Sports quota
‘Equal numbers’ might mean a shuffle
by Stuart Lewengrub
More and more, we are being
inundated with demands for racial
and ethnic quotas in a variety of
educational and employment
fields. The rallying cry of some is
“proportionate representation.”
Whether it is the Fulton County
employment rolls or the Atlanta
Symphony, or the medical school
at the University of California at
Davis, there are some who believe
that non-discrimination means
equal numbers.
Here in Atlanta there is an area
that remains virtually untouched
by such demands but I predict it
will soon be a target of the pro-
quota forces. The area is
professional sports.
Let us look at what may come
about when quotas are demanded
for Atlanta's four major league
sports teams.
Basketball
The Atlanta Hawks—What is
obviously needed here is an
affirmative action program that
would achieve a racial balance on
our basketball team. Last year’s
end-of-season roster had nine
Blacks and three whites. That is
certainly disproportionate to the
population of the Atlanta and
suburban communities from
which the team draws its support.
So, in order to balance things
next year, three Blacks have to be
cut and three whites brought in to
replace them. Moreover, inasmuch
as the three top draft choices of the
Hawks were Blacks and they will
probably make the team, six
Blacks from last year's successful
and exciting squad have to go if the
“proper balance” is to be achieved.
Goodbye Ollie, Charlie, Eddie,
Armand, etc...The success was nice
while it lasted.
Hockey
The Atlanta Flames—Maybe,
just maybe, the six Hawks who are
sacked because of racial
disproportion can catch on with
the Flames, if they know how to
skate. The Flames, as any hockey
fan will notice immediately are lily-
white. There are geographical and
historical reasons for this, one of
which is that 90 percent of the
NHL players come from Canada
and the other 10 percent from
either the northern U.S. or
Europe. There aren’t all that many
Blacks in Canada, Minnesota, or
Sweden.
But still we must try to achieve
some kind of balance. So, the
Flames are going to have to go out
and recruit approximately eight
Black hockey players. The first
place to look is at the Hawks
rejects. Perhaps a 6'9” goalie isn’t
such a bad idea. Even if he can’t
skate, he’ll take up a lot of net.
Football
The Atlanta Falcons—On strict
numbers, the Falcons fare pretty
well. There is a good balance
between whites and Blacks overall.
Will
Bakke
brief
bounce
ball?
But, position by position is
another story. Not only should the
team balance by proportion. The
positional breakdown should also
reflect the demographic character
of the community.
The biggest problem is in the
backfield. The four (current)
quarterbacks are all white. All but
one of the running backs are Black.
The solution is clear. McQuilken
and June Jones III will be shifted
to running back and Bubba Bean
must become a quarterback.
The wide receivers are mainly
Blacks and both offensive centers
are white. Again a switch. Van
Note, you are now a wide receiver.
Jenkins, hike that ball. Hey, what
about the Samoan on the defensive
line? It he white or Black? We’ll
call him half and half. He is a
walking affirmative action
solution.
Kickers are excluded from the
racial affirmative action program
but are part of the ethnic one.
Therefore, while the punter can be
a native born white protestant
American, (John James), the
place-kicker must continue to be a
soccer style kicker bom in eastern
Europe.
There are three catchers, all
white. One has to go and Earl
Williams has to be reacquired.
The pitching staff is a major
problem. Only one Black at
present. We do have a 38-year-old
knuckleballer and a bearded relief
pitcher who turns his back on the
batters. Do they count? The
obvious solution is to chuck three
of the pitchers and see if Bob
Gibson, Don Newcorabe and
Mudcat Grant can still hum it in
there.
One final thought—none of
these teams has a Jewish player at
present. Is anybody interested in a
40-year-old guy who plays a fair
softball game despite a dead arm,
can roller skate pretty well, can
shoot free throws and runs the
hundred in 14 flat?
Baseball
The Atlanta Braves—The
Braves measure up pretty well
nowadays. There is a Black
rightfielder, a white leftfielder, and
both Black and white center-
fielders who alternate, not
according to the race of the
opposition pitcher, but to which
hand he throws with. The infield
has three whites and one Black.
Ideally, a second infielder should
be Black but perfection is hard to
come by. There have been some
complaints though that in their
recent triple play, the only Braves
infielder that was left out of
handling the ball was the
shortstop, who is Black. I think
Horner should have at least flipped
the ball to Royster before firing it
to second.
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