October 30: A Pep Talk by Coach Harry Edwards Sprinter Binga Dismond was one of the first black track sensations. He competed in Chicago in 1916 and 1917. According to Charley Paddock, the white-skinned champion of his time, "Binga Dismond could beat any man alive at 440 yards. But he was required to run on the outside of the pack all the way around so as to avoid any physical contact with whites. Eventually, discouraged, he disappeared." The story of Binga Dismond is mentioned in Harry Edwards' recently-published book, "The Revolt of the Black Athlete." It seems astounding that there was a time when a black athlete would suffere the indignity inflicted upon Dismond.
In addition to Dismond, there was Jack Johnson, whose life and the injustices visited upon him are the subject of a veiled biography in the hit play, "The Great White Hope." And it still seems hard to believe that when Joe Louis fought his first fights in New York, the ring announcer had to remind the audience that this was the land of the free and the home of the brave. And that, if the colored man should win, the spectators should accept the decision in good faith. These things could not happen today. Of course, not. There only is Muhammad Ali. He is waiting to have his draft appeal decided in the courts. He has answered every requirement of the judicial process and has given no hint of refusing to abide by the decision of the courts. Yet he is continually denied a chance to fight in this country. And a Houston judge refused him permission to leave the country and fight elsewhere. Twenty years from now the cases of Muhammad Ali and Binga Dismond will make for ripe discussions in the black history courses that are beginning to be the rage in schools. Ali's case is mentioned here again because it demonstrates why Edwards' book has tremendous validity, even though its uncompromising tone will offend many who feels sports is an area where the black man is relatively free from prejudice. Edwards was the leader of the black boycott of the Olympic Games. A sociology professor and gadfly on campuses across the nation, he is one of the most articulate and uncompromising challengers of the Establishment. Edwards knows how far the black man has come and what he has done, but he doesn't think the blacks have to be grateful to anybody. He doesn't accept the concept of being "relatively free" from prejudice. Edwards details the developments among the blacks in sports that have led to the present state of affairs in which blacks have a dominant role but one which is not yet equal or satisfactory. Though Edwards' arguments are, at times, simplistic and exaggerated, the book has tremendous relevance. Edwards says, "Hopefully, this book will be read and understood by many people, but particularly by those who control athletics and exert political and economic power in America." No doubt the book is being read by the young black athletes on campuses today. It is of value to sports fans who want to understand the little outbreaks of black independence like the recent rebellion by the University of Wyoming football players, quelled for the time being. Fourteen black players were thrown off the Wyoming football team by the coach because they wanted to wear a black armband in a game against Brigham Young as an expressionof protest against Mormon racial policies. The coach allegedly told the players that it they didn't like it at Wyoming, they could go to Grambling or Morgan State or some other all-Negro school. Edwards reviews the feelingof humiliation and condescension felt by black athletes at many white schools and asks, "Why do they attend thse schools? Why do they stay?" His answer: "Black athletes stay on racist white college campuses because of a driving obsession to prove themselves and because in the black community itself a heavy stigma attaches to the black athlete who goes to a big-name school and 'fails to make the grade.' If he fails academically, he is ridiculed; but if he quits, he is despised. So he has not taken advantage of the chance that his parents didn't have. He has failed those who had faith in him. He had added validity to the contention held by whites that black people are lazy, ignorant, and quit when the going gets rough. In a sense then he is despised because he failed to prove himself to whites." Edwards says the black athlete doesn't have to prove himself any more. He believes it is time the black athlete joined the revolution to become a part of the ruling structure of sports. He argues anew for an awareness by black athletes that they are black men first and sports heroes second. It is an argument gaining ground all the time. Edwards no doubt gets a more receptive ear from the young athletes coming up than the established pros trying to earn their bread. But it should come as a source of comfort to him that the message is spreading. Recently, when I ws carrying a review copy of "The Revolt…," I joined Donn Clendennon of the Mets, whom I knew only slghtly, on a hotel elevator. When he saw the book he gave me a big, warm smile. I almost felt like a soul brother.
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Big Time Muhammad Ali Does It All 
