Cover Story
Famous firsts 1936 African-American Jesse Owens wins four gold medals in Berlin during a time where Adolf Hitler was trying to showcase Aryan supremecy. 1947 Wat Misake becomes the first Asian-American in the NBA. 1947 Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American in the MLB. 1948 Alice Coachman wins a gold medal at the London Olympics as the first African-American women to do so. 1956 Althea Gibson becomes the first AfricanAmerican woman to win a Grand Slam title. 1968 Tommie Smith and John Carlos are condemed for demonstrating against racism during the Olympic award ceremony for the 200 meter dash. 1970 Illinois State hires basketball Will Robinson as the first African-American head coach of a major college team.
photos taken from creative commons
1974 A six-month study was conducted by the National Council on Education that concluded that racism permeates every segment of college athletics. 2008 A Golf Channel broadcaster is suspended after joking about Tiger Woods being “lynched in a back alley.” 2010 Jeremy Lin becomes the first American born NBA player to be of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.
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While others lowered their expectations of Petriceks and Lin because of their ethnicities, for Petriceks’ teammate and junior Spirit Week dunker Floreal, his ethnicity has had the opposite effect. “Just because you’re black, you’re supposed to be good at sports,” Floreal said. “It puts a lot of pressure on you.” The higher standards Floreal feels his teammates and opponents hold him to often undermine his accomplishments. “If I do something special or great in my mind, people still say, ‘Oh, you’re black. You are supposed to do that,’” Floreal said. “If I was a white guy or an Asian guy and I did some of the stuff that I do, I’d probably get a lot more credit.” Although Floreal’s ethnicity altered his peers’ perceptions of him, for fellow African-American Paly athlete, Lauren, whose name was changed for the purposes of this article, her ethnicity has made her feel out of place. She compares the different cultures in both soccer and basketball, recalling her experiences on various soccer teams in her youth. “There were a few other mixed girls [on the team], but I was the only full black person, so I really stood out,” Lauren said. “I had to get used to being not only the only black person on my team, but the only black person in a tournament.” Stereotypes work in multiple ways. Minorities, like Lauren, may be more frequently stereotyped, but majorities are nevertheless stereotyped as well. For Caucasian badminton player Alex Carter (‘12), playing in a sport perceived to be dominated by Asians made him feel alienated by opponents prior to his matches. “People assume I’m bad [at badminton] just because I’m white,” Carter said. With this feeling of inferiority, created merely because of a difference in ethnicity, not only is Carter’s confidence lowered, but he also feels “a lot of performance pressure.” Latino football and lacrosse player Gabe Landa (‘12) can relate to Carter, as he is also used to being a minority in his particular sport. “I actually don’t know any other Latino lacrosse players,” Landa said. “None of my family [knew] what lacrosse [was], and they only [now] know because of me.” While Paly’s athletes have experienced forms of racial bias on the field, discrimination also occurs on the sidelines on the part of coaches. Asian-American football, track-and-field coach and Paly alumnus Jason Fung is one of three non-Caucasian head coaches at Paly. Fung recalls a specific instance of racial bias by coaches, at the track-and-field Central Coast Section (CCS) finals a few years past.