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It is just supposed to be sports. Fun and games, entertainment. Diversion on a sometimes large canvas.
Only sometimes it is actually more than that. Sometimes it is dramatically more.
By chance, by sheer will and determination, by evolution, by simply being in that moment.
America is celebrating being America right now, swelling with pride at its progress, at being a modern nation that values a man for what he is and not for the shade of his skin.
It is not hard to argue the historic road Barack Obama traveled to the U.S. presidency was at least partially opened by the world of sports.
America as a whole celebrated the athletic achievements of blacks, then embraced them as managers and coaches and general managers. Barriers fell in sports, and eventually, slowly, enveloped the rest of the country.
“It probably started when Joe Louis beat (Max) Schmeling and the whole country rooted for him,” said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the former UCLA and Lakers star. “That was a first. Eight years later Jackie Robinson did what he had to do.
“I mean, it was all incremental. Jesse Owens at the Nazi ’36 Olympics gave Americans something to be proud of. It started changing a few attitudes, opening the door a little bit. It just took a long time.”
Abdul-Jabbar is the greatest scorer in NBA history and the author of several books on the black experience in America. His latest is, “On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through
the Harlem Renaissance.”He remains a special assistant coach with the Lakers and is a keen observer of African-Americans’ role in this country.
After those historic firsts in the ’30s and ’40s for blacks, he witnessed America embrace Michael Jordan as its greatest sports hero. Watches now as Tiger Woods rises to the popular and corporate crown. The two most successful athletes in the marketing world, both black.
Even as much of white America began to accept and embrace black athletes, it was still a process. Old stereotypes sometimes morphed more than were erased.
Many still thought blacks made great tailbacks, but weren’t smart enough to play quarterback. Could make great clean-up hitters, but lacked the necessities to be managers or in management.
But the sports evolution continued. Bill Russell won titles not just an NBA player, but as a player/coach. Cito Gaston won two World Series with the Toronto Blue Jays. Magic Johnson went on to phenomenal success as an entrepreneur and Lakers part-owner after his playing days. Tony Dungy, one of the country’s most beloved coaches, won a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts.
America was watching, was changing along with its games.
“It started with sports,” Johnson said. “We went from the court and field to the managers’ roles and the executives’ roles. We had never achieved being presidents and general managers, then we finally started doing that. Then thank God with (Lakers owner) Dr. (Jerry) Buss, giving me the opportunity to be one of the first owners.
“Sports have allowed everybody else to wake up; that we could be in these positions and do a wonderful job. Then it just carried over to other fields.”
People changed and probably weren’t even aware of it. It happened over time, happened without conspiracy or protest.
“Sports has a unique place in the American psyche,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “We all watch it, we understand it’s a contest.
“We learn things about people by seeing them compete. Learn a certain ethnic group that you had no respect for, can do everything any other people can do. It means something, and it affects change.”
A court can be filled with almost all black players, but cheered by almost all whites.
Sports helped bring down racial barriers, helped to bring people of all backgrounds together to watch and applaud these games.
“Sports have allowed all different races to enjoy an event, and nobody cares who’s sitting next to them,” Johnson said.
Like in all things remotely political, not everyone agrees. Lakers coach Phil Jackson – a noted liberal and Obama supporter – said he failed to see any great connection between sports and wider racial inroads.
“I just think our society has grown by leaps and bounds, decades by decades,” Jackson said. “The Civil Rights Act was signed in ’64. The protest marches. The big change came in the ’60s, and we’ve grown around it the last three decades.
“It shows a lot of growth as a country, a lot of movement, which is important. I don’t think sports particularly has anything to do with it. I think it’s grown in the same way our society has.”
Grown until something that seemed unthinkable to most African-Americans even until recently, had transpired. An American who loves to play hoops had become America’s first black President.
“I didn’t think America was ready for him,” Johnson said.
Said Abdul-Jabbar: “I didn’t, for all of my life, until the President-elect won the Iowa primary. I didn’t think it could happen. But when he won the Iowa primary, I realized something different was going on and something had changed.”
Something that might owe a small debt to the world of sports.
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