Sport Within the Veil: The Triumphs, Tragedies and Challenges of Afro-American Involvement

• Date: 01 September 1979
• Author: Harry Edwards
• Published date: 01 September 1979
• DOI: 10.1177/000271627944500113
• Subject Matter: Articles

Sport Within the Veil: The Triumphs, Tragedies and
Challenges of Afro-American Involvement
By HARRY EDWARDS
ABSTRACT: American’s traditional relegation of sport to the
"toy department" of human affairs conceals both its signifi-
cance as an institution and the seriousness of its impact upon
social relations and development. Nowhere is the validity of
this assessment more evident than in the situation confronting
Afro-Americans. Here, sport is revealed to be neither "fun-
and-games," a citadel of interracial brotherhood and harmony,
nor blacks’ passport to the "good life." Rather, for blacks,
it emerges as a fog-shrouded, institutional minefield, even
further obscured by naivete, ignorance, and decades of selec-
tively accumulated myth. In reality, sport not only exhibits the
same structure and ideological rationalizations of human rela-
tions as exist in the larger society, but it plays a fundamental
role in sustaining the character of those relations. Only through
a thorough understanding of the functions of sport as an insti-
tution and the dynamics of its disproportionately powerful
influence upon Afro-American life can black people ever hope
to extricate themselves from what can only be termed a politi-
cal and cultural tragedy.
Harry Edwards is the author of three books and more than fifty articles in the
fields of Sport Sociology, The Family, and Race Relations. Professor Edwards has
lectured at more than 300 colleges and universities, and traveled abroad exten-
sively, including two trips to the People’s Republic of China. He is presently a
tenured Associate Professorof Sociology at the University of California at Berkeley.
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SINCE 1947 and Jackie Robin- remain largely segregated and lily
S son’s turbulent initiation into
white.
major league baseball, black Ameri-
Upon analysis, American sport is
can athletes, by every measure, have
revealed to be more a treadmill than
dominated all sports to which they
the fabled escalator providing es-
have had access in numbers. In the
cape from the deprivations afflicting
short span of just three decades, they
the black community. And because
have established a record of athletic
of its interdependence with other
performance so demonstrably su-
institutional structures and social
perior that it borders upon the in-
processes in America, sport consti-
credible. Even more astounding is
tutes not only a treadmill for the
the fact that they have registered
overwhelming majority of aspiring
these brilliant accomplishments
black athletes, but also a cruel and
while struggling against the perva-
wickedly subtle trap, ensnaring the
sive influences of both institutional-
whole of black culture and society.
ized racism and individual bigotry
Thus, the persistence and calculated
within the American sports sys-
perpetuation of the belief that sport
tem. Further, the intricate complexi-
offers blacks extraordinarily unique
ties and implications of blacks’
opportunities for advancement
minority status, given the character
amounts not to mere naivete, but to
and functions of sport as an institu-
inhuman mockery. In short, the
tion, add yet another dimension to
historical and continuing character
the array of awesome challenges
of black America’s relationship with
confronting Afro-Americans.
sport precisely demonstrates that
Needless to say, their skills and
&dquo;... when you believe in things
talents notwithstanding, blacks were
you don’t understand, you suf-
not exactly welcomed with open
fer....&dquo;
arms into sport’s mainstream. As late
as 1957, ten years after Robinson’s
IDEOLOGY AND DOMINANT-
debut, there were still only eighteen
MINORITY RELATIONS
blacks in all of professional baseball.
IN SPORT
But then, it was not until 1955
that blacks achieved proportionate
The fact of minority status itself
representation in any sport-much
generates additional problems for
less the Great American Pasttime.
blacks in sport for the values rein-
And
to this day, even in sports where
forced by sport are.inevitably those
they have dominated as athletes, one
of the dominant group. In the United
finds the number of blacks in both
States, this means that the value em-
the front office and on-the-field
phasis in sport is oriented to the
leadership in decisionmaking and
ideological interests of middle- and
authority positions to be either
upper-class white males who domi-
disproportionately low or nonexist-
nate fandom as well as every instru-
ent. Indeed, to no small degree,
mental sphere of American life. It
blacks’ highly visible accomplish-
therefore becomes advantageous to
ments as athletes in four or five
maintain a substantial white male
sports have served to veil the more
presence in sport, particularly in
unsavory realities of their sports in-
positions of leadership and au-
volvement and to obscure the fact that
thority, if sport is to optimally fulfill
virtually all other American sports
its functions of reinforcing and reaf-

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118
firming established structural and
to be overwhelming. And, of course,
ideological relationships.
the more that superior black profes-
Consistent with this fact, positions
sional athletes dominated the sport
such as quarter-back and middle-
numerically and athletically, the
linebacker in football, catcher in
more their perspectives had to be
baseball, head coach, manager and
recognized and accommodated, par-
owner in all sports and, most par-
ticularly with regard to personnel
ticularly, sports media positions, are
policies. No team owner could long
largely ones to which &dquo;only white
maintain the respect of his black
males need apply.&dquo; Where the struc-
players if they thought that he
ture of a sport is not conducive to the
deliberately and persistently passed
positional segregation of whites and
over superior black athletes in order
blacks, the number of blacks allowed
to sustain a white numerical domi-
to participate at any one time tradi-
nance on the team-especially if it
tionally has been limited. So, accord-
meant drafting less able white ath-
ing to Bill Russell, former profes-
letes. Once any owner in a league
sional basketball great, there was
begins to sign the best players, re-
long a practice in basketball at every
gardless of race, then the entire
level of playing &dquo;two blacks at home,
league must follow suit or suffer a
three on the road and five when you
strategic and unsurmountable per-
get behind.&dquo;’
sonnel disadvantage.
Despite such tendencies, by 1979
This does not totally exclude the
more than 75 percent of all profes-
signing of good-to-excellent white
sional basketball players in America
players or even an occasional medio-
were black. This does not neces-
cre White Hope over available su-
sarily reflect either a contradiction
perior black players. In fact, there
relative to the discussion above or
is some basis for the speculation
evidence of any substantial liberali-
that if all of the athlete positions in
zation of racial sentiments within
the National Basketball Associations
professional basketball. Other con-
were filled by blacks, the over-
siderations appear to be more likely
whelming majority of superior bas-
explanations.
ketball players-particularly those
First, in all of professional basket-
with only limited college experi-
ball there were less than 300 players
ence and public notoriety-would
as late as 1979. Given the tremen-
still be excluded from the pro-
dous emphasis placed upon basket-
fessional ranks.2 So, the presence
ball in the black community (result-
of any substantial number of white
ing from a complex combination of
players at all in the professional
role model visibility, opportunity
basketball ranks must be con-
and urban environment) and the fact
sidered, at a minimum, rather curious.
that disproportionately high num-
The increasing domination of
bers of athletically talented blacks
basketball by blacks has led some to
are channeled into sport generally,
conclude that the collapse of the
the pressures upon white owners to
game-particularly at the profes-
sign highly publicized, superior
black players rather than merely
2. Peter Afthelm, The City Game (New
good
York:
or excellent white players had
Harper and Row, 1970) for a thorough
presentation of how the urban environment
influences the development of black basket-
1. Harry Edwards, The Sociology of Sport
ball talent and an assessment of basketball
(Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press, 1973), p. 213.
skill among "street blacks."

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119
sional level-is inevitable, as whites
s
this regard cannot be overstated.
find identification with overwhelm-
Both the...