This past Tuesday, Jan. 13, award-winning New York Times columnist and best-selling author William C. Rhoden addressed the College community as the keynote speaker for the 17th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration.
Rhoden has been a sports writer for The New York Times since March 1983. Before joining The Times as a sports columnist, he worked for various print media companies including Ebony Magazine, The Baltimore Sun and the Sunday Week. Rhoden graduated from Morgan State University, and during his time there he played football and acted as the assistant sports information director for some time.
Rhoden has dedicated much of his life to playing and covering sporting events. He is the author of best-selling book 40 Million Dollar Slaves and Third and a Mile: The Trials and Triumphs of The Black Quarterback. He also wrote the Emmy-winning sports documentary Breaking the Huddle: The Integration of College Football.
Rhoden has worked hard to incorporate his passion for sports with a number of outreach programs. He created a sports-oriented program for young kids in Harlem that provides a variety of activities such as basketball, ping-pong and video games, for local kids aged 7 to 14. The program works to integrate these students into the community and has events at places such as Yankee Stadium and local museums. The program is funded in part by Rhoden but also through contributions from friends who share his passion for outreach.
The program began six years ago with about 10-15 kids and has grown every year since – now, 50-60 kids participate in the program. The program is held at the Church of the Intercession in Harlem, where Rhoden has an office and does his work there when he is not on the road.
Rhoden was chosen as the keynote speaker for the MLK Celebration because of his dedication to his work and his community. Rhoden spoke once before at the College in January 2007.
Associate Professor of Writing Hector Vila helped to bring back Rhoden to campus.
“If you look at Rhoden’s career, at The Times and his books, as well as in the community, you see that Rhoden is a model of King’s ‘I have a dream.’ Rhoden always speaks truth to power; he, as King says, is always working on the inside, inside an institution, and in the community – Harlem, where he still lives – he has built a boys’ club to help the youth use sports as a way to learn about very important principles, such as fairness and collaboration, hard work and diligence, and the most important: education. That’s why he’s a good MLK lecturer,” said Vila.
For Vila’s J-term class, Media, Sports and Identity, 40 Million Dollar Slaves is required reading for all students.
“In 40 Million Dollar Slaves, Rhoden lays out several important themes: that professional sports are based on a plantation model – a master and hired hands, and that these hired hands have very limited power, never the power of ownership, for instance; that every time the black athlete gains some success, rules are changed, more obstacles are placed in his/her face; that the popular – and successful – black athlete has a responsibility to the communities from which s/he comes,” Vila said.
“This last piece is very important because, in Rhoden’s work, many athletes – Michael Jordan comes to mind – have turned away from their communities, instead of helping and educating. LeBron James, for instance, totally the opposite of MJ, embodies these principles, including working against the plantation model (he runs his own show). The Williams sisters, in tennis, embody Rhoden’s ideas as well,” he concluded.
Kyle Dudley, Assistant Coach of the men’s basketball team, is also Rhoden’s nephew and was instrumental in bringing Rhoden back to campus. Dudley remarked that Rhoden had a strong influence in his decision to play sports in college and then to become a basketball coach at Middlebury.
Vila added, “As a columnist, Rhoden looks to find the story that’s not on the surface, thus working against the way most media operates, which is focusing on the surface structure; he is not scared to provoke and challenge, whether it’s a player or ownership.”
