CHARLESTON, South Carolina -- They say that “sport mirrors life.Because sport mirrors life, Nike’s Phil Knight can donate more than $300 million to Oregon and its athletic department, singlehandedly financing Oregon’s transition from also-ran to D-1 powerhouse/fashion statement, while practically ignoring the community and boys who have helped him become the 43rd richest man in the world at US $18.4 billion.
It would also explain the lack of NCAA response to the disproportionate representation of Black males on NCAA basketball and football teams compared to their representation among the college student body generally, the lack of a meaningful NCAA response to the massive academic fraud committed against Black athletes, and the apparent inability of the NCAA to eliminate the lingering and persistent disparity in graduation rates between Black and White athletes.
What’s stopping Black folk from rallying behind and redirecting our youngsters to HBCUs and emulate the NCAA’s version of recycling Black dollars? That system pours 90 percent of NCAA money generated almost entirely by Black basketball players into non-revenue sports in which few Blacks participate. According to NCAA President Mark Emmert in a December 12, 2012 LA Chamber of Commerce discussion “College Sports Are Broken”, the $2 billion in scholarship dollars generated by basketball and football, where 99% of the stars are Black, represents a source of scholarship funding second only to the federal government.
It would take one recruiting class in basketball and as few as two recruiting classes in football. With the “newfound” talent, HBCUs could ultimately sell TV rights and like the Texas’s and Alabama’s, reallocate the revenue to the (academic) mission of their institutions. Who would know the difference so long as the majority of the players remain Black and talented?
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