Diamonds in the Rough

Abstract

Ailing academic performances of Black male student athletes have been an impetus for a search of recourse by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Amid the volume of these academic underperformances, particularly in revenue-generating sports, there are Black male student athletes who achieve a level of success in the classroom that rivals their athletic prowess. The present case study investigated the self-perceptions and behaviors contributing to seven Black male student athletes’ success in managing their dual roles as students and athletes while navigating their college experience. The theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory was used to ground this research. Findings from this study are represented by the following themes: Complex Identities, Community, and Liberation. The implications of this study support fostering meaningful opportunities to develop healthy Black male student athlete identities and academic achievement.

Keywords

Black student athletes identity race experiences

The plight of Black male college student athletes’ academic performances at predominately White institutions (PWIs) has harvested great concern over the past few decades (e.g., Anderson, 1990; Edwards, 1984, 2000; Eitzen & Purdy, 1986; Hodge, Harrison, Burden, & Dixson, 2008). In addition to being explicitly recruited to college institutions for their athletic prowess (Donner, 2005), a significant number of Black male college student athletes struggle with replicating their athletic proficiency in the academic arena. Recent graduation rate reports of the 70 bowl-bound Division 1 football teams and tournament-bound Division 1 basketball teams show Black male college student athletes with 20% and 32% lower graduation rates, respectively, than their White counterparts (Lapchick, 2010, 2011). Many policies have been employed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to increase graduation rates and academic standards for student athletes (Sailes & Harrison, 2007). Heightened institutional admission requirements and escalating National Collegiate Athletic Association eligibility requirements (i.e., grade point averages [GPA] and initiation of an Academic Progress Rate) appear to have only modestly improved graduation rates for these student athletes. However, these increased efforts to improve student athletes’ academic outcomes have done little to facilitate Black male student athletes’ overall academic potential.

Conversely, there are Black male student athletes who experience elevated degrees of academic as well as athletic success. Comeaux (2007) argues that a core challenge in fostering the academic development of student athletes is to identify and learn from academically successful athlete exemplars. An analysis of these student athlete exemplars can be indispensable in channeling all student athletes toward academic achievements. The aims by educational stakeholders to foster academic development should be to enable and circulate academic success to the majority rather than a limited minority of Black student athletes.

Participation in professional revenue-generating sports will likely remain an aspiration for many collegiate sport participants. However, educational gains plausibly serve as a more dependable vehicle for a lifetime of career and financial opportunities. The question is, How do we as prime educational stakeholders and those within scholarly communities improve the educational development of Black male student athletes? How do we intervene to prevent the academic falls from grace that severely limit their opportunities after collegiate and professional sport careers? The present study aims to advance understandings of the unique experiences of Black male collegiate student athletes in high-profile sport by examining a case of both academically and athletically successful Black male student athletes at PWIs of higher education. The focus of this research investigates the role in which race unfolds in the experiences and identity of Black male student athletes in this collegiate setting.

The Black male collegiate student athlete population is emphasized in the present study based on recent research and literature underscoring widespread issues concerning the academic underperformance of Black male student athletes. Lapchick (2010) reports that the graduation success rate for Black male college football athletes slightly increased by 2% up to 60% in the past year. Among the 2010-2011 bowl-bound programs, the number of institutions that graduated 66% or higher of White football players were almost three times greater than the number of schools that graduated an equal percentage of Black football players (Lapchick, 2010). The recent college student athlete graduation reports show some progress of academic performance; however, a deeper analysis underscores the unacceptable underperformances of some Black student athletes in high-profile sports. Moreover, the sizable differences in academic performance outcomes between Black and White student athletes signal that issues related to culture, identity, and social relationships may be pertinent to the academic achievement of student athletes.

Extant research reveals Black male student athletes often cite personal histories and perceived obstacles as barriers to successful academic outcomes (Adler & Adler, 1991; Beamon & Bell, 2006; Benson, 2000). Gaston-Gayles (2004) postulates that the poor academic performances of many Black student athletes are reflective of poor motivation. Prior research suggests poor academic performances of Black male student athletes may result from a lack of autonomy in planning their academic coursework and experiencing a laden friction with professors (Benson, 2000). Comeaux and Harrison (2007) echo these findings contending Black male student athletes experience less personal interaction with their professors than their White peers resulting in fewer meaningful opportunities for educational development.

Black student athletes often encounter negative stereotypical beliefs from peers, faculty, and others that can be detrimental to their academic performance outcomes (Harrison, 2001; Melendez, 2008). Negative and inaccurate stereotypes may have profound detrimental effects on stereotype targets (Steel, 1997; Steele & Aronson, 1995). In a study examining the stereotype threat of student athletes, Yopyk and Prentice (2005) found that academic performances of student athletes was lowered when athletic identity was primed.

The “dumb jock” stereotype has an obvious association to student athletes, yet has a particular resonation when referring to Black student athletes (Adler & Adler, 1985; Edwards, 1984; Harrison, 2001). Black student athletes must also fend against the coupling of Black racial and dumb jock stereotypes (Edwards, 1984; Harrison, 2008). Imprudent stereotype beliefs can lead to an internalization of these beliefs narrowing self-concepts and behavior choices (Benson, 2000). A stereotype of Black male student athletes’ focal interests, commonly harbored by academic stakeholders and nonathlete peers, are that they only choose to attend college to further their athletic pursuits remaining indifferent to their educational development (Engstrom, Sedlacek, & McEwen, 1997; Sailes, 1998). These stereotypical beliefs of Black male student athletes may lead these athletes to self-stereotype themselves as a dumb jock and thus develop a perilously heightened sense of athletic identity (Harrison, Sailes, Rotich, & Bimper, 2011). As a result, many Black student athletes are essentially channeled toward limited sport opportunities while socialized to develop an ignorance of other opportunities beyond the athlete role (see Edwards, 1984, 2000; Harrison, 2001; Harrison & Moore, 2007; Hodge et al., 2008; Sailes, 1996).

Singer (2008) reports that Black male student athletes feel more pressure to develop an athletic identity than an academic identity. The pressures to develop a prominent athletic identity are instituted through both covert and overt means. For example, imposed time demands and constraints within sport culture can persuade one to focus on their athletic role more than other roles such as a student (Benson, 2000; Singer, 2008). Existing literature contend Black students frequently feel socially alienated or isolated within their college academic environments (Hurtado, 1992; Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000). These feelings can be exacerbated in Black male student athletes, due to the social boundaries and constraints in high-profile college sport, thus inclining one to potentially disengage from academic and social contexts (Melendez, 2008).

Drawing from the insight of existing literature, the scope of the present study is to further examine the experiences and perceptions of successful Black male student athletes at PWIs in an effort to identify and describe attributes and markers for success. Although there are various means of identifying success, these Black student athletes are described as successful based on their academic standing and the assessment of their academic performance and progress.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT) grounded the present study. The scholarship of CRT was initially developed and used within legal studies (Delgado, 1990; Matsuda, 1995), but has been extended for the use in other pertinent disciplines such as education (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Tate, 1997) and sport research (Agyemang & DeLorme, 2010; Donner, 2005). A broader understanding of phenomena such as experiences and perspectives of Black people in our society has emanated from using the tenets in CRT scholarship. The primary tenets of CRT within the present study are (a) race and racism are ubiquitous, deeply rooted culturally and even psychologically within American society; (b) socially accepted ideologies of race-neutrality and color-blindness should be challenged because they mask and can further social inequity; and (c) the experiential knowledge and the use of voice to present one’s story and counterstory is highly valued as a means to inform scholarship related to racial and ethnic minorities (Tate, 1997).

Purposes and Design

The purposes guiding the present study are (a) to gain a greater understanding of how Black male student athletes, deemed academically and athletically successful, manage and construct their academic experiences to inform sport researchers and practitioners working with this population in academic contexts; (b) to examine Black male student athletes’ human agency in contesting prevailing stereotypical beliefs; (c) to explore perceptions of identity in the case of Black male student athletes; and (d) to examine factors perceived to have fostered academic success. In an effort to fulfill the purposes set forth, the present study employed a case study design (Berg, 2001). A qualitative case study design provides a framework to erect a wealth of informative depictions and analyses (Merriam, 2002). Therefore, the case must be a unit of analysis that is an identified system bounded by its uniqueness (Merriam, 2002; Stake, 2005), such as the experiences and perceptions of academically and athletically successful Black male student athletes at PWIs.

Stake (2000) postulates an instrumental case study can play a key role in the ability to inform the researcher of a large-scale issue or problem. The appropriated case of the experiences and perceptions of academically and athletically successful Black male student athletes in the present study served to facilitate a broader perspective of the plight of some Black male students athletes. By gaining insight into the experiences and perceptions of academically and athletically successful Black male student athletes, a scholarly and practical perspective may be gained of the restrictiveness in educational opportunities (see Tate, 1997) that maintain academic disparities among student athletes of color. Thus, the aim of the present case study was to systematically investigate and analyze these Black male student athletes’ sport and academic experiences and perceptions with regard to race in the sport domain.

Method

Lead Researcher Stance of Experience and Understanding

It is important to situate the lead researcher’s (LR) positionality since the researcher is the primary instrument of data collection and analysis (Merriam, 2002; Morrow, 2005). Thus, the LR is a Black male and a former athlete who has participated at multiple levels of competition in a high-profile sport. In addition, he has worked with a diverse group of student athletes for a number of years. The LR employed a critical paradigm to philosophically underpin the present study of the relationship between race and sport. Steps to ensure the quality of the present study were made by acknowledging and accounting for the paradigmatic underpinnings of the LR and establishing a measure of trustworthiness (Morrow, 2005). To achieve and maintain the rigor of trustworthiness, the LR kept transparent memos and notes throughout data collection and analysis, member checked data transcriptions, and collaborated in a peer review process to check biases and discern the accuracy of findings.

Participants

The participants consisted of seven Black male student athletes age 19 to 21 years (M = 20.29). All the participants were current members of their sport teams and attended the same southwestern PWI on a full athletic scholarship. Six of the student athletes participated in football and one student athlete played basketball. All participants self-identified as Black. The participants ranged in academic classifications from sophomore (n = 1), junior (n = 3), senior (n = 2), and graduate student (n = 1). The graduate student finished his undergraduate degree in 3 years and had begun working toward a master’s degree at the time of this study.

The seven participants represented a heterogeneous group in several ways. Participants varied in academic majors including business-marketing, corporate communications, youth and community studies, physical culture and sport, liberal arts, and health promotion. The student athletes self-reported their socioeconomic status before entering college, based on their own perceptions of social standing. Only one participant came from a married two-parent home. However, this student athlete reported that he came from poor conditions because only his mother worked and provided an income while his father was disabled. Two other participants lived in a single guardian household, with a grandmother and the other with his mother. The graduate student athlete was raised by his mother and reported a middle-class background. The other participant reported that he and his grandmother lived in a poor neighborhood. Three participants were raised in single guardian households, but reported a relatively open relationship with both their mothers and fathers. Another participant was raised by his father in both poor and middle-classed neighborhoods throughout his life after his mother died at an early age. He stated that he attended private schools at a young age and a public school in both middle school and high school. All the other participants stated that they attended public schools before attending college. Participants’ personal histories offer a comprehensive, contextual backdrop to their experiences and self-perceptions.

Recruitment to Participate

After building a rapport with athletic staff, the researcher was permitted to recruit willing participants and conduct the institutional review board–approved study. Participants were selected to engage in the present study based on a strategy of purposeful sampling. The primary utility of purposeful sampling is to provide the most information-rich cases possible (Morrow, 2005; Patton, 1990). The employment of criterion sampling (Patton, 1990) provided a rigorous sampling strategy in selecting participants who could enhance the breadth of information to suffice the desired purpose of the present study (Patton, 1999, 2002). Delineating success is understandably quite relative. Therefore, the researcher established a threshold of criterion to include a range of potential participants. Participants were selected based on their willingness and capability to reflect on personal experiences and constructive strategies to overcome psychosocial challenges and discuss identity issues related to race and being a collegiate student athlete. Participants were targeted at PWIs, because research indicates student athlete educational development often falters to the pressures of athletic contexts in these settings (Adler & Adler, 1985; Harrison et al., 2011; Sailes & Harrison, 2007).

The potential student athlete participants considered to be athletically successful were identified based on being ranked first or second on the current depth charts at the time of recruitment. The criterion of depth chart ranking allowed the researcher to draw from participants who had made significant contributions to the team in the course of competition during the prior season. This depth chart criterion allowed for potential participants who played but were not formally recognized with end of season awards in addition to those who received recognition such as all-conference or all-American awards. Additionally, the potential academically successful student athlete participants were identified based on their having a current GPA of at least a 3.0, having received an academic honor such as academic all-conference or all-American, or having been on the athletic director’s honor roll that recognized student athletes for having a 3.0 for two consecutive semesters.

A total of 15 Black student athletes were recruited as potential participants based on the criteria set forth to participate in the study. After being approached to participate, 9 student athletes agreed to and scheduled to participate in interviews. However, because of scheduling conflicts with two potential participants, only 7 student athletes participated in the study.

Sources of Data

The primary source of data in the present study was interview data. Each participant participated in an individual interview and one focus group interview. Both interview formats were audio taped. Individual interviews were conducted prior to the focus group interview in order to identify common discussion points and help guide an informative focus group interview. Focus group and individual interviews were organized in a semistructured interviewing format with questioning focused on participant experiences and perceptions about being a student athlete at a PWI. Initial interview questions were the following: (a) “Will you describe your experience as a student athlete at your university?” (b) “How have your experiences as a student athlete influenced your perception of self?” (c) “What do you think contributes to your success as a student athlete?” The same initial questions were posed in the focus group for participants to expound their initial responses and develop a rich discussion between participants based on the shared comments. The focus group discussion served the research process by (a) ascertaining concepts and themes of phenomena for greater understanding, (b) adding contextual experience to the understanding of the phenomena, (c) providing a constructive interpretation of the phenomena through the narratives of in-group participants, and (d) allowing an opportunity to observe the collective interaction of participants (Solórzano et al., 2000).

The focus group was facilitated in a manner that all participants were given an equal opportunity to respond to each question of the researcher and comment on the responses of other participants. The participants were quite forthcoming in the focus group; however, no person or persons appeared to dominate the rich group discussion. In nearly all instances, each participant offered a quality contribution to the group discussion. A semistructured format allowed for a fairly guided, but unhampered, investigative, and conversational dialogue between participants and researcher (Glesne, 2006; Holstein & Gubrium, 1995). Finally, field notes taken during informal interactions, research memos, and observations during subsequent interactions were used to inform the researcher and build on understandings of interview data.

Data Analyses

Prior to data analysis, the LR systematically transcribed all audio-taped interviews verbatim. Immediately following transcribing data, the transcriptions were member checked by participants for their data interpretation and modifications if warranted (Merriam, 2002). Furthermore, the approved data transcriptions were entered into qualitative software, ATLAS.ti 6, as a means to identify and organize potential thematic concepts for interpretation. This software located and sorted transcribed text reoccurring throughout data creating 12 coded concepts. These concepts included, but were not limited to, stereotypes, race perceptions, mentorship, consciousness, and participant goals. The approved member checked transcriptions were also analyzed using a constant comparative method (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Transcriptions were read through multiple times by peer review group members and the LR to distinguish coded concepts, corroborate plausibility of findings, and establish interrater continuity between themes.

The three peer reviewers, all residing at the same university, have expertise in issues related to culture, race, and sport and are adept in qualitative research literature, design, and analysis. One reviewer is a tenured, veteran faculty member who has conducted research and published numerous articles focused on issues of race and culture in the context of sport and physical activity in addition to lecturing on minorities in sport and physical education. The other two reviewers were advanced doctoral students studying and conducting research surrounding issues of race, culture, and sociocultural knowledge related to sport and physical education. The peer review also served to control for researcher biases and provide constructive feedback and discussions about analysis and interpretations. The LR conducted the initial coding through inductive analysis based on the common emergent ideas, concepts, and beliefs that cut across multiple data sources. Peer reviewers and LR collaborated in discussions to critically develop a consensus in coding. Interrater continuity between themes was greater than 90% (i.e., 92%); however, the LR made final decisions on analysis in the case of any incidence of differences.

The coded concepts were organized within a framework of three larger themes that were outlined using a lens of CRT. This framework of themes included how race was inscribed in the participant perceptions and experiences, challenges to race-neutrality and color-blind ideology, and counternarratives for social justice and equity. The initial themes were supported by the relevant data and coded concepts. The labels of themes were developed to illustrate the content of data supporting the themes. Trustworthiness (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Morrow, 2005) of the present case study was established by a triangulation of multiple data sources, member checking, and the thorough and collaborative peer review process (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Stake, 2000).

Results

The present study was a case study that examined the experience and perceptions of seven Black male student athletes at a PWI. The aforementioned tenets of the theoretical frame and analytical lens of CRT guided the date collection and analysis, which fostered three emergent themes. The emergent themes are further discussed and organized as follows: Complex Identities, Community, and Liberation.

Complex Identities

The conceptualization of the Black student athletes’ identities manifested as a quite salient topic of discussion throughout all interviews. The theme Complex Identities describes how the participants constantly negotiate the significance of identities and attempt to understand the intricacies of what being an athlete and being Black means to them in relation to the broader contexts of college sport culture. All the Black student athletes recognized that their role as athletes undeniably played a significant part in their lives. However, all the participants provided a counternarrative to the unidimensional perception of being identified solely as an athlete. One participant expressed a summation of this belief as follows:

You know, it’s [being an athlete] very important now, but I don’t think that it’s the most important thing about me. It is definitely not the biggest part of my life, but it’s close, you know. If I don’t see myself as an athlete or have my mind in the game like it needs to be to compete against everyone else, then I am not giving myself a fair chance to be competitive and be better than the next man. But let me tell you, I am more than just a guy with a number on my chest and back. I have to be more than that or this joint will eat you up.

Brewer et al. (1993) characterize athletic identity as the degree to which one identifies with the athlete role. Indeed, the Black male student athlete participants acknowledged that to not identify with being an athlete is near impossible if

from the day we get on campus everyone knows or presumes we play ball. No one says oh he must be here for business school. No, they say “that black dude plays a sport.” I know most folk think we are just here to play ball because all they see is us [Black athletes on campus] in the same school colored clothes that we get from the equipment staff. Everybody sees you as an athlete. It’s like I got “athlete” tattooed to my forehead.

Despite expressing elevated athletic identities due to extensive time commitments to their sport and how others identified them as athletes, an alternative identity often permeated the discussions throughout the interviews. In both the individual and group interviews, the participants either prefaced or referenced their identification with being Black. One athlete articulated his negotiation with defining his Blackness as follows:

Folk see me around campus and obviously see that I am Black. Then their next thought is that he must be an athlete. . . . You see I had to learn how to be comfortable and confident in who I am as a Black man or even just as a Black person and, you know . . . or it’s going to be them folk that define me instead of me telling me who I am. If I fall trap to what they think being Black is then I will probably just fit the stereotypes that they have of us [Black athletes and Black people].

Following this comment made during the focus group interview, all the participants expressed perceptions and experiences about their Black identities. Many of the Black student athletes stated how negative stereotypes about being an athlete and being Black were not divorced from one another. Their comments suggested that oversimplified, negative, and often absurd racial beliefs by others were often interrelated with their abilities, identity, and others’ expectations of them as athletes.

Even I thought of myself really being here to play ball mostly . . . while we are here it’s hard to tell us we are supposed to be or can be something other than the basketball star on campus. You got to understand that being Black carries some weight. I think you don’t really have to think about being Black because everybody only cares that you’re an athlete. So you feed your athlete mentality . . . but your real identity as a Black dude can starve.

Significant in the prior comment is that the participant signals that his racial identity is more “real” than an athletic identity. Moreover, inherent in the comment that his racial identity “can starve” suggesting that a healthy racial identity must, at the least, be equally nurtured as an athletic identity often is within sport culture. Another participant commented as follows:

I feel like all I hear from folks is how to be an athlete because you are Black. Most people don’t expect anything else from you. So you try to become the athlete everyone wants you to be and you probably want to be yourself. But in the process you learn how to be the Black person everyone, not Black, wants you to be and you can lose sight of how to become your own Black man.

The participants communicated that an athletic identity and racial identity are two salient identities that Black student athletes negotiate during their student athlete experience. A participant stated during his individual interview,

It’s happening and some or . . . most of us don’t realize it till it’s too late, ya feel me. . . . I been feeling this athlete piece this whole time, but oh yeah, I’m Black too. It’s not like they didn’t know, but the perks and lifestyle can make you disconnected.

The Black student athletes also stated that the negative racial stereotypes created about Black people seemed to result from past and existing racists beliefs that many people continue to ascribe too.

Community

The Black male student athletes articulated that having a wherewithal to engage a supportive community significantly contributed to their success in the classroom and as athletes. Their desire to consistently seek out and engage a supportive network with others fostering their own development is broadly described as Community. Hodge et al. (2008) argue that the plight of collegiate Black student athletes is that too often the Black high school athlete is recruited to and enters PWIs to play in high-revenue-generating college sports, yet is deficient in the necessary tools to compete academically in the classroom. A key component to compete academically is the cultural capital necessary to forge symbiotic relationships with others that can foster the educational development of these young men. In consideration of his other teammates who appear to struggle academically, one participant commented on what was referred to as a “broken system” by other participants, stating,

I don’t know how some of my teammates do it . . . shit, be real, they don’t . . . they got all the talent in the world with cleats on, but trying to write papers and do this class thing is like running the forty [40-yard sprint] without one leg. Don’t it seem impossible to run with one leg? They tell us it’s going to be like a family, but when you get here you are just on your own to do well in school.

This participant elaborated on what he meant by “running with one leg,” explaining that he felt many of his teammates are trying to do well academically by themselves, without the assistance of a supportive community. He stated that many of his teammates have the capacity to do well academically but neglect to or struggle with using available support systems and other resources.

These Black student athlete participants gave a lot of praise to their athletic department for creating a “readily accessible” academic center for their use as student athletes. The support center features photos of former athletes to serve as a source of academic inspiration. While speaking with a counselor about the reason behind having pictures of former athletes hanging in the center, the counselor stated, “They’re meant to inspire the guys to get their degrees. We want them to know that it is important to get that paper [degree] before they leave this place.” In the focus group, one participant briefly stated, “I expect to graduate like so many other guys have done here. I want to wear my gown like those guys on the wall.” However, the other participants made light of these same pictures saying,

They got all these pictures of past players that graduated, but I never heard anyone talk about them except for Jamison [pseudonym]. . . . They only talk about the ones that are in the league now!

Another player contended,

You know them pictures don’t mean nothing to most of us. If they mean anything it’s the “I got out of here so can you too wall.” Good luck with that 1.5 [grade point average]!

It was interesting to find that all, but one, were linked with a tutor to assist with their studies outside of the athletic academic support center. However, the following comments show how they acknowledge that they believe a need to find a network of resources that will fulfill their academic and personal needs is vital toward their achievements.

There is a lot of people around here that you need to network with and a lot of people don’t necessarily understand that . . . so what I did my years that I’ve been here was I did a lot of networking with the Black professors on campus. You know, getting to know people that can teach me something and help me understand what I need to know and what’s good for me! But I feel that a lot of Black athletes don’t allow themselves to venture out and work with folks . . . and don’t find the time to or likely just aren’t taught the need and skills to communicate with others.

One of the participants explained that an important aspect associated with finding a network was that you were not confined into doing it “their way.” When asked what was meant by “their way,” it was explained that the primary goal and responsibility that the counselors had for all student athletes was to make sure they were at least eligible to play and on course to graduate. All the participants stated that their resources did include other nonathlete students, professors, other groups of people on campus who could help in a way that was not as accessible in their student athlete academic center. During the individual interviews, most participants stated that a key role of a network of resources helps “give you purpose outside of being an athlete” and “keep you on track so that it will make you better.” One athlete acknowledged that he believed creating and getting engaged with a network of resources was vital for “preparing me for when I leave this place [college].”

Most of the participants articulated that a great deal of their academic success was attributed to their sense of self-determination and access to a supportive community that grounded them and purposefully challenged them to achieve as students. One student athlete stated that he “had to learn the lay of the land” before he was to become a good student. Despite acknowledging the perils of a system, two participants described a common perception of a division between a large number of White and Black athletes’ reasoning to attend college and the consequences of their beliefs:

The White athlete comes to school to get a great education and hopefully be a good football player. The Black athletes . . . are taught to come to be a great football player and go to class because that’s what keeps you eligible. In the meantime, if you learn something then great. If not, it’s your fault. . . . There seems to be no expectation or reason to learn for most of us [Black athletes]. That’s what makes it important to find them folk that care and nurture you, ya dig.

An interesting finding throughout the present study was that each of the participants referred to one another as being a part of their network of resources. Several of the participants acknowledged that once they had arrived on campus they were “taken in” and mentored by one or more of the other participants to help nurture a quality educational experience.

I try to tell the young ones that come in about these books because they come to play for this school with their noses wide open . . . oblivious to the school taking so much more than the guys think they can take from them. Soon the guys I talk to see it like, “hey, well they are taking a lot from me and I better start taking from them so that we as players benefit from this ultimately.”

Another stated,

My host was Malcolm [pseudonym of another participant]. He and Reggie [pseudonym of another participant] would pull me along since day one. They was always letting me know, even when I showed up on campus, that the academic piece is not as easy as they make it look. You have to go get what you want and demand the education they promised you on your visit. So they were a big part of my time here because my mom let them [coaches] know that football was to come second to academics. They would tell me about the classes that they [athletic academic counselors] will try to give you don’t help really. So they would constantly tell me to tell them about the education I want.

When asking about each of the participants’ success as both a student and an athlete, all the participants repeatedly purported that having a partial dependence on others they felt had an interest in their development was critical. As a part of their experiences, they deemed it “valuable” to be able to work with others who shared an interest in being good students and becoming both dedicated and better athletes. “It’s important because we are Black men too. There ain’t too many of us doing well, so I think we gotta stay together if we gonna make it.” The participants seemed to be reflecting on larger systems and problematic issues that face Black men rather than any notion that Black men were somehow the root of any societal ills.

Liberation

Far too frequently many Black male student athletes come to a realization in the latter of their tenure as student athletes their best interest as Black student athletes is not aligned with the athletic and academic institutions’ interests.

They have already dug themselves into a hole just trying to stay eligible because that’s what they tell us. Coaches tell you when you’re recruited that if you do your job and remain eligible we will do our best to see you get the chance to play at the next level. I guess that’s true, but something is missing ya know. Guys begin to realize that they aren’t going to the next level . . . don’t have a shot at catching water in the ocean with a 1.5 GPA and don’t have any opportunity but to go back home with nothing but hopefully a piece a paper saying I graduated college and a smile. I feel like I see and hear it too often that they have nothing, but the school has three new recruiting classes, new facilities, more seats in the stadium, more fans, and all that bowl money.

Through an analytical lens of interest-convergence principle spawning from CRT, Donner (2005) explains how the educational opportunities and development of Black student athletes is subservient to the interest of athletic stakeholders and athletic departments of higher institutions of learning. Black student athletes and their developmental needs are more than just a product to be showcased on the field, court, and as trophies on the glass shelves of athletic department galleries. Black student athletes should be considered more than mere commodities of athletic prowess. Their commodification signals the presence of modern racist attitudes and policies masked within dominant sport culture. Their developmental needs deserve better than to be casualties of war scarified in the flexing athletic arms race of intercollegiate sport.

The emerging theme of Liberation throughout the present study describes the notion of becoming self-empowered through education. The common sentiment between the group of participants was that if they could do well academically, more so than athletically, they might change other’s beliefs, thus giving themselves the ability to overcome other’s stereotypic perceptions.

You know, I love football and I want to make it to the NFL, but I don’t want to be average at any time and that includes the classroom . . . as Black athletes and Black people we can’t afford average right now. . . . I think it differentiates me and helps people see past the “he’s an athlete or he’s a Black athlete or he’s you know whatever.” I want to transcend past that.

The participants viewed their education as an agency of resistance to “that thing that holds us [Black athletes] down.” This resistance via educational performance was expressed as potentially gaining them access to opportunities not afforded to other low academically performing Black student athletes. Another participant stated, “People are more willing to let you be the one to represent when they see you are an educated athlete, damn just an educated brotha.” Education was often articulated to not be a priority for most Black student athletes, yet the participants found their education as a vehicle toward creating a healthier perception of self as a Black man.

It [education] is very important to me. . . . I have a responsibility because of my position not to save every Black kid but at least represent a strong Black man that doesn’t lose his mind and his soul because some White folks let me play a game and gave me access to a better life through college, you know.

Most participants felt that their academic achievement was a way to negate a prevailing stereotype that Black people are intellectually inferior to other people. Many of the Black student athletes commented about their academic success as being a way to motivate others and “change the perception of what Black people can do in the minds of Black athletes.” One participant said, “The fact that I am a good student will do more for my people than the fact that I can score touchdowns and get a first down.” Remembering an experience that he felt was a setback for Black people, one participant said,

I remember my first year when I took a class with a basketball player and when asked by the teacher, he explained real loud to the class that he has never had a favorite book that he had read and he didn’t have a major [said sarcastically]. He was a senior and he said his major was in eligibility. You know, that caught me off guard. That doesn’t really help us in the public eye.

Discussion

The present study aimed to explore the experience and perceptions of seven Black students athletes as they manage their dual roles as students and athletes. Using key tenets of the CRT, emergent thematic findings—complex identities, community, and liberation—provide critical insight into how sport culture and the perception of race have shaped their perceptions of self and their experiences. The case of Black male student athletes appeared to recognize that race plays a key role and has significant meaning in their experiences. Their experiences at this particular institution and evaluation of others’ social perceptions had a significant impact on their identity development with regard to meanings about their Blackness, role as an athlete, system of beliefs about education, and the way in which advantageous learning environments may be constructed to better serve their needs as Black student athletes.

A combination of the themes offers some revelations about a more optimal learning experience for Black student athletes. The participants valued their education because it was viewed as a tool for liberation. Furthermore, the participants consciously and unconsciously found refuge in a community of Black student athletes and others that were perceived to positively contribute to their success academically and athletically. These relationships appeared to foster a more holistic approach in developing their academic adeptness, understanding their identities, and expanding social skills and perceived capital needed not only as an athlete but also as a Black person in American society. This observation suggests the athletic, academic support staff should adopt a culturally relevant pedagogical framework, (e.g., Murrell, 2002) to foster a more culturally sensitive environment and holistic education. Culturally relevant approaches, through consultation, advising, and instruction, may better serve the needs of Black student athletes by situating their education as purposeful and meaningful within relevant social and cultural contexts.

Ideological threads of race and racism in our society are intertwined within the social fabric of sport culture. This case study revealed that Black student athlete participants were quite cognizant of a reality that many people (i.e., White peers, faculty, athletic supporters) continued to harbor racial stereotypical beliefs regarding their athletic and academic capabilities. As in previous studies, participants articulated experiencing lowered expectations in academic contexts from faculty and student peers (Adler & Adler, 1991; Benson, 2000). Participants also believed others often assumed that because they were not only student athletes, but Black student athletes, that they valued athletics over and above education. Moreover, they perceived negative differential treatment compared with their White counterparts in sport and in the classroom. These experiences and perceptions suggest evidence that modern racism permeates their student athlete experiences.

Because of the apparent blinders imposed by elite-level sport participation, the majority of these Black student athletes found it apparently difficult to pinpoint the existence of the racism they encounter. Instead of naming perceived racial stereotypes as literal evidence of racism, they merely referred to them as “general stereotypes about Black people.” The participants’ perceptions closely mirrored dominant social discourses that commonly suggest acts of racism happen via intentionally malevolent acts toward individuals (Hall, 2001). However, this propagates a skewed and simplistic understanding of how contemporary racism can function. Modern racism can operate in covert manners whereby predominant values, beliefs, and self-serving policies of dominant power structures (i.e., Whites in society) are normalized and advantaged. Consequently, the roles of race and racism can operate in more covert mechanisms such as stereotypic beliefs that significantly affect perceptions and behaviors of Black male student athletes.

Participants argued that sport culture attempts to encourage and socialize them to identify as an athlete to a greater degree than any other pertinent role. The participants acknowledged that beyond the obvious disproportionate time spent in meetings, practice, training, and conditioning, they learn a great deal from the powerful hidden curriculum or implicit messages of sport norms that conflict with their educational and self-development. An athletic identity was considered to be salient, yet participants’ racial identities were perceived as more central and relevant in their defining of self. The complexity of the identities participants grappled with was evident as they mapped meanings of their Blackness, and roles as athletes and as students on to the meanings of masculinity in society. Many of the participants seemed fearful in their explanations that too high of an athletic identity could potentially distort, and in some fashion, recast what it means to be Black for them in an unhealthy manner. Both their athletic identity and their Black racial identity appear to be salient, highly complex identities that are at the core of how they define themselves.

Conclusion and Future Directions

An extensive amount of literature and research has yielded fruitful knowledge of the plight of academic underachievement for some Black male student athletes in the climate of high-profile college sport (e.g., Benson, 2000, Melendez, 2008; Sailes & Harrison, 2007). Scholars have argued it imperative to focus a critical eye on the stories of achievement by Black youth in their schooling experiences to distinguish factors that can foster successful achievement (Edwards & Polite, 1992). Athletically talented Black male student athletes are continually recruited in the self-interests of high-profile college sport programs, despite the educational deficiencies and low academic credentials of some (Edwards, 2000; Hodge et al., 2008). Therefore, it is imperative to reform perspectives and restructure pedagogical frames aimed at fostering improved academic success and self-perceptions for Black male student athletes. Harrison et al. (2011) contend it is necessary to nurture Black athletes’ explorations of salient identities that are directly linked to their self-concepts in order to ensure that a detrimental foreclosed identity, overshadowing other pertinent identities, does not result from their sport culture experiences. The experiential knowledge and counternarratives of these Black student athlete participants allows insight into the dilemmas and opportunities for improving the experiences of Black student athletes in high-profile athletic programs of PWIs.

The present case study is not without some (de)limitations. This qualitative case study was conducted with a small number of Black student athlete participants participating in an athletic department of a single university. Any generalizations based on the narratives of these few participants should be made with caution. The use of purposeful sampling was likely a significant contributor to the data garnered in the present study. This case study included only Black male participants. Thus, further investigations with Black female participants are warranted.

Several implications for future research stems from the present case study. By using tenets of CRT and pertinent strands evolved out of this theoretical framework (i.e., interest-convergence, transformational resistance), future qualitative research investigating the sociocultural systems and experiences related to Black male student athletes may yield both practical and empowering scholarship. Further research should aim to include theories of racial identity to further understand the developmental processes and associations with other germane identities of Black student athletes (e.g., gender, spirituality). Carter (1995) asserts that the use of racial identity theory is key to understanding one’s identification with their racial group and how they situate themselves within society. Two prominent theoretical models often used to understand Black racial identities have been Cross’s (1971, 1991) theory of Nigrescence and the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, & Chavous, 1998). Although the present study was not framed by either of these racial identity models, future research should seek to find ways to incorporate these models to further understand the nuances of and how Black male student athletes develop their racial identity within the context of sport culture. Such quantitative research may potentially build on and extend similar qualitative data, such as the data gathered in the present study, to provide more generalizable knowledge.

The implications of this case study also indicate that counselors, coaches, and educators of Black male student athletes should earnestly contemplate the significant role that race plays in their experiences, behavior, and perceptions. An improved educational and holistic development for Black student athletes is at stake. Therefore, understanding the relationship between athletic and racial identity development, fostering a supportive community, and creating a purposeful and meaningful educational environment are integral elements for enabling a climate of achievement for all Black male student athletes in high-profile college sport and academic settings.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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