Diverse Issues in Higher Education's G.E. Branch III draws parallels between the career of the trailblazing tennis player and those of dynamic quarterbacks Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks and Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins.
In 1989, trailblazing tennis player and activist Arthur Ashe said that he knew there were Black athletes "perfectly capable of simultaneously excelling on the athletic and academic fields."
He knew, well, because he had done so himself.
Perhaps the two most prominent current athletes who embody that vision will face each other Sunday in the NFL playoffs: dynamic quarterbacks Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks and Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins. Aside from sharing the common bond of being rookies, they also finished 1 and 2, respectively, as male selections for the 2011 Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholar Award as selected by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education magazine …
I'm totally baffled by those who would — even for the sake of argument — question either Griffin or Wilson's bona fides as athletes or men of character. These two are legit and they lead by example.
Ashe, the noted education advocate who died in 1993, undoubtedly would have been proud of these athlete-scholars, as should we all.
Read G.E. Branch III's entire piece at Diverse Issues in Higher Education.
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