Much is said about 'race in America' and much remains stagnat regarding race in America. Let me immediately extend the following disclaimer; I am not an expert on the subject of America's race-relations, however I do qualify to speak on personal race-observations and experiences in East St. Louis, Edwardsville, Jacksonville and Decatur. One community I call my hometown and I coached high school basketball in the other communities all of which were racially mixed.
I have had the anonymous telephone calls and letters accusing me of being a 'N' lover, other callers and communications saying that I was a prejudice-bigoted-ass. I had a malcontent Edwardsville parent constantly stirring racial issues. I had a Jacksonville adult black man ask me, "Do rich white parents offer coaches money to play their kids?" I had black basketball players tell me that all they ever heard in the streets (growing up) was that 'the white coach ain't going to give you a chance.'
The aforementioned tidbits were my coaching realities. Nevertheless, I managed to build trust in every coaching charge in spite of vindictive viciousness, ignorance and sad insecurities.
I regret but one thing. You grow old and lose energy to continue the fight. I enjoyed the journey and will leave the train thankful for the opportunities and all the assistant coaches, players and administrators who were committed to my efforts.
No comments:
Post a Comment