Kenneth L Shropshire - Sport Matters: Leadership, Power, and the Quest for Respect in Sports

In Sport Matters, Kenneth L. Shropshire shines a light on recent sports controversies that show us how far we have to go to create a culture of respect and civility in sport. Fortunately, he also recommends steps toward making important changes, which we hope will lead to true progress. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to understand the critical leadership challenges in sports today.

Stephen M. Ross, Owner, Miami Dolphins

There has been significant social change over the years, but as Kenneth L. Shropshire argues in Sport Matters, the power and money are still not available to all, regardless of gender, race, and sexual orientation. Shropshire shows how we can make deeper progress toward leveling the playing field.

Billie Jean King, Former World #1 Tennis Champion and Activist

Kenneth L. Shropshires Sport Matters is nothing short of essential reading. In a diverse society, each individual should enjoy the respect and equal access to which they are entitled, regardless of their race or any other aspect of their background. As Shropshire notes, this is still not a reality within the world of sports. In Sport Matters, Shropshire points the way forward. This book should be read by all of those who are interested in, or even curious about, sports.

Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Harvard Law School Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and author of more than one dozen books

Sport Matters makes a seminal contribution to our understanding of the power structures, roles, and broader societal contexts and relevance of the American sports enterprise today. Professor Kenneth L. Shropshires firsthand knowledge and insights, born of years of experience working and consulting with sports leagues, teams, and individual sports figures, combined with the keen analytical and deconstruction skills of the practicing attorney, uniquely positions him to explore and explain critical connections and relationships between developments within and beyond the sports arena. A must read for all who are seriously interested inthe consequences of sport in America today.

Harry Edwards, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, and Consultant, National Football League and National

The concerns and solutions set forth in Sport Matters are invaluable for those focused on improving sport and its impact around the globe.

Mori Taheripour, Former Senior Advisor, Sport for Development, US Agency for International Development (USAID)

In Sport Matters, Kenneth L. Shropshire examines several troubling controversies in sports that stem from a persistent lack of diversity, inclusion, respect, and equality. But Shropshire offers ways to address these challenges and attests to sports ability to combat racial, gender, and social inequities in sports and throughout society. It is a must read for anyone who wishes to see sports as a means for social change.

Richard E. Lapchick, Chair, DeVos Sport Business Management Program, University of Central Florida, and Director, Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport

Sport Matters confirms that Ken Shropshire is the nations most thoughtful and incisive voice on issues of sport and society. In the book, Shropshire examines a number of challenges and societal ills with which the sports world is currently grapplingfrom racial disparagement to domestic violence to homophobia to questions of exploitation in collegiate athleticsand puts them in solid historical context while challenging us to consider how the future could and should look. It is a brilliant exploration and a must read for anyone who questions what sport means to our society.

N. Jeremi Duru, Law Professor, American University, and Author, Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL

Kenneth L. Shropshires Sport Matters reminds us that diversity and inclusion strengthen and enrich us all. The book is highly recommended for those who wish to understand the need for respect in the world of sports and beyond.

Patrick T. Harker, President, University of Delaware

Leadership, Power, and the Quest for Respect in Sports

KENNETH L. SHROPSHIRE

2014 by Kenneth L. Shropshire

Published by Wharton School Press

The Wharton School

University of Pennsylvania

3620 Locust Walk

2000 Steinberg HallDietrich Hall

Philadelphia, PA 19104

Email: whartonschoolpress@wharton.upenn.edu

Website: wsp.wharton.upenn.edu

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without written permission of the publisher. Company and product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61363-050-1

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-61363-051-8

Please contact Wharton School Press for special discounts on bulk purchases of ebooks and paperbacks:

Chapter 1: An Imbalance of Power:
What the Donald Sterling Drama Can Teach Us about Diversity and Inclusion

Chapter 2: Leadership and Inclusion:
The NFL and the Ray Rice Affair

Chapter 3: Tone Deafness to Racism:
The Washington Redskins and the Need for Respect and Equality

Chapter 4: Beyond Bullying:
What the Miami Dolphins Matter Tells Us about Respect in the Workplace and Beyond

Chapter 5: Respecting the Athlete:
Compensation, Equality, and Complex Dynamics in Amateur Sports

Conclusion: Where Do We Go From Here?
The Leadership Challenge

Of the Meaning of Progress

Although there is no progress without change, not all change is progress.

John Wooden, Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

I n 1908, my great-aunt Bess Bolden Walcott was hired by Booker T. Washington to organize his library at what was then called the Tuskegee Industrial and Normal Institute. Nearly 80 years later, on the occasion of her 100th birthday, I joined my extended family in gathering at Aunt Besss home in Tuskegee, Alabama, to celebrate. We all maneuvered around the room in hopes of getting a word of wisdom from our matriarch before we took communion. I had just been a professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania for a few months by then, and I may have projected that I was a tad full of myself.

Aunt Bess was having none of it. This was a woman, after all, who had traveled the worldand a woman who in my youth had sent me invaluable information for my school papers, including what I considered to be my fourth-grade masterpiece on George Washington Carver, the African American scientist (and another senior colleague of hers) who did the unimaginable with the peanut. I was next in line.

So you, she said, are the writer. At some point as a little kid I had made that pronouncement, having moved on from my previous ambitions to have a career as a fireman or veterinarian. It was a small remark but a pointed one; Aunt Bess was both reminding and anointing. There was a room full of family waiting for their turn, but as I looked at that long gray hair and that miraculously intricately wrinkled faceone in which I could see both my mother and grandmothershe opened her eyes a bit wider and offered some simple yet powerful advice. Dont be a bump on a log. And then Aunt Bess was done. She looked away and motioned on to the next family member.