black colleoe Sports Review JUNE 1993 EDITOR * PUBLISHER Emett H. Pitt PRODUCTION STAFF WRfTIRS iMtl. MM***. PHOTOOfMPHSm NBA Draft is Sure to. Overlook Some Well, it's almost time for the NBA draft again, ... and again many black college performers are going to be overlooked. - And it's too ^ s Yes, it's true that most of the best high school basketball players go off to the Division I college powerhouses like Duke and North Carolina and Michigan. But just because a kid isn't playing under the T.v. lights every night doesn't mean that he can't play in the pros. Sometimes, the kid didn't do well enough acade mically to make it into a major college. Sometimes, he was scared off by the big colleges. Who knows what the reasons may be. But there are lots of NBA potential athletes not being drafted and not even get ting a try out If you play much gym basketball, you've proba bly heard about guys who tear up the NBA players ? ? and anybody else ? during the summer but never get their chance. And it's nice when a guy docs get a chance, like the New York Knicks' John Starks, a former Safeway employee, who went to Oklahoma State before toil ing in the CBA. Now, Starks, given his chance, has become, arguably, the Knicks second-best player, in deference to their all-star at center, Patrick Ewing. How many Starks and Scott ie Pippens do you have to hear about before you Ijclieve? On the TV shows across the country, the announcers and some of the scouts will have you believe that the league tears up the country in search of the best talent And yeah, they go most anywhere, but they give certain areas more and more serious looks than others. A scout will go to a Duke a heckuva lot more than he will a Livingstone. So he may not see Living stone's Terrance Jordan, a 6-7 leaper known as "Bear Jordan" do his thing. Or the scout miy come on and off night and reserve himself to the thinking that the Bear was just another black college legend, who was better when people talked about him than he was when he played on the court. Well, there are some excellent athletes in the small colleges. Johnson C. Smith's Chris Parker, BCSR's player of the year, is one of them. Parker has a never say die attitude that is reminiscent of Michael Jordan's. He has a can't- miss jump shot and can play some excellent defense. He could help some teams. Norfolk State's Marcus Whitfield has an NBA ? body right now, at 6-3 and maybe 205 pounds. He can shoot the jumper and play a bruising man-to-man defense. There are lots more. But let's hope as the NBA announces its draft picks later this summer that a few names from a few small colleges come up. Or else, it'll iust be another case of the NBA sleeping on the little guys again. ? By LANGSTON WERTZ JR. BH* Cotoo* Sports Awtow to pubkM by Black Spot* me . ?17 N. Ubarty ?l, WtnetofvS?am, N.C. 27101. Jnsoictod marw^^a^and phoioyapfo wilnol to raiumad. mqulte ahouto to idtwd to Emaatk P*t, PubHflar', Black Colooa Sport# Aavfcw. P.O. So* im, VMnatoivSalam. N.C. 271 OB. PtOI O CRt DITS: Coww ttory pMo by Oao ?.ta1 photography for tha Clart on ladgar * Jac*on, Mtoatoafepi BCSR k a n^iptemani to thaaa nawapanart: Amnt* Vok?. Th a Su?*tT BMkw Aint-Amortoan, Baton Re ugt Corrmunty LmOtr. Bmr*nghsm lwrw>:. Cam'- .? Pmco maker, Cm#* TTmm, Chart-ion Cfwotktm, (tot,* I namtnf, taOat County Nam*. Phiaettfrm Trtuno, Pmetvrfi Courtar. Richmond /VroVrwtw, WtoNngton 4Aw w rrw i^nrorKj^n wiwmp Letters to the Editor Athletes' Problems To the Editor: Just a few comments on your May issue. As usual, it is a great journalistic feat to be able to publish your paper, and we are very privileged to have it Nothing makes me happier than to be able to find something in the print media about our scft&tts. It proves that we can sell ourselves. The editorial on Perils Facing Student-Athletes is not a blight on Greg Jackson or his Eagle basketball team - it is a blight on society. 1 am sure that Greg has cautioned his group about (tugs and their abuse, but what else can you do? He can't be there 24 hours a day, nor should he. I know that NCCU has a drug policy, and our hope is that whatever the decision to be made on the young man, it will not be Greg's to mal;e. As for the scandal, it is very naive of the unnamed C1AA football coach to feel thai it is not a problem at his university. It is everywhere, and only if through testing and Universi ty's making their presence felt can we keep it aware to all. It was sad that Gus Howard at Alcorn State felt that he had to respond to some crank who feels that black college athletes are not worthy of the Heisman. But 1 do applaud his effort Having been exposed to similar feel ings as former chair of the Division n Football Commit tee from 1986 through 1988, I found that guys like B. Duane don't exist anymore than Slim Hill, my ghost let ter writer from Texas did. I, too, wanted to respond, but felt that I should not dignify the remarks of some guy who would not even use his own name. But our kids deserve to be recognizcd, and 1 thank Gus in his attempts to clear the air. It would be tragic, though, if his response was only published in your paper. Black colleges should awaken and smell the fresh air. 1 learned greatly from my experiences on several NCAA committees that we need to reassess our pro grams' values. It has not been easy to watch our icams enter playoffs and only to be demeaned and demoralized ? especially in football. But I have reached the conclu sion after those episodes that "we have met the enemy and it is us." Our failure to make athletics a means of developing the university's pride and our alumni to know its role in program development continues to make up second class citizens on any level. The successes of Southern, Jackson State and North Carolina Central were not flukes, but may not be seen again soon. I would also like to see football back at Benedict, Claflin, Allen, St Paul's, Voorhees, Shaw, St Augustine, Florida Memori al, Edward Waters and the like. It would mean so much to the students and the alumni, but all must put their weight. We should never bring them back and allow Blight on Society them to be subject to the mockery that led to their demise. Lastly, your article on Dr. Claudie Mackey was a tribute to the man. I only hope that you will do an article on the academic progress of his student-athletes. You ' would be very pleasantly surprised and so would our readers. One sour note in the article ? Jethrow Pew is really Jethro Pugh. John D. Marshall April Story Untrue To the Editor: I am writing in regard to the story "Mississippi Val ley: Underdogs Win Big( Beat Southern for SWAC Title ? SWAC's Smallest School May Close its Doors this Fall." (April 1993). The last portion of the story is completely untrue. The Ayers case is back in the original court because of the Supreme Court's decision last June. The case was filed in 1975, but no decision was reached until seven teen years later. There can be no closure until there is an unappealable decision ordering such. This case, in all probability, will go through all court level stages and reach the Supteme Court for the sccond time. Leg My, the institution remains open until such a decision is ren dered. In response to the Supreme Court s recommenda tions relative to the original charges, the Institutions of Higher Learning (1HL), our governing board, proposed closing Mississippi Valley State University, merging it wiUi 1 >elta State University an