by Jerry Feitelberg

The NBA and its commissioner Adam Silver moved very swiftly to end Los Angeles Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling his ownership of the club. The NBA banned him for life and he cannot attend any games or be around the Clippers’ offices or practice facilities and cannot attend any Board of Governors meetings. In short, he is through and the NBA imposed a 2.5 million dollar fine.

What Sterling said was totally inappropriate and we live in the 21st century. Black athletes have come a long way since 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the color line for baseball and , in effect, all sports. Many of us remember the days when black athletes had to play in segregated leagues. Satchell Paige, Willie Mays. Hank Aaron all played in the Negro Leagues. The only job that black basketball players could get was to play with the Harlem Globetrotters. Black athletes have shown the world that they can compete and win at the highest level of any sport.

In the mid 50’s the Boston Celtics started to bring in black players. Bill Russell was the most notable but he was followed by Sam Jones and K.C. Jones. NYU’s Tom Sanders became an important piece of the great run of championships that the Celtics enjoyed in the 50’s and 60’s. I believe the Celtics were the first team to utilize five black players on the court at the same time. The University of Texas at El Paso won an NCAA championship with all black players.

Other great black players include Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy and the list goes on and on.

Most owners want to get the best players because winning is what counts in pro sports. Winning improves attendance. When you sell your product to the people there is no room for racism. People of all ethnic backgrounds are entitled to buy a ticket and watch the product on the court. When your team goes on a run, fans generally high five the people sitting round them without regard to race or ethnic background.

There is no room in sports for an owner like Donald Sterling. He will, unfortunately,

profit handsomely when his team is sold. Sterling can run his real estate business

until he dies but the NBA and all other pro sports teams do not need him or anyone else that thinks like him.

Jerry Feitelberg is a talk show host on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

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Jerry Feitelberg
jyf1938@gmail.com