NY Times · Mar 8, 2021
College Sports Can Be Exploitive. They Can Also Be a Lifeline.
I like to say I owe my life to college sports. In the 1950s, my father became one of the first African-Americans to play basketball at the University of Oregon. My parents met on that campus, and the scholarship my father received for his athletic skill paved the way for an education that moved our family to the middle class.
Decades later, I earned an athletic scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley, and became the first Black captain of the highly ranked men’s tennis team.
