Growing up in Montana, I was widely exposed to narrow minded views and racism. Not only was it a predominately white town, but any African American in town was usually associated in someway with an athletic team of the local university. Funny part about these athletes is that about 40 percent of them played football there, and that football team was coached by my father.
As a kid in eastern Washington, I can remember going to preschool with an African American girl and at one point, we even had one of my dad’s black Graduate Assistants living with us. My sister and I were raised with no perception of difference in race. Granted it was obvious to me that we looked different, however personality and character wise, we were the same. It wasn’t until we moved to Montana that I came in contact with blatant racism.
I can remember one morning in January waking up to the sound of my dad coughing outside. My first thought was that it must have snowed and he was shoveling. But when I went outside to help him, I saw that he was scraping frozen eggs off of the side of our home. At that point I realized it was the morning of Martin Luther King Jr. day and our house had been egged, most likely due to the fact that our family was associated with the black athletes in the area. The next day the local paper reported similar crimes had been committed around the area, and all of them had some connection to race.
At the time I was in eight-grade, and I can remember it happening every year we lived there. As a college football coach, my dad never saw color. Sure he saw differences in academic success and athletic prowess, but he was never the first to recruit someone simply “because he is black.”
Another misconception about African American athletes that I have also learned directly correlates with criminality and the discrimination that comes with those mistakes. One of dad’s assistant coaches played football at Washington State with intentions on playing in the NFL. However, one drunken bar fight the summer after graduation left him with a broken hand and a broken criminal record. Luckily for him, Coach Price gave him high endorsements and Dad agreed to give him a chance as an assistant coach on his staff. Upon taking the job, local media outlets criticized dad for making such a “reckless” hire, and questioned whether or not this coach should be allowed to work with college students or be employed by a state institution. Turns out, he was the best assistant coach Dad ever hired. He had such strong people skills, that he had a powerful ability to recruit players to want to play for the Montana program, something that was hard considering the geographical location, and off the field he led community service projects for the team. This coach was with our family for 5 seasons at that school, leaving to take a job at a D-1 school, and is now the top assistant coach for the Green Bay Packers. Turns out taking a gamble on a “broken record” has never paid out so well.
Looking back I am extremely thankful for the upbringing I have had, and hope to provide that to my children some day.
I loved this post. I find it courageous of your dad to stand up for what he believed in even though people didn't agree with his decisions. It is hard to find people who will take such stances today. You're post relates a lot to my blog topic which is focused on youth. How children are raised plays such an important role on their future, and it is my hope that more children are brought up the way you and I were versus being raised in white supremacist and racist families. Hate only breeds hate.
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