Without question, Dr. Martin Luther King made a significant impact on the world, opening doors and fostering compassion for Black people where there had been none before.
That included the realm of sports, where player integration at the professional level was still in its infancy and the SEC still wasn’t allowing Black players to compete, even as King was fighting for civil rights in all aspects of life. Black people were gaining acceptance on the field. Still, the idea of Black people as coaches and leaders in the front office wasn’t a common occurrence, except in Boston, where Bill Russell held the unheard-of distinction of being a player-coach for the Celtics.
While the numbers still aren’t exactly balanced, we have coaches, general managers, athletic directors, and even some minority owners represented at almost every level of sports. Most will agree that this is the case because of the work King did and the impression he left, even after his 1968 assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, while standing up for sanitation workers.
University of Houston basketball coach Kelvin Sampson, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, and Texas Southern men’s and women’s basketball coaches Johnny Jones and Vernette Skeete talked with the Defender about what King’s legacy means to them.
Kelvin Sampson
Sampson remembers riding his bike home as a teenager on April 4, 1968, and finding his entire family in tears. And he heard the news that King had been assassinated, tears from the sense of loss overcame him, as well.
“I remember crying because my family was crying two times in my life over something like that. One was Nov. 22, 1963, and I was in the third grade, and President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. And the second time was when Martin Luther King was assassinated.”
Today, the future Hall of Fame coach remembers King for who he was, what he stood for, and for the change he brought about.
“The impact he had with his courage in the face of … If you are a historian or follow the racist path that segregation caused. Most people will remember Rosa Parks, Montgomery, Alabama, Ebenezer Baptist Church. Those are all things that stand out to me because of segregation. I grew up in a segregated society. My dad coached in segregation up until the late 1960s. I remember when Charlie Scott was the first African American player at the University of North Carolina. The only reason I mention any of those things is that everything always comes back to Martin Luther King. His speech at Washington, D.C., where he talks about the Mountain Top. One of the guys I looked up to was George Raveling, who was the head coach at Washington State University, two coaches before me.
“Probably the next day after I got hired, I called up George and asked him if I could come down and visit with him and talk about it. While we were there, he told me about having Martin Luther King’s speech. He was an usher and worked security at a speech he gave in Philadelphia. (King) left a copy of the speech on the podium, and George got it, and they let him keep it. Since he has passed, George has passed it on to – I don’t know if it’s the Smithsonian … He passed it on somewhere where people can see it and enjoy it. But he always had it.
“Martin Luther King has been a hero of mine. I’ve read his speeches, I’ve read words, and I’ve written things down to use with my team. He talks about times of convenience and times that need courage. Those things relate to life, and also relate to everything we do in life… having the courage to stand up for what’s right when it’s not convenient. Martin Luther King’s legacy will live for others, other people, and I think that is what makes him a giant.”
DeMeco Ryans
Ryans attributes a lot of who he is as a leader of men to the teachings and things that he learned about King while growing up and as an adult.
“When I see him, I think about leadership. And what does that look like as a leader? It’s being able to stand up for what’s right, speak up for what’s right, and to lead by example. It’s okay to be out front, even though it may be unpopular to some. It’s okay to be out front and to stand strong on your commitments.”
What Ryans feels strongest about King’s legacy is his selfless sacrifice for the betterment of others.
“For what he did and the sacrifice that he made for everyone, just for the equality. When you see somebody who sacrificed and fought like he did, it wasn’t about him. It was about the sacrifice. It just teaches us to this day that when you truly care about people, you are willing to sacrifice, you are willing to go that extra mile to make sure you do what’s right. That’s the thing that stood out about him; he did what was right and what was needed at the time. It was not only him, but he had a lot of support that has allowed myself and others to be in the positions we are in today to have the jobs and the success and things that we have now. It’s all attributed to what he has done and his sacrifice with starting the movement of civil rights, making sure everybody has equal rights. It’s very important for where we are now as a society. I think it’s a credit to where people have moved up and done really well.”
Verenette Skeete
The TSU women’s basketball coach recognizes and honors King for putting his life on the line for what he believes. Skeete pays homage to King’s legacy by the fearless way she coaches and inspires her student-athletes.
Skeete encourages her players to remember to have that fight and drive, whether it’s on the basketball court, in the classroom, or in life.
“It’s funny because I saw when it’s game time, I’m ready to die out there. I’m giving it everything. That fight is important. I think a lot of things… Hopefully, it’s a good thing, but we miss the fight in our lives. What we are fighting for, justice and freedom, is still there. But we don’t have to be on the frontlines as we used to on the ground level every single day. It’s taken away from our culture, and that’s what we love about HBCUs: It’s a constant reminder that we are fighting for something.
“Everything we do, the way we play our sports, it’s always scrappy, it’s hard, it’s freedom. It’s everything that it stands for. It’s a great celebration for the space it’s created for. To see them be able to come somewhere and thrive in their space that it’s for them athletically, spiritually, academically. It’s so important in spaces to be here, and we have to do everything that we can and fight for that.”
Johnny Jones
The longtime TSU men’s basketball coach still remembers the scream he heard from his mother in the other room. She had just gotten word of King’s assassination that day in 1968.
Jones felt the pain, but it was years later that he fully understood why.
“As I’ve gotten older, I understand the impact that he made in society. What I loved most about him was the story about him and who he was fighting for. It wasn’t about himself. He wasn’t a guy trying to go out there and make money for himself or just his family. He was trying to change society for people. He wanted to make sure that everybody had an equal chance.
“And for him to be in the situation where he was going down to speak to sanitation workers to try to help them. He wasn’t in some corporate place. He was trying to help sanitation workers get their pay where it needed to be. I have always been an admirer and always thought that he was about the right thing, about people doing the right thing. He wasn’t about violence at all. I’ve been very fortunate that a lot of his material and a lot of quotes and things that he spoke on resonate with me quite often because it’s always about the right thing. Because of his footprint and what he did, the world is in a certain place.
“Because of what he stood for, people followed him. He tried to make this place a better place. He is one of those people that I have a certain feel for because he left his footprint and made a huge impact on society.”
