2008 Woodie Awards
Defeating racism with sports
Joshua Charles
Issue date: 2/12/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
February is Black History month and in the world of sports there have been many athletes that have helped transcend racial divides in sports, but few have reached icon status like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Wilma Rudolph, and Michael Jordan.
Owens, Robinson, Ali, Rudolph, and Jordan were all tremendous athletes in their respective sports, but they did much more than just dominate on the playing field. They were able to give African-American athletes opportunities that decades ago were thought to be impossible.
Jesse Owens
Eleven years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, Jesse Owens took the track and field world by storm at the 1936 Berlin Olympic games.
It was during this time that Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany were rising to power in Europe and it was their intent to use these Olympics to show their superiority over all other competitors.
Owens claimed four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics. With segregation in the United States in full force he represented the country that didn’t offer his race equal rights for decades.
Owens was the first black athlete to defy critics, but was not the last.
Jackie Robinson
Major League Baseball (MLB) was America’s sport, and is commonly known as America’s pastime. In 1947 Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier of the first major sport in the United States.
Branch Rickey was the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers and was the person most responsible for the signing of the first African-American into MLB.
Robinson’s impact was immediate. In his first season, MLB and Sporting News awarded Robinson with Rookie of the Year honors and two years later he was awarded with his first Most Valuable Player award.
Robinson retired after just nine seasons in MLB, but his impact on the game lasts to this day.
In 1962 he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and on June 17, 1997 MLB retired his number 42 in honor of the 50-year anniversary of the color barrier being broken.
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Rudolph was an athlete who had to fight racism and a potentially debilitating disease.
Rudolph was the twentieth of 22 children and at the age of four was diagnosed with polio. The lone black doctor in Clarksville, Tennessee told Wilma’s mother, Blanche, that she would never be able to walk again.
Through determination and the care of her mother, Rudolph was able to walk with the assistance of a brace at eight and at the age of 12 she was walking on her own.
After defeating polio she became one of the United States’ greatest athletes.
In high school she was a basketball star as she set the state record for scoring, as well as helping lead her team to the state championship.
The school’s track coach encouraged her to go out for the team. Her senior year at Burt High School she ran track and slowly but surely made her way to the front of the pack.
In the 1956 Melbourne, Australia, summer Olympics Rudolph competed in the 4x100 meter relay and was awarded with a bronze medal at the age of 16.
Rudolph would return to the Olympic stage in 1960 in Rome, Italy, and won three Olympic titles in the 100-meter, 200-meter, and the 4x100 meter relay.
In 1961 Rudolph received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.
Rudolph attended Tennessee State University where she received a bachelor’s degree in education in 1963 and worked as a teacher after her athletic career was over.
Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay)
Muhammad Ali once said, “I’m the greatest.” At the time many assumed it was just the flamboyant boxer flapping his gums, but looking back on his career he may have been right.
The media-friendly boxer had a career record of 56 wins (37 by way of knockout) and 5 losses. Ali first jumped on the scene as Cassius Clay in February of 1964 when he defeated Sonny Liston for the Heavyweight Championship of the World.
Less than a month after the fight the then named Cassius Clay changed his name to the more popularly known name of Muhammad Ali.
In 1966 Ali was drafted into the United States army, but refused to serve citing religious beliefs. Ali’s outspokenness about his religious beliefs and refusal to fight in the Vietnam War cast him into an unfamiliar spotlight for African-Americans at that time.
He was one of the first African-American athletes or celebrities to take a stand on such issues. In 1967 Ali was stripped of his title and was sentenced to five years in prison for refusing to serve the United States armed forces.
Despite not being in the ring he remained in the spotlight, speaking at many anti-war rallies at university campuses across the nation. Eventually in 1970 Ali was allowed to fight again and in late 1971 the U.S. Supreme Court reversed his conviction.
“In a time with civil social unrest, he as an African-American stood out because he was good, smart, quick witted and brave,” said WCC Men’s basketball coach Cameron Smiley.
“As a young person starting to think about being an athlete he had great influence on me,” Smiley concluded.
Ali continued his brilliant career after being allowed back into the ring, fighting in some of sports most legendary bouts, but it was his charisma and bravery that made him such an icon for fans of all ages and races.
Michael Jordan
Born February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, Jordan was raised primarily in the southern surroundings in Wilmington, North Carolina.
His Airness, as he is called, came around at a time when race wasn’t as big of an issue as it was in the days of his predecessors, but he transformed the world of athletics unlike anything anyone had ever seen.
With the assistance of television and ESPN, Michael Jordan was the most televised and marketed athlete of his or anyone’s time.
Nike, Gatorade, Ball Park, and Hanes can credit Michael Jordan for the success that they have had over the past two decades and will have for the remainder of time.
“He had his name on the shoe,” said WCC Business major Reggie Beasley. “He was the first person to ever have his name all over a shoe and now it’s the most recognizable shoe in the world.”
While many consider Jordan to be the greatest basketball player of all-time, he may be the most influential athlete in terms of being an entrepreneur.
Jordan is now part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats and heads up Jordan Brand, which is a branch off of Nike.
Through all of these athletes it has made it possible for athletes like Tiger Woods, LeBron James, and Serena Williams to achieve their full potential on the athletic field or in the business world.
Owens, Robinson, Rudolph, Ali and Jordan transcended sports for not just African Americans, but for everyone who dreams to be on a Wheaties box someday.
Owens, Robinson, Ali, Rudolph, and Jordan were all tremendous athletes in their respective sports, but they did much more than just dominate on the playing field. They were able to give African-American athletes opportunities that decades ago were thought to be impossible.
Jesse Owens
Eleven years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, Jesse Owens took the track and field world by storm at the 1936 Berlin Olympic games.
It was during this time that Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany were rising to power in Europe and it was their intent to use these Olympics to show their superiority over all other competitors.
Owens claimed four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics. With segregation in the United States in full force he represented the country that didn’t offer his race equal rights for decades.
Owens was the first black athlete to defy critics, but was not the last.
Jackie Robinson
Major League Baseball (MLB) was America’s sport, and is commonly known as America’s pastime. In 1947 Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier of the first major sport in the United States.
Branch Rickey was the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers and was the person most responsible for the signing of the first African-American into MLB.
Robinson’s impact was immediate. In his first season, MLB and Sporting News awarded Robinson with Rookie of the Year honors and two years later he was awarded with his first Most Valuable Player award.
Robinson retired after just nine seasons in MLB, but his impact on the game lasts to this day.
In 1962 he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and on June 17, 1997 MLB retired his number 42 in honor of the 50-year anniversary of the color barrier being broken.
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Rudolph was an athlete who had to fight racism and a potentially debilitating disease.
Rudolph was the twentieth of 22 children and at the age of four was diagnosed with polio. The lone black doctor in Clarksville, Tennessee told Wilma’s mother, Blanche, that she would never be able to walk again.
Through determination and the care of her mother, Rudolph was able to walk with the assistance of a brace at eight and at the age of 12 she was walking on her own.
After defeating polio she became one of the United States’ greatest athletes.
In high school she was a basketball star as she set the state record for scoring, as well as helping lead her team to the state championship.
The school’s track coach encouraged her to go out for the team. Her senior year at Burt High School she ran track and slowly but surely made her way to the front of the pack.
In the 1956 Melbourne, Australia, summer Olympics Rudolph competed in the 4x100 meter relay and was awarded with a bronze medal at the age of 16.
Rudolph would return to the Olympic stage in 1960 in Rome, Italy, and won three Olympic titles in the 100-meter, 200-meter, and the 4x100 meter relay.
In 1961 Rudolph received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.
Rudolph attended Tennessee State University where she received a bachelor’s degree in education in 1963 and worked as a teacher after her athletic career was over.
Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay)
Muhammad Ali once said, “I’m the greatest.” At the time many assumed it was just the flamboyant boxer flapping his gums, but looking back on his career he may have been right.
The media-friendly boxer had a career record of 56 wins (37 by way of knockout) and 5 losses. Ali first jumped on the scene as Cassius Clay in February of 1964 when he defeated Sonny Liston for the Heavyweight Championship of the World.
Less than a month after the fight the then named Cassius Clay changed his name to the more popularly known name of Muhammad Ali.
In 1966 Ali was drafted into the United States army, but refused to serve citing religious beliefs. Ali’s outspokenness about his religious beliefs and refusal to fight in the Vietnam War cast him into an unfamiliar spotlight for African-Americans at that time.
He was one of the first African-American athletes or celebrities to take a stand on such issues. In 1967 Ali was stripped of his title and was sentenced to five years in prison for refusing to serve the United States armed forces.
Despite not being in the ring he remained in the spotlight, speaking at many anti-war rallies at university campuses across the nation. Eventually in 1970 Ali was allowed to fight again and in late 1971 the U.S. Supreme Court reversed his conviction.
“In a time with civil social unrest, he as an African-American stood out because he was good, smart, quick witted and brave,” said WCC Men’s basketball coach Cameron Smiley.
“As a young person starting to think about being an athlete he had great influence on me,” Smiley concluded.
Ali continued his brilliant career after being allowed back into the ring, fighting in some of sports most legendary bouts, but it was his charisma and bravery that made him such an icon for fans of all ages and races.
Michael Jordan
Born February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, Jordan was raised primarily in the southern surroundings in Wilmington, North Carolina.
His Airness, as he is called, came around at a time when race wasn’t as big of an issue as it was in the days of his predecessors, but he transformed the world of athletics unlike anything anyone had ever seen.
With the assistance of television and ESPN, Michael Jordan was the most televised and marketed athlete of his or anyone’s time.
Nike, Gatorade, Ball Park, and Hanes can credit Michael Jordan for the success that they have had over the past two decades and will have for the remainder of time.
“He had his name on the shoe,” said WCC Business major Reggie Beasley. “He was the first person to ever have his name all over a shoe and now it’s the most recognizable shoe in the world.”
While many consider Jordan to be the greatest basketball player of all-time, he may be the most influential athlete in terms of being an entrepreneur.
Jordan is now part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats and heads up Jordan Brand, which is a branch off of Nike.
Through all of these athletes it has made it possible for athletes like Tiger Woods, LeBron James, and Serena Williams to achieve their full potential on the athletic field or in the business world.
Owens, Robinson, Rudolph, Ali and Jordan transcended sports for not just African Americans, but for everyone who dreams to be on a Wheaties box someday.
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