October: Recognition of the 25 Greatest Impact African-American Athletes of All-Time

Article 7, Volume 3                                                                October 15, 2013
Interest: Nationwide Sports
2nd Release: May 29, 2016

The 25 Greatest Impact African-American Athletes of All-Time

The month of October is designated as the month to give recognition to the African-American athletes whose play on the fields, in the gyms, rings, tracks and other places had an impact on their individual sport. Plus, society, race relation and goodwill around the world.  Selecting the 25 greatest is one of the hardest jobs I have participated in during my journalistic career.

How can you separate one from the other? It was not easy. We really had a whole lot of top flight athletes in the mix.

Tonight I am going to name the first six and later present you with a brief narrative as to why they were chosen.

1. Jack Johnson - Heavyweight Boxing Champion

2. Jessie Owens - Track, Olympic Champion, 1936

3. Joe Louis - Heavyweight Boxing Champion

4. Jackie Robinson - Major League Baseball, Brooklyn Dodgers rookie 1947.

5. Larry Doby - Major League Baseball, Cleveland Indians rookie 1947

6. Althea Gibson -Tennis - First woman of color to win a Grand Slam tournament 1956

7. Tiger Woods - Golf

8. Mohammad Ali - Boxing

9. Serena Williams - Tennis (perhaps top female player of all-time)

10. Carl Lewis - Track and Field- Participated in 4 Olympics ( won 9 gold medals) 

11. Michael Jordan - Professional Basketball

12. Jim Brown - Professional Football

   ( This listing was updated on July 28, 2016)  See Article 1, Volume 7, dated 7/30/2016

                             Copyright 2013. Grady E. Bryant, Sr.

College athletes should be paid or use their clout: Boycott the bowl games

Article 6, Volume 3                                                                        October 15, 2013

Nationwide Sports

College Seniors Can Boycott the Bowl Games

What is the risk if seniors form a union and boycott the bowl games? Minimal for the players, big for the recipients of the millions of dollars made from the virtual free labor the players generate.

Players can create little pockets of unity by forming small unions such as "All Players United" and try to get their voices heard. They will probably be heard but their request will be turned down again and again.

The reason they are turned down is because they don't have enough clout. A pocket of players here and a pocket of players there, but no united front.The players, through their hard and dedicated work, are helping some coaches make over $5 million a year. Whereas, they (the players) can't even accept a ride from the coach or get extra towels without facing some kind of repercussion. It just ain't right.

Look, they just added another layer to the football championship that will generate more than a Billion dollars when the whole economic impact is considered. What do the players get. Zero as in nothing.

My recommended solution. The seniors and top players who are planning to enter the draft can unite and hold out for some cash compensation before participating in the bowl games.. What do they have to lose? Most of them are not coming back for the next semester anyway. If so, they can pay their own tuition and expenses for the last semester or whenever they decide to come back.

They are going to the various combines or football camps anyway, so what difference will it make if they have to pay their tuition.They are going to be vying for million dollars and more contracts.

It is true everybody is not going to make a professional team. It is also true that if everybody stay in school, everybody is not going to graduate.

Just need to get some of the high profile athletes on board.

Many will feel that they owe the college. Well, you paid the college when you agreed to play football and fly all over the country and help generate funds to help sponsor none revenue sports such as tennis, softball, field hockey and a few others.The thing about that is the players on those teams don't realize that your work in football (basketball too) paid for their scholarship.

I read an excellent story by Alicia Jessop in the September edition of Forbes magazine, titled, "The Economic of College Football: A Look At the Top-25 Teams' Revenues and Expenses."

Alicia's article points out that the football revenue for the top 25 teams exceed 1.2 billion dollars a year.

Anyway you look at it, that is a lot of money.

Sean Gregory, in his September 28, 2013 article  stated that "College Athletes Need to Unionize, Now." He reported that the Big Ten commissioner and other men in key position are harden their position. Well, I believe a bowl boycott will bring them to the table in a hurry.

Look at this way, in many cases the top senior players know their draft potential, so missing a bowl game is not going to affect their draft status. They can prove their worth at the combines

Let us consider the case of Clowney, the football player at South Carolina. What if he would have decided to take the rest of the year off and let his injuries heal. He would probably be despised in South Carolina, but cheered by many others because he considered his future. Folks in the draft business said that if he had decided not to play, his draft status would have remained intact. That is business.

I am not a high profile writer or union organizer, but it sure appears to me that if seniors and key players unite and demand some compensation for participating in bowl games, the NCAA and college presidents will have to put the players demands on the front burner.

                                      Copyright 2013.Grady E. Bryant, Sr.