Gary M. Pomerantz’s new book, The Last Pass: Cousy, Russell, the Celtics, and What Matters in the End, which will be published by Penguin Press on October 23. He teaches at Stanford University’s Graduate Program in Journalism.
Today’s intersection of race, politics and sports harks back to the 1960’s. That time’s images live in our imagination: Muhammad Ali, loudly defiant, and sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, fists thrust overhead in protest. The undeniable power of those moments has obscured a truth that today’s athletes might want to consider: there can be a cost to ignoring the calls of conscience. They could be setting themselves up for years of regret, knowing that when the times called for action they did nothing.
In the past 2 ½ seasons, following the lead of former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, several dozen of the National Football League’s African-American players have protested police brutality and racial injustice by taking a knee during the national anthem, raising a fist, or remaining in the locker room until the anthem is done. Meanwhile, few white players have spoken out publicly in support.
Today’s NFL players have their reasons for engaging in the protests, or not. Those who are quietly sympathetic to the cause, but aren’t saying or doing anything about it, should take heed of Bob Cousy, a man from a different time and sport.
Cousy, now 90 years old, is a celebrated Hall of Fame point guard. As the theatrical passer and dribbler known as the Houdini of the Hardwood, he captained the storied Boston Celtics dynasty of the 1950’s and early Sixties. Today Cousy is sorry that he didn’t help his greatest teammate, Bill Russell, against the prejudice Russell faced as an African-American in Boston and across the NBA, including at St. Louis’s Kiel Auditorium where fans screamed at him “BABOON!” and “BLACK GORILLA!”When conscience comes into conflict with the wallet, conscience rarely wins.
It’s rare in America for a 90-year old white man to reconsider race and how it played out in his…
