The days of Jesse Owen and Jackie Robinson are long gone. The days of athletes not being allowed into the restaurant or hotel with the rest of the team are history.

Sports today are a far cry from what they were in the 1950s and ‘60s, in terms of race relations and diversity among players, coaches and administrators. Rather than being a divider, sports has become a place for growth of understanding.

“Sports still has the ability [to] and it is providing a venue for the voice of minority individuals,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Tom Hill, who was a standout track athlete at Arkansas State from 1967-72 and went on to win a bronze medal in the 1972 Olympics in Munich. 

“But it also provides an opportunity for the majority population to interact in a significant way with the minority individuals. And it’s not always in a role where the person of color is in a less-than role, and so this has provided some opportunities to continue to promote understanding and familiarity with people of difference races and ethnicities.”

Hill saw the days of intense discrimination and experienced racism first hand while at Arkansas State. He said he is very proud of how far the race relations have come in the sports world specifically. 

However, he cautioned against viewing sports as a “silver bullet” that can fix everything with race relations — it is not the only solution.

“[Sports] is [only] one of the equalizers; the ways we can help achieve the goals we set as far as race relations are concerned,” Hill said.

Former ISU men’s basketball player Royce White said — and Hill agreed — a lot of what causes issues, especially in sports, is a lack of education for young minorities.

White said going back to the grassroots level and teaching young people they can coexist with the majority both on and off the court or field in the sports world will only help the advancement of minorities.

“You really need to go back and look at the youth and look at how that product is being molded,” White said. “Once you get [to the college level], it’s not too late, but it’s close to too late.”

Hill said, to echo White’s sentiments, getting kids on the right track can only help minorities across the board. But, Hill said, that can be difficult.

“Unfortunately, we have lots of individuals who will not have the opportunity to have the proper role models at those early stages,” Hill said. “There needs to be some place where somebody can have an impact [on the kids]. ”

Hill added that the education kids need is not just how to become successful; there is already a pretty good model for that, he said.

What needs to happen for minorities in the sports world, especially, is education on how to deal with the success they have on the court or field and extend that wealth and success for the rest of their lives after they retire or finish playing. Hill can see it happening, too.

“I see us refocusing our energies and attention on those who are fortunate enough to make significant revenues as a performer and better preparing them to deal with success,” Hill said. “Because there’s a significant number of minorities that will see success, and it goes to waste.”

Off the field, at an administrative level, minorities are still making headway on levelling the playing field as far as power positions.

The Rooney Rule in the NFL requires teams to interview a minority candidate before hiring a coach, but no such requirement exists in college sports. 

David Harris, senior associate athletics director for student affairs, has been through the process of getting hired and hiring people in his time as an administrator and believes that at the end of the day, when schools or teams hire a coach or administrator, they are hiring the person most qualified for the position.

In his journey from alma mater Ole Miss to here at Iowa State, Harris said he feels like he was treated fairly as a minority.

“I‘ve been judged fairly,” Harris said. “I’ve had an opportunity to do some things that were positive.

“[But] I can’t tell you that’s the experience that everyone who’s a minority has had; I can only speak to my personal experience.”

In order for more minorities to have the experience Harris had, Hill said people need to be willing to show young minorities they can get and keep a position off the field, too.

“We need people to be willing to provide minority individuals with the opportunities to learn the business — to learn coaching, to be athletic administrators,” Hill said. “We need them to have that opportunity to do that.”