2005 ARTICLES
NBA players should dress up
Date of Release: October 24, 2005 (Special to ESPN.com Page 2)
by Richard E. Lapchick
I welcome the NBA's new dress code. Living in Orlando, I attend many Magic games and see the injured players on the bench wearing sport jackets and dress pants. I often hear comments in the stands about what a professional-looking team it is, on and off the court. More...
2004 Racial and Gender Report Card
Date of Release: October 18, 2005
by Richard E. Lapchick
With all categories combined for the men’s leagues, the NBA had the only A for race. The NBA was tied with Major League Soccer for gender with a B. MLS was one of the top stories for the 2004 Racial and Gender Report Card going from last to first in gender after receiving the only F in the history of the Report. The WNBA had A’s in both for the second time. As Val Ackerman announced her resignation as WNBA president, in addition to launching the league itself, she clearly left an impressive legacy regarding issues of diversity for the WNBA.
College sport showed an improvement in gender from a B to a B+ but dropped slightly in race from a B to a B-. For the 2004 Report, it had a strong combined B, third among all the categories surveyed.
Download pdf version here.
The healing power of sport
Date of Release: September 14, 2005
by Richard E. Lapchick
I flew to Baton Rouge on Wednesday with anger in my heart because of what happened in New Orleans. I was angry that my country could not respond adequatedly to the horror in those streets when water became the enemy, that thousands of Americans were stranded in the Superdome and at the Convention Center, that almost all were poor and African-American.
...Saints running backs Deuce McAllister and Fred McAfee spent last weekend in shelters set up in Mississippi. McAllister, well-known for his philanthropy and commitment to the community, has joined McAfee, Saints wide receiver Michael Lewis and San Diego Chargers punter Mike Scifres to form a coalition they are calling Athletes Making a Difference to encourage athletes and other residents of the United States to join in assisting the victims of Hurricane Katrina. All four grew up in Mississippi or Louisiana and were personally affected by Katrina. More...
Mascots are a matter of respect
Date of Release: August 26, 2005
by Richard E. Lapchick
The NCAA has made many controversial decisions in its long history, but I doubt any of them caused more of a public outcry than its attempt to stop 18 schools from using "hostile and abusive" Native American names, mascots and/or imagery.
There were unhappy people on both sides of the issue. Affected colleges and universities expressed outrage that the NCAA had stepped into the fray, while proponents of an all-out ban on ethnic names and mascots thought the organization hadn't gone far enough. The NCAA began preparing for the appeals process from the moment it made the initial announcement. So far, Florida State is the only school to appeal, and the NCAA ruled in its favor on Aug. 23.
I think the NCAA, led by president Myles Brand, took a gutsy, if not perfect, stand that finally turned the issue into a nation debate... More...
Bold Move at Delaware State
Date of Release: July 26, 2005
My goal, and the goal of most who work in diversity management, is to push for the best person to be hired, whether that person is African-American, Latino, Asian, Native American or white, and whether that person is male or female...Today, I applaud Delaware State University, a historically black university, for its courage in hiring Chuck Bell, who happens to be white, as its new athletics director in the face of certain opposition. Already, people at the school are saying it's wrong for a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) to have a white athletics director. More...
Celebrating Asian-American athletes
Date of Article: May 26, 2005 (Special op ed to the Orlando Sentinel)
by Dr. Richard Lapchick
May is Asian American Heritage Month. I was the speaker for the Asian American Heritage Council's gala earlier this month. Part of its mission is to promote and enhance the positive image of Asian-Americans. More...
Pro hoops set the standard
Date of Article: May 24, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2)
by Dr. Richard Lapchick
The NBA conference finals and the new WNBA season both began this past weekend – exciting times for basketball fans.
Twenty-one years ago, David Stern took over as commissioner of an NBA in decline. Attendance was down, the 1980 NBA Finals between the Lakers and 76ers was shown only on tape-delay after the late-night news, and the game had no iconic players. Critics worried the league was "too black" and expected changes that would increase its popularity among its predominantly white fan base.
Stern made it clear from the start that his policy...More
Where's the next D-Train?
Date of Article: April 14, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2)
by Dr. Richard Lapchick
It has been pointed out before. But as the Nationals first take the field Thursday night for their home-opening series, it's worth mentioning again that they are playing in Washington, D.C., which is home to one of the highest concentrations of African-Americans of any major American city. That stands in stark contrast to the persistent decline of African-American players in major-league baseball. More...
Another big step for the NFL
Date of Article: February 16, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2)
by Dr. Richard Lapchick
The NFL, which has made so much progress in the past year in terms of hiring African-American head coaches and general managers, took the giant step Tuesday when the announcement was made that Arizona businessman Reggie Fowler will buy the Minnesota Vikings from Red McCombs. Fowler is an African-American who played college football at the University of Wyoming as well as several years in the Canadian Football League, the National Football League, and the United States Football League. More...
Progress continues--in the NFL
Date of Article: February 9, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2)
by Dr. Richard Lapchick
As the NFL season concluded with the proclamation that the New England Patriots are now officially a dynasty, another NFL dynasty seems to be crumbling.
As a longtime fan of Robert Kraft and the Patriots, I am delighted to see their on-the-field dynasty reach this point.
After many successful years as an assistant, Romeo Crennel is now in charge.
And as someone who has followed the NFL's hiring practices for more than two decades, I am also pleased to see the "good old boys network" among head football coaches -- a dynasty of sorts itself -- continues to fall apart now that Romeo Crennel has been hired as the new head coach of the Cleveland Browns. More...
Stop the hazing
Date of Article: February 8, 2005 (Special for ESPN.com, Page 2)
by Dr. Richard Lapchick
“Parents: Bishop Moore Athlete Hurt in Hazing” in the Orlando Sentinel’s February 3rd edition was disturbing to me on several levels. Most striking was that, like other hazing incidents reported across the country, no action seemed to be taken by the school against the girls who allegedly hazed a 15 year old player on the girls’ soccer team. She reported that she was dropped on her head after teammates tried to dunk her head in the toilet and suffered a cerebral contusion. More...