SORTS
Are Black athletes really superior
Gregory Clay
Sports Editor
Black versus White? Who can
jump the highest? Run the fastest?
Hit the farthest? Shoot the best? Is
there really a big difference in the
natural athletic ability of whites
and Blacks? Everybody from schol
ars to guys on the nine to five work
shift, to athletes themselves talk
about and try to explain the ques
tion of Black superiority in athlet
ics.
According -xo a study which
appeared in the December 1974
issue of Ebony magazine, a physical
education specialist at the Universi
ty of Iowa, Eleanor Metheny, said
that because of their “longer legs
and arms” Black athletes had ad
vantages in running events, shot
putting and the high jump.
Also, during the 1964 Olym
pics in Rome, Jim Tanner, a profes-
.sor of growth and development at
the University of London, studied
participants and reported that “the
pelvises of Black athletes were
smaller which caused less wind-
resistance for them than whites.”
Another scientist, Morris Steg-
gerda, a physical anthropologist,
has offered “proof” that Blacks
bv Spurts Information. I'NC-CH
Caldwell; "I think it depends on the indi
vidual and his environnnent."
tend to be taller in stature and have
longer arm and leg measurements
than whites. They are heavier in
body weight due to higher bone
density and have wider hand and
foot measurements, shallower and
less developed chests.
But some of the greatest ath
letes have disproven these theories
not in words but in body. For ex
ample, Jesse Owens, whose Olym
pic exploits caused so much in
terest to be aroused concerning
Black athletes, did not have those
typical characteristics mentioned
previously, in 1936 Dr. Montague
Cobb of Howard University said,
“Jesse Owens, who has run faster
and leaped farther than any human
l)eing has ever done before (1936
and earlier) does not have what is
considered the Negroid type of
calf, or foot, or heel bone.”
Another star, Phil Ford, a
member of the 1976-77 All .'\meri-
can basketball team and a U.S.
Olympic (lold medalist says, “If
you l ompare bodies of athletes, for
instance, my legs are skinnier than
John Kuester’s and Walter Davis’
are the same way. People say all
Blacks are strong and can jump, but
I have short arms, little hands, little
legs and can’t jump and I’m not
strong. I can’t even dunk the ball.
People say I have the white man's
disease because 1 can’t jump. But
if you look at white players such
as Billy Cunningham, Brad Davis
and Bill Walton—they can all
jump!”
However, Mike O’Koren, 6’7”
UNC forward contends, “From
what I’ve seen, the idea that Blacks
can jump seems to be true. All the
Black guys that 1 played against in
Jersey could jump. But 1 don’t
think it goes for everybody. Some
people say that all Blacks can play
basketball, but there are some
Black guys who can’t put the ball
in the ocean.”
Another researcher, Dr. Ernst
Jok, who directed the Exercise
Research Laboratories at the Uni
versity of Kentucky, developed the
theory that Blacks have enormously
underdeveloped capacity (for ath
letics) due to their late c!omint into
emancipation. He claims that with
emancipation the Blacks discovered
by trial and error what their capa
bilities were and once they were
found, those abilities were cultivat
ed.
“1 think it depends on the in
dividual and his environment,” .says
football star Alan Caldwell. “It
would be wrong for me to say
Blacks are superior. Blacks have
been used to football, track and
basketball, but I think if tennis
was introduced to Blacks sooner,
there would be more Black tennis
players. I’ve run across a lot of
good white athletes as well as
Black athletes. I’m better at some
things than they are and they are
better at some things than 1 am.”
Harry P^dwards, archi'^ct of
the Blacrk protest at the 1968
Olympics and author of Revolt of
t!ie Black Athlete does not accept
the theory of Black athletic supe
riority. Edwards, a professor of
sf.oiology at the University of
“I don'l (liink that notion (ol
snperioritv) should he promoted
at all.”
California at Berkeley, says “innate
capacity” implies that Blacks need
only exercise their innate physical
abilities to become successful ath
letes.
“There are a number of psy
chological, political and racial hur
dles to conquer before one becomes
a Bill Russell or a Hank Aaron,” he
says.
According to Edwards, genetic
heritage does not determine Black
athletic superiority but determina
tion to overcome arbitrary and de
liberate contrived barriers to Black
success.
O’Koren says, “I don’t think
Blacks have anything over whites. I
think everybody’s equal. Psycholo
gists always say whites are smarter
than Blacks and I don’t believe
that. In pro ball I think Blacks and
whites are playing for the same
thing, but when you get lower,
like in high school or grade school,
1 think the race issue comes in.”
Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint, Black
assistant professor of psychiatry at
Pholo rrprinied from Kbt»nv MaKa/.ino
Basketball star Julius Erving conversing with young white admirers: natural superior
ity?
Harvard University, agrees with
Edwards and O’Koren that the idea
of innate physical ability should
not be accepted. “1 don’t think
it’s safe and I don’t think that no
tion should be promoted at all--for
a number of reasons,” he notes.
“Frequently there is this whole
business implied that Blacks are
better in athletics because they are
‘more animal’ therefore they can
excel in sports, but aren’t good at
doing things with the brain.
“It is important for Black
kids to show their prowess through
physical activity. They will be
attracted toward that field and
work very hard at it. Athletics has
been a primary channel for ‘Black
aggression.’ Blacks will play harder
when they get out on the field
because this is a sort of a legitimate
way to get back at whites.”
Ford says, “We play together
to win here. I’m not out trying to
prove to Mike O’Koren that be-
-cause I’m Black I’m a better basket
ball player. And he isn’t trying to
prove something because he’s
white.
“I can’t really say if a Black
athlete is more superior than a
white athlete. Just because he’s
Black doesn’t mean he’s a good
athlete and if he’s white doesn’t
mean he’s a bad athlete. You just
can’t use race as a basis for athletic
ability.”
Jo Jo White of the Boston
Celtics says, “I know that we are
just as superior a race as the whites.
In fighting or boxing you watch
“1 don’t think Blacks have any
thing over Whites.”
&
Photo by Sports Infonnaljon, UNC-CH
O'Koren: "Some Black guys can't put
the ball in the ocean."
and you say, ‘Wow, this white guy
beat this Black guy. How the hell
did that happen!’ In athletics,
when you’re being compared Black
against white, you feel that you’ve
got to be that much better than the
white guy to even be recognized. If
you’re on the same level, nine
times out of ten they’re going to
take the white guy over the Black
guy, simply because there are more
Black athletes than whites who are
doing well.”
“I see people as people and I
just wish everybody would forget
about color because race doesn’t
matter to me,” says O’Koren. “I
have a lot of Black friends in Jersey
because so many of them lived
around my neighborhood. I grew
up in the projects and I didn’t
have money to spend when coming
up, but I like city life.
“In Jersey, the Blacks would
play in the school yards against
guys who were good, but the whites
in the suburbs would have a goal on
the garage or something and just
shoot with themselves or their
fathers. So the Blacks played a-
gainst good competition on the
school yard courts where every
body was and the whites were by
themselves.
“But for the guys in my area,
the Blacks would play in Audobon
Park and the whites in St. Joseph’s
School yard and sometimes five or
six Black guys would come over to
our court and we would go over to
the park to play them. Some of the
Blacks would say that whites
couldn’t play, but I got my respect
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