Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 15, 1993 TAG: 9306150127
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES ODUM KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: COLUMBUS, GA. LENGTH: Long
But there is one charge Barkley will not take.
"I am not a role model," says Barkley the sneaker salesman. "I am not paid to be a role model. I am paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court. Parents should be role models."
With those words in a Nike TV commercial, Barkley ignited a national debate on an issue more important than his efforts to bring an NBA championship to the Phoenix Suns.
Barkley is the NBA's Most Valuable Player, but critics say Barkley and professional athletes can only be most valuable when also willing to lead by example away from the sports arena.
"If a pro athlete says it's all the parents' responsibility, then we are lost, because we are saying if parents don't take responsibility, the hell with kids," said Muscogee County, Ga., school board member David Ebron, who is also a clinical social worker.
Barkley's controversial commercial was a byproduct of a more conventional ad campaign. While taking a break from bullying Godzilla in an earlier Nike commercial, Barkley was asked to talk about something more important than his stormy relationship with referees or even the chances of his Phoenix Suns unseating the two-time defending champion Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals.
Barkley was asked about being a role model for kids.
The man asking the questions was Dusty Kidd, the head of public relations for the Nike sporting goods company represented by such top sports figures as Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson and Barkley.
"He said it's a copout to blame athletes if something goes wrong," Kidd said.
Kidd took Barkley's words and formed a new advertising campaign. For this TV commercial, there would be no elaborate set, no Godzilla, nothing but the outspoken Barkley with a typically frank message.
Barkley slammed his point home in convincing fashion, sparking a debate on the responsibility athletes should accept in providing America's youth with a standard of excellence to be imitated.
The ad was released four weeks ago, just in time for the NBA playoffs. As Barkley and his Phoenix teammates battle Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals, Nike's phones are still ringing.
"You're the seventh reporter to call me today," Kidd said last week in a telephone interview.
"[The ad] has raised a lot of discussion, probably more than any ad that we've run in recent years."
The Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, ESPN, Sports Illustrated and various national radio shows have addressed the issue in recent weeks.
Barkley's reminder that parents should be role models cannot be debated. Left open for arguement, however, is the role and responsibility of the professional athlete.
"It's not an issue that has an answer to it," Kidd said.
Or, there are many answers.
Those assigned the job of working with children, including many who don't have the advantage of a two-parent home, are infuriated by what they say is Barkley's slap in the collective face of this country's youth.
"Each one of us has to go out and reach one [child]," Ebron said. "That's our responsibility."
Tony Adams, district supervisor for the Columbus, Ga., Recreation Department, knows about role models. He and his staff work with kids in public housing in Columbus. They accept the responsibility.
"My contention is Barkley may not want to be a role model, that's fine, but he is one," Adams said. "What he tells kids will stick with them and go a long way. Parents should be the No. 1 role model, but unfortunately it doesn't work all the time.
"Personally, I thought he shouldn't have said it. Even though he doesn't want to be a role model, he almost has to be."
At the heart of the debate is the definition of a role model. According to Webster's New World Dictionary, a role model is "a person so effective or inspiring in some social role, job, etc., as to be a model for others."
By definition, a role model doesn't have to be a hands-on parent, mentor, teacher, minister, brother or sister, only an example to emulate. But some athletes say a role model must be a more personal influence.
Says Atlanta Braves third baseman and unofficial team captain Terry Pendleton: "To me, I would say a role model is somebody that is positive, somebody a kid would look up to, to help them grow up and develop. It is someone that the kid could go to at any time with what he's seen or learned and see if it's right or wrong."
Even without the hands-on responsibility, however, the task of setting a good example for children is a serious assignment, one many professional athletes do not want.
"Personally, I don't see anything wrong with the commercial at all," Pendleton said. "It was surprising to see Charles do a commercial like that. If you sit back and look at it, most parts are true. He's telling it like it is."
Adds Braves teammate Deion Sanders, another Nike spokesman: "It's cool. He's telling the truth, straight up. A lot of people can't handle the truth like Charles tells it."
Pendleton draws a line between the terms "role model" and "hero."
"Growing up, I had a lot of heroes, guys that I really liked," Pendleton said. "But role models for me were at home. My pop was my role model, and he wasn't there half the time. My dad was on the road half the time driving a truck, but when he was there, he was positive.
"He left that strong influence and everlasting influence on me when he was there. It wasn't quantity, it was quality. I think that made a difference."
There is a middle ground between the varying interpretations of an athlete's responsibility to be a role model.
"I still believe it's not the athlete's job to be a role model," said Braves first baseman Sid Bream. "The most important role models are the parents. But at the same time, I want to be a positive influence on people.
"To sit there and say I don't even want to be a positive influence, to me that is wrong. A lot of kids brighten up their days because of what athletes do and what athletes say. For [Barkley] to sit there and all of a sudden just shoot them down, I don't think it was fair. I don't think it was right."
Ebron says a lot of athletes simply don't want to handle the responsibility, and he places an extra burden on the black athlete.
"I have really strong feelings about this," Ebron said. "I see pro athletes having responsibility to be role models whether they want to or not, especially black athletes.
"The status of black males is such that it is one of the few things they have to believe in. The black athletes are one in a million or two million. Every kid wants to think they could be Charles Barkley or Michael Jordan, but they can't. Kids need to hear that from the athletes.
"When they say they're not a role model, I think they're shirking their responsibility."
by CNB