Heroes In Sport

 The video on Jackie Robinson and the Dorinson article on African American Heroes in sports were very enlightening.  What particularly struck me was the struggle that each of the “heroes” had to go through.  As sports heroes, each of the men had to possess certain qualities to get to the level they did.  These qualities included dedication, determination, and the will to win.  Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, and Muhammed Ali all exemplified these traits.  However, certain qualities were also expected of them as black men.  In the early to mid 20^th century, the majority of white Americans still believed themselves to be superior to African Americans in almost every way. As such, African Americans were supposed to be humble, quiet, and respectful of their “superiors.” When athletes like Jack Johnson came along, the ill-conceived notion of white superiority in the athletic arena was tested and proven utterly false.  However, problems resulted from the fact that Johnson was abrasive, cocky, and prone to flaunting his wealth.  For this reason it was easy for white men to claim that Johnson was unintelligent, was one step up from jungle, and was therefore still inferior.  After seeing Johnson’s fate, athletes like Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, and Jackie Robinson took the opposite route.  While they certainly excelled in the athletic arena, they became what white America wanted them to be outside of it: humble, deferring, and noncombative. This too caused problems because they were not able to expand their sphere of influence into the public arena and affect change on a large social scale. Even though segregation has been outlawed in America and equality has been reached to a certain extent, Black athletes today still struggle with what the public expects of them.  Are they to just excel in the sports arena and be able to do whatever they want outside of it? Or are they called to be community leaders, role models, movers and shakers?  Dorinson cites Muhammed Ali as being the best example of an athlete who certainly excelled at his sport but made an impact in the world around him by taking a stand for what he thought was right.  While Ali was certainly not always right and perhaps overstepped his boundaries on some issues, he should remain a model for the athletes of today.  Today’s athletes should first excel on the field through hard work and dedication, and secondly make a positive impact on the world around them the best they can.  This positive impact does not have to be, and perhaps should not be, in the political sphere.  Rather, they should act as any other working professional should, with class, dignity, and character on and off the field.