insidethehouse
Morehouse Launches Journalism and Sports Program by Shaneesa N. Ashford and Jatika Hudson
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very great player needs an assist. Morehouse College, a major player in higher education, recently received a big assist from alumnus Shelton “Spike” Lee ’79, who wanted to see the school address the under representation of minorities in sports journalism. He helped the College raise more than $900,000 to launch the new Journalism and Sports Program at Morehouse, which is housed in the English department. The primary goal of the Journalism and Sports Program, originally proposed in 1999, will be to provide Morehouse students with an academic foundation in journalism. The program marks the return of a journalism curriculum to Morehouse. Prior to 1991, students were able to pursue a mass communications degree at Clark Atlanta University. Already up and running, the program recently hired 34-year veteran sportswriter and author Ron Thomas as its director. Besides managing the program, Thomas will teach courses, create a program publication and maintains a lecture series. A 1971 graduate of the University of Rochester, Thomas brings a wealth of experience to the classroom. “This program will be one of the very few — and by very few I mean you can count them on one hand—[sports] journalism programs around the country,” Thomas said. “This program is something very rare to find. We’ll be teaching sports reporting and editing because the [sports] terminology is a little different.” In addition to Morehouse,
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Curtis Bunn, sports reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Tara August, public relations manager for Turner Sports; Reggie Roberts, vice president of football communications for the Atlanta Falcons; alumnus and board of trustee member Shelton “Spike” Lee ’79; Ike Reese, Atlanta Falcons linebacker; David Cummings ’89, senior deputy editor for ESPN The Magazine; Ronnie Ramos, sports editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Paul Wiebe, chair of the English department, tackle the issue of disparity between minority athletes in various sports and the number of minority journalists covering those sports.
Pennsylvania State University, University of Tennessee, Benedictine University and the University of Texas at Austin offer journalism and sports programs. Morehouse’s program is significant because it hopes to level the playing field for African American men in the sports journalism arena. “There is a widely disproportionate number of black print journalists and the number of black athletes in major sports,” said Thomas. “I want Morehouse to be the place to come if an African American male student wants to fill that gap.” An avid blacks sports history buff, Thomas is also the author of They Cleared the Lane: The NBA’s Black Pioneers, a history of athletes who integrated the national sports arena in the 1950s. “Another special part of this program, which I think will be different
than any of the other sports programs, is that we’ll put more emphasis on informing Morehouse students about black sports history,” he said. Thomas believes it is important for students to learn the role sports journalism has on American life. Black athletes like Jackie Robinson, Morehouse alumnus Donn Clendenon ’56 and Muhammad Ali all have played pivotal roles in changing the American sports arena. Research shows that while the percentages of African Americans in the NFL and NBA are 69 and 76 respectively, African Americans comprise small percentages of radio and television announcers in those sports: 3 percent in the NFL and 14 percent in the NBA. In January 2006, a panel of sports journalists and professionals tackled the issue of disparity between minority