black colleoe
Sports Review
JUNE 1993
EDITOR * PUBLISHER
Emett H. Pitt
PRODUCTION
STAFF WRfTIRS
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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.
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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<! naming the "new" insti
tution: Delta Valley State University.
Sincc lHL's proposal, Mississippi Valley State Uni
versity has had a difficult time recruiting and even con
vincing enrol led. students of its continuation. Your story
had to have worsened the situation. In addition to Black
College Sports Review , you list sixteen additional news
papers carrying BCSR as a supplement. One cannot rui
sonably estimate just how many persons have read the
article or who were told what the article contained.
? ?
I do hope you will attempt to correct some of the
problems caused by your article with some statement in
your next issue relative to the misstatement in the article
referred to in the first paragraph of this letter.
William W. Sutton
President
The Alabama A AM tJniversiis
women's track team won the NCAA
title for the second consecutive year in
outdoor competition by edging host
Abilene Christian University 92-86
recently in Abilene , Texas. Pictured (I.
to r.): Germaino Crocker ( 400-meter
relay); Kim Golden {400-meter relay);
Wallace Jackson (Southern Intercolle
giate Athletic Conference commission
er); SheUy Beckford (400-meter relay,
200-meter dash , 400-meter dash , and
the 1600-meter relay); Taiwo Aladefa
(100-meter dash , 100- meter hurdles ,
and the 400-meter relay); and Dr.
Joseph Henderson (head conch). Sev
enteen of the 22 athletes representing
the SI AC earned All-America status
June 1993 - Paao 3