Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 30, 1993 TAG: 9305300192
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D11 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Medium
"You're not just coaches of a few ballplayers. You are on the front end of the movement for racial justice," he said at a convention of the 3,000-member Black Coaches Association. "You are not athletes. You are not entertainers. You are emancipators."
Coaches must work together to secure more positions for blacks, not just in the field but also on the /sidelines, he said.
Proportionately, there are fewer black coaches in college sports than there are black players, and fewer still in top management and in other influential positions such as sports announcers.
"We must understand the nature of this crisis and then do something about it," the civil rights leader said. "It all has to do with rules. Rules set rules and control the rules.
"Whenever the rules change, we all go forward. Who is almost always in the forefront of rules change for all of us - athletes."
Jackson criticized the NCAA for raising the standards for athletic scholarships and for limiting the number of graduate coaching assistants, saying the measures will hurt minorities most.
At its meeting in January, the NCAA passed legislaton that will require a high school athlete with 2.0 grade-point average to make a minimum of 900 on the Scholastic Assessment Test beginning in 1995. A score of 700 on the SAT must be accompanied by 2.5 GPA for the athlete to be eligible.
In a speech laced with references to famous black athletes such as boxer Joe Louis and track legend Jesse Owens, Jackson said blacks traditionally have led the way for racial reform.
But the organized sports world has grown complex and only a team effort can succeed, he said.
Jackson called on coaches to form a program of protest that uses fax machines as the main weapon and invited them to attend a meeting of civil rights activists in Washington on June 11-12.
by CNB