
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 21, 1993                   TAG: 9305210098
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: LANSING, MICH.                                LENGTH: Short

COACH CRITICIZED FOR RACIAL SLUR

The Central Michigan University basketball coach fired for exhorting his losing team to "play like niggers" was criticized Thursday by a national civil rights group.

Officials with Jesse Jackson's National Rainbow Coalition said former coach Keith Dambrot degraded black players and students in a Jan. 20 postgame pep talk.

But what most angers Dambrot's critics is his lawsuit seeking $25 million in damages and reinstatement. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Bay City. It contends Dambrot was wrongfully fired for using the term nigger in the "positive, reinforcing sense" in which blacks sometimes use it. The suit says Dambrot's April 12 dismissal violated his constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression.

Eight black players have joined Dambrot in his suit against the university. They contend their coach used the word "nigger" with affection as a motivational term. - Associated Press

by CNB