caused more of a public outcry than its attempt to stop 18 schools from using "hostile and abusive" Native American names, mascots and/or imagery.

There were unhappy people on both sides of the issue. Affected colleges and universities expressed outrage that the NCAA had stepped into the fray, while proponents of an all-out ban on ethnic names and mascots thought the organization hadn't gone far enough. The NCAA began preparing for the appeals process from the moment it made the initial announcement. So far, Florida State is the only school to appeal, and the NCAA ruled in its favor on Aug. 23.

I think the NCAA, led by president Myles Brand, took a gutsy, if not perfect, stand that finally turned the issue into a nation debate... More...

Bold Move at Delaware State
Date of Release: July 26, 2005 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)

My goal, and the goal of most who work in diversity management, is to push for the best person to be hired, whether that person is African-American, Latino, Asian, Native American or white, and whether that person is male or female...Today, I applaud Delaware State University, a historically black university, for its courage in hiring Chuck Bell, who happens to be white, as its new athletics director in the face of certain opposition. Already, people at the school are saying it's wrong for a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) to have a white athletics director. More...

"Celebrating Asian-American athletes"
Date of Article: May 26, 2005 (Special op ed to the Orlando Sentinel)

by Dr. Richard Lapchick

May is Asian American Heritage Month. I was the speaker for the Asian American Heritage Council's gala earlier this month. Part of its mission is to promote and enhance the positive image of Asian-Americans. More...

"Pro hoops set the standard"
Date of Article: May 24, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2)

by Dr. Richard Lapchick

The NBA conference finals and the new WNBA season both began this past weekend – exciting times for basketball fans.

Twenty-one years ago, David Stern took over as commissioner of an NBA in decline. Attendance was down, the 1980 NBA Finals between the Lakers and 76ers was shown only on tape-delay after the late-night news, and the game had no iconic players. Critics worried the league was "too black" and expected changes that would increase its popularity among its predominantly white fan base.

Stern made it clear from the start that his policy...More

"Where's the next D-Train?"
Date of Article: April 14, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2)

by Dr. Richard Lapchick

It has been pointed out before. But as the Nationals first take the field Thursday night for their home-opening series, it's worth mentioning again that they are playing in Washington, D.C., which is home to one of the highest concentrations of African-Americans of any major American city. That stands in stark contrast to the persistent decline of African-American players in major-league baseball. More...

"Progress continues--in the NFL"
Date of Article: February 9, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2)

by Dr. Richard Lapchick

As the NFL season concluded with the proclamation that the New England Patriots are now officially a dynasty, another NFL dynasty seems to be crumbling.

As a longtime fan of Robert Kraft and the Patriots, I am delighted to see their on-the-field dynasty reach this point.

After many successful years as an assistant, Romeo Crennel is now in charge.
And as someone who has followed the NFL's hiring practices for more than two decades, I am also pleased to see the "good old boys network" among head football coaches -- a dynasty of sorts itself -- continues to fall apart now that Romeo Crennel has been hired as the new head coach of the Cleveland Browns.More...

"Stop the hazing"
Date of Article: February 8, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2)

by Dr. Richard Lapchick

“Parents: Bishop Moore Athlete Hurt in Hazing” in the Orlando Sentinel’s February 3rd edition was disturbing to me on several levels. Most striking was that, like other hazing incidents reported across the country, no action seemed to be taken by the school against the girls who allegedly hazed a 15 year old player on the girls’ soccer team. She reported that she was dropped on her head after teammates tried to dunk her head in the toilet and suffered a cerebral contusion. More...

"Shocked and Surprised: Notre Dame Fires Ty Willingham"
Date of Article: December 1, 2004 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2)

by Dr. Richard Lapchick

If you believe in equal opportunity in sport, today may be the saddest day in the history of American college football. I was in a state of disbelief when Dr. Fritz Polite, my colleague at the University of Central Florida, emailed me earlier this afternoon that Ty Willingham had been fired from the University of Notre Dame. I thought he was joking. Dr. Polite knew how closely I followed the situation of the lack of African-American head coaches in Division IA football. More...