by Ted Sherman

Created on: December 27, 2008

If you consider statistics, this calls for a qualified yes. As of the 2008 season, there are seven African-Americans among the 32 coaches in the National Football League. That's 22 percent, which is about the average of African-Americans among the total U.S. population. However, there are at least 60 percent blacks among the total number of NFL players, and every year, the percentage goes higher.

However, statistics and past history of racial exclusion in pro and college sports is always an emotional part of any argument about today's racial equality. One could argue in the other direction. White players in the NBA are about 10 percent of the total. Conversely, the percentage is even less for black players in the National Hockey League. Census statistics show that whites make up more than 75 percent of the total population, but all of those numbers should be meaningless.

As for coaches in the NFL, as well as for every other aspect of pro and college sports, a person should be chosen because of his proven skills in the stadium, whether he actively participates or serves as teacher and boss on the sidelines. Why some black kids have emerged in the last generation stronger, bigger and more highly motivated than white is something for scientists to deal with, not social reformers.

Actually, it does have some social implications. Until the 1940s and 1950s, when discrimination was strict and overbearing, most black families lived in poverty, barely existing above the economic levels of their slave forebearers. Their diets were meager, and kids grew up without the benefits of decent food, organized excercise and motivation to succeed. Then, when World War II offered black families in the South opportunities to work at higher-paying jobs in the North, their standards of living were greatly improved.

Black kids born in the 1950s and 1960s were better fed and housed, and they grew up big and healthy. Along with that, the Civil Rights movement brought them opportunities and personal motivation in high school and college to hone their athletic abilities. Thus emerged a generation of strong young prospects who were free from the prejudice and restrictions of earlier days.

With an African-American President in Washington, and freedom for every American to seek success in any endeavor, maybe its about time to stop the quotas and sniping. Let us hope that all coaches and athletes can complete on the same level playing ground for opportunities in both pro and college sports.

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