MLK reflection: 75 percent total big deal or not?
Published on January 15, 2007 under World Indoor Football League 2 (WIFL 2) News Release
As the nation celebrates the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., is the fact that 75 percent of the World Indoor Football League's head coaches are African-American NOT being considered a big deal a story in itself?
Okay, so it's only three out four number-wise, but work with us here as our coaches and staff take a few minutes to reflect on a day honoring one of America's great Civil Rights activists.
While the National Football League (7 of 32 at the start of the 2006 season) and NCAA Division I-A (6 of 119 as of 12/10) have come under some scrutiny for hiring (or lack thereof) of African-American coaches, the WIFL's trio are mixed when it comes to the subject.
"Football's a color-blind sport,'' said Osceola Ghostriders coach Marquette Smith. "It has to be in this day and age."
Augusta Spartans coach Bubba Diggs agreed while paying tribute to the legacy of Dr. King.
"The thing I look at is that every one of is qualified," said Diggs, who attended a celebration at Beulah Grove Baptist Church Monday. "We have the experience and we have the knowledge to have been successful and continue to be successful.
"I know what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for and I don't forget it," Diggs added. "Dr. King was about the quality of the individual. "Black, white, green, yellow, it was what an individual could do and not the color of his skin."
The Daytona Beach Thunder's Leon Bright, whose Chisholm Community Center in DeLand, Fla., hosted holiday celebrations, feels that the WIFL's status is a positive.
"Hiring black coaches was an issue at the national level," Bright said. "It's a good thing for us to give the Black coaches a chance. At this level, it's always about the opportunity to showcase talent, even coaching.
"The players and coaches still need to appreciate Dr. King's life and accomplishments, the fight and the struggle," Bright added. "They fought for what we have today."
WIFL Commissioner Gary Tufford echoed Smith's comments about the sport being color-blind.
"The issue of race in sports is ridiculous," Tufford said. "Where else can you find men of different races, creeds and colors hugging, crying and fighting for a common goal all on their own accord. That's football, men doing what men do without recognition of color, religion or circumstance. This is the greatest melting pot there is. Give me a football, a field and a few men on any Sunday in America and I'll show you race relations that will rival the United Nations."
The World Indoor Football League debuts on Sunday, February 11 in Daytona Beach Florida with Diggs' Spartans facing Bright's Thunder in the Ocean Center.
World Indoor Football League 2 Stories from January 15, 2007
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
