Signs of progress?

Sporting News, The, Feb 4, 2005 by Marques Johnson

This is the time of year, from Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday through Black History Month in February, when we acknowledge and celebrate the contributions African Americans have made to this great country of ours. Filmmaker Ken Burns got things kicked off with his thought-provoking documentary Unforgivable Blackness, about the dynamic and troubled life of former heavyweight champion Jack Johnson.

As I watched it, I thought about the state of race relations today, especially as it pertains to college athletics. Progress has indeed been made, considering that every Pac-10 basketball program has, at one time or another, hired a black head coach. I fondly remember being recruited by the first, George Raveling of Washington State, in the early 1970s. He was a master salesman, the kind of guy who could sell a laptop to Bill Gates. If not for the attraction of playing for Coach Wooden and UCLA, I might have cast my lot with Coach Ray and what he was building in the hinterlands of Pullman.

Others have made a profound impact shaping and developing young athletes. John Thompson and John Chaney spring to mind. So do Nolan Richardson, Reggie Minton, Mike Jarvis and Fang Mitchell, to name a few. Tubby Smith and Paul Hewitt will be postseason fixtures for years. You also have to appreciate the outstanding jobs done this season by Al Skinner at Boston College and Karl Hobbs at George Washington.

Unlike in college football, which has a pathetic and mind-boggling record of passing over black coaches, it is no longer a "big deal" when an African American is chosen to coach in college basketball. But does that satisfy the essence of Dr. King's dream of every man being judged by the content of his character, rather than the color of his skin? Can we, as a society, breathe a collective sigh of relief and pat ourselves on the backs, thinking we have arrived?

We can't, and we haven't--not just yet. We will have arrived when it is no longer a "big deal" when a black man is named as athletic director or college president, or elected to the highest office in the land. I don't believe that day will arrive in my lifetime. Although we have come a long way, we still have a long way to go.

Marques Johnson is a college basketball analyst for FOX Sports Net.