File #2860: "MFM_VA_1968-03-26_Reflector_Vol79_Negro-Athletes-Performances_001.pdf"
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Negro Athletes Known
For Performances Only
(ACP)---He stands 6-4 and
weighs 200 pounds. He can either
carry a football 100 yards, be
timed under ten seconds or score
40 points in a basketball game.
He is a Negro athlete and while
he is giving his show, his performance, everyone knows him.
Afterwards, even when the clock
reads zero, he remains an athlete. He's not an individual but
a commodity because sports are
all he has--it ls the only way he
can make wherever he goes.
Five Negro athletes at the
University of Pittsburg gave their
views on the status of the Negro
athlete on campus. Their comments were reported in a special supplement--"The Negro on
Campus"--in the PITT. NEWS.
"When a Negro participates
in a sport, he's accepted," said
Steve Stevenson, a part-time
playing guard on the basketball
team. Stevenson has been the
only Negro on the varsity basketball team since 1963-64.
Carl Wooten, "a good friend
of Steve, out of necessity," said
the only close friends he had
were other athletes. "They gotta
look at you as a teammate. Their
job depends on it."
"As for other students, it's
a horse of a different color,"
said Wooten, a trackman. "Their
excuse for knowing me is that
I'm an athlete. But some of them
are friends, some of them."
"Negro athletes are treated
differently from the average
Negro student," said J.D. Lewis,
a three-sport man in football,
track and tennis. "The reason
I was late coming here is thaf
someone was introducing me to
his girl. He introduced me as
one of the three fastest guys
on the track team. He didn't
say I was a friend of his."
"Everything you do is measurable," Stevenson said. "If you
run a 9.5 and another guy runs
a 9.8, you're better. You're known
for this. The Negro athlete fills
those stadiums. And he's treated
as a commodity."
Wooten, objecting tothe"commodity" tag, said barriers break
down when coach and athletes see
each other so often. "The coach
and the teammates come to appreciate the Negro more as a
man," he said.
Larry Watkins, freshman fullback, and Dave Garnett, freshman
tailback, joined the discussion.
"Everyone expects you to run
a 9.5 on the football field, weaving in and out, while running
with a pulled hamstring/' Garnett
said. "And if you don't do it
every time, they think you're
loafing."
"Yeahi in lii_gh school, I was
a three-sport man," Wooten said.
''I felt like a three- man circus."
"They all leave after you put
on your show," Garnett interjected.
"If you walk into a department
store with a Pitt blazer on, they
wait on you right a way," Wooten
said. "But then they always ask,
'What do you do, are you a
halfback?"'
"Taxicab drivers never stop
on the street for me," Wooten
said. "They always think I'm
going to the Hill or to Homewood."
"But then one day a cabbie
did stop," Garnett said, continuing the story.
"Remember what he said,
Carl? He asked us if we went
to Pitt and I told him yes. And
the next thing he asked was,
'Are you a football pl~r?' "
Wooten told how Hubl,' White,
Negro basketball player who
brought fame to Villanova (Pa.)
University, was exploited. "He
never received his degree. They
gave him a certificate of attendance."
"Do you know what he's doing
now?" Wooten asked. "He sweeps
out the Villanova gym."
"When everyone learned there
were five Negroes on the freshman football team," Stevenson
related, "the first thing everyone
said was, 'We gotta keep them
in school.' "
"One other freshman football
player came up to me," Watkins
said, "and said 'It's good to see
colored guys on the team. Now
we'll have some speed and we'll
win.'''
Watkins told of his father's
advice to him. "Get in sports.
That's where you have to make
it," he always said.
'' Why do you think all the top
fighters are Negroes?" Wooten
asked. "They're hungry. They
started fighting as an outlet, but
then they learned it was the only
way to get out of the ghettos."
Stevenson supported Wooten,
saying "I'll have to keep at this.
It's the only way I can make it."
"Some people ask me why I
get angry," Wooten said. "Well,
I'll tell you. I don't like being
called 'boy' anymore. And I want
the best. If a white doesn't want
it, I don't want it. I'm tired of
getting the crumbs."
"We're proud," he said, "probably the proudest." Wooten is
one of eleven Negro athletes
at Pittsburg--eleven Negro athletes at a "cosmopolitan" university.
For Performances Only
(ACP)---He stands 6-4 and
weighs 200 pounds. He can either
carry a football 100 yards, be
timed under ten seconds or score
40 points in a basketball game.
He is a Negro athlete and while
he is giving his show, his performance, everyone knows him.
Afterwards, even when the clock
reads zero, he remains an athlete. He's not an individual but
a commodity because sports are
all he has--it ls the only way he
can make wherever he goes.
Five Negro athletes at the
University of Pittsburg gave their
views on the status of the Negro
athlete on campus. Their comments were reported in a special supplement--"The Negro on
Campus"--in the PITT. NEWS.
"When a Negro participates
in a sport, he's accepted," said
Steve Stevenson, a part-time
playing guard on the basketball
team. Stevenson has been the
only Negro on the varsity basketball team since 1963-64.
Carl Wooten, "a good friend
of Steve, out of necessity," said
the only close friends he had
were other athletes. "They gotta
look at you as a teammate. Their
job depends on it."
"As for other students, it's
a horse of a different color,"
said Wooten, a trackman. "Their
excuse for knowing me is that
I'm an athlete. But some of them
are friends, some of them."
"Negro athletes are treated
differently from the average
Negro student," said J.D. Lewis,
a three-sport man in football,
track and tennis. "The reason
I was late coming here is thaf
someone was introducing me to
his girl. He introduced me as
one of the three fastest guys
on the track team. He didn't
say I was a friend of his."
"Everything you do is measurable," Stevenson said. "If you
run a 9.5 and another guy runs
a 9.8, you're better. You're known
for this. The Negro athlete fills
those stadiums. And he's treated
as a commodity."
Wooten, objecting tothe"commodity" tag, said barriers break
down when coach and athletes see
each other so often. "The coach
and the teammates come to appreciate the Negro more as a
man," he said.
Larry Watkins, freshman fullback, and Dave Garnett, freshman
tailback, joined the discussion.
"Everyone expects you to run
a 9.5 on the football field, weaving in and out, while running
with a pulled hamstring/' Garnett
said. "And if you don't do it
every time, they think you're
loafing."
"Yeahi in lii_gh school, I was
a three-sport man," Wooten said.
''I felt like a three- man circus."
"They all leave after you put
on your show," Garnett interjected.
"If you walk into a department
store with a Pitt blazer on, they
wait on you right a way," Wooten
said. "But then they always ask,
'What do you do, are you a
halfback?"'
"Taxicab drivers never stop
on the street for me," Wooten
said. "They always think I'm
going to the Hill or to Homewood."
"But then one day a cabbie
did stop," Garnett said, continuing the story.
"Remember what he said,
Carl? He asked us if we went
to Pitt and I told him yes. And
the next thing he asked was,
'Are you a football pl~r?' "
Wooten told how Hubl,' White,
Negro basketball player who
brought fame to Villanova (Pa.)
University, was exploited. "He
never received his degree. They
gave him a certificate of attendance."
"Do you know what he's doing
now?" Wooten asked. "He sweeps
out the Villanova gym."
"When everyone learned there
were five Negroes on the freshman football team," Stevenson
related, "the first thing everyone
said was, 'We gotta keep them
in school.' "
"One other freshman football
player came up to me," Watkins
said, "and said 'It's good to see
colored guys on the team. Now
we'll have some speed and we'll
win.'''
Watkins told of his father's
advice to him. "Get in sports.
That's where you have to make
it," he always said.
'' Why do you think all the top
fighters are Negroes?" Wooten
asked. "They're hungry. They
started fighting as an outlet, but
then they learned it was the only
way to get out of the ghettos."
Stevenson supported Wooten,
saying "I'll have to keep at this.
It's the only way I can make it."
"Some people ask me why I
get angry," Wooten said. "Well,
I'll tell you. I don't like being
called 'boy' anymore. And I want
the best. If a white doesn't want
it, I don't want it. I'm tired of
getting the crumbs."
"We're proud," he said, "probably the proudest." Wooten is
one of eleven Negro athletes
at Pittsburg--eleven Negro athletes at a "cosmopolitan" university.