Logos of universities in the ACC. | Graphic courtesy of ACC
Story by Kyle Ennis
ANCHOR LEAD:
The ACC is a pinnacle for success and a champion of diversity, equity, and representation. Kyle Ennis investigates the ever-changing landscape of collegiate athletics.
NATS: Ladies and Gentleman, Charlie Scott.
TRACK:
The pathway for Hall of Fame inductee, gold medalist, and NBA Champion started in rural Southeast North Carolina at the Laurinburg Institute.
Charlie Scott, Former UNC Men’s Basketball Player
“It was a school known to have a great basketball program and, and was known for being able to, get young men into college scholarship, basketball scholarship.”
TRACK:
A 6 foot 5 guard, Charlie Scott was heavily recruited. With a decision to make, Scott was influenced by his high school coach, Frank McDuffie.
Charlie Scott, Former UNC Men’s Basketball Player
“He understood the significance of being a scholarship, black athlete at the University of North Carolina.”
TRACK:
Being the first at UNC was pivotal. Scott shattered Carolina’s color barrier, but that wasn’t met without obstacles.
Charlie Scott, Former UNC Men’s Basketball Player
“I would be, you know, the first black athlete really to play in those arenas.”
TRACK:
Scott’s actions paved the way for other teams at the university to follow. Hubert West was the first black track and field scholarship athlete. It was a junior-year conversation that prompted thoughts about a future in coaching, another leap.
Hubert West, Former UNC Track and Field Coach
“At the end of my senior year, I was hired as an assistant coach at Carolina, ”
TRACK:
West became the first black head coach at UNC after the retirement of late Coach Joe Hilton.
Kyle Ennis, UNC Media Hub Reporter
The likes of Hubert West on the track and Charlie Scott, who graced this floor in 1966 in Carmichael Arena were the start of representation and diversity that have continued to knock down walls to this day. But the ACC wasn’t an early adopter.
Dr. Matt Andrews, American Historian & UNC Professor
“The ACC was one of the last conferences to desegregate. The conferences in the West and in the Northeast had black players as early as the early 20th century.”
TRACK:
Scott arrived not long after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed, following rising racial tensions on full display in North Carolina and across the country. Today, the Knight Commission is focused on the success, health, and safety of college athletes.
Amy Perko, CEO of Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics
“In our care model its there to be public disclosure of the, gender and ethnicity demographics of athletics departments, administrators, coaches, and athletes.”
TRACK:
The CARE model, “Connecting Athletic Revenues to the Educational Mission” ensures that advocacy and transparency are at the forefront of the commission’s focus for athletes and leadership. To West, having someone that looks like him is bigger than track.
Hubert West, Former UNC Track and Field Coach
“What it does is it gives a young young lady or young men a target, someone they can look, a goal that they can reach, that they can look and say, I can do that.”
TRACK:
Scott, says sport is becoming colorblind.
Charlie Scott, Former UNC Men’s Basketball Player
“Athletic competition is probably the only place where, where there is no, racism involved because no, every team wants to win and every team is going to put out their best athletes nowadays.”
NATS: And the ball game is over. North Carolina has won.
TRACK:
Within the research triangle today, Kevin Keatts, Kara Lawson, and Hubert Davis are at the helm of premiere college athletics teams and shining examples of the change that continues. I’m Kyle Ennis, reporting.
TAG:
While sports and the landscape of sports have changed drastically: representation, diversity, and equity for all athletes are still an ongoing effort every day.
TRT: 2:52
