Page Four LION'S EYE November, 1968 Olympic Officials Missed the Point of Black Athletes’ Gloved Protest By Tim Rumsey As the band played the Star Spangled Banner, two black- gloved fists were raised to the sky. The fists were those of black American Olympic sprinters Tom- mie Smith and John Carlos and the scene was the victory stand at the XIX Olympiard. It touched off an Olympic controversy un- paralleled in the Games’ history. Smith and Carlos, who had just won gold and bronze medals re- spectively (200 meter dash), stood on the podium with their eyes glued to the ground, refusing to look at the American flag. Their action, a symbol of racial protest, stunned the Olympic Vil- lage and its followers. There were immediate reper- cussions from the International Olympic Committee, headed by 81- year-old President Avery Brun- dage. Brundage demanded that Smith and Carlos be expelled from the Olympics and Mexico City. He said that “the Olympics were no place for politics” and that the actions of the black runners were a “disgrace to the Games, whose purpose was International Good- will.” : Brundage’s rash statements beg rebuttal. He has unsympatheti- cally reduced the problem of Black Freedom in America to one simple word—politics. Certainly the Black American’s struggle for human dignity goes far beyond Brundage’s blanket Secondly, Brundage was distressed because the black protest de- stroyed the virgin image of Olympic sports and his “Inter- national Goodwill.” Brundage would have been content had the athletes remained passive and ex- “politics.” | hibited a pharisaical attitude of unfelt pride. Mr. Brundage’s expulsion of the black runners typifies white America’s attitude toward Negro athletes. Perform for us and en- tertain us but keep your mouths shut—please. Whites will cheer for a black man’s touchdown or a black man’s hook to the jaw, but: they stop cheering when the “show” is over. John Carlos said that the white man looks on the black athlete as an animal. “We are sort of show horses out there for the white people. They give us peanuts, pat us on the back and say, ‘Boy, you did fine’.” Many newspapermen and radio and television broadcasters re- ferred to the black salute as a “Nazi-like salute” or a ‘“Seig Heil.” This analogy to the salute used in the 1930’s by Nazi Ger- many is ludicrous and unfair. Adolph Hitler's forces were ad- ministering a racial purge — the blacks are trying to overcome one. Smith and Carlos said that the salute was a ‘“message’” to black people everywhere. The closed fist symbolized black unity. The real storm arose over the athletes’ refusal to look at the flag. (It is ironic that the United States is the only participating nation that will not dip its flag as a sign of gratitude to the Olympic Host.) This is an indication of what the U. S. was really angry about. The Goodwill of the Games? NO. A corrosion of In- ternational Sportsmanship? NO. America was angry because her pride had been hurt. Ugly Ameri- can racism had been openly and internationally exposed. Douglas Ruby, president of the United States Olympic Committee, in an effort to exonerate the U. S., “apologized” to the world for the black militants’ conduct. He said that the Committee was sorry for “oranting athletes what might be considered excessive freedoms in the cause of human rights.” It was a beautifully articulated statement of American racism. There were some Americans who tried to dismiss the entire incident. This group consisted mainly of pseudo-liberals who chose to avoid this particularly sensitive issue. Newsweek maga- zine, always a “liberal” periodical, devoted a few paragraphs to the racial unrest, and then went on to say that ‘the greater business of the Olympics would, of course, proceed. And as it does, the ath- letes will obscure the petty prob- lems and make these chaotic Games memorable.” The Newsweek editors went out of their way to keep their noses clean. Surely dismissing this ra- cial protest as a ‘petty problem,” less important than diving or high jumping, is a journalistic farce that would be difficult to equal. Newsweek did an admirable job of not getting involved. Their “liberal” image remains intact. Carlos and Smith have been ex- pelled from the Olympics and are being threatened with expulsion from the AAUP and NCAA. They have been called destructive mili- tants, Nazis, and Communists. Actually they are only black men protesting racism in a supposedly racist-free country. Maybe some- day they will be able to stand on the victory podium and gaze at the American flag with an Ameri- can pride that has thus far been denied them. Cagers Schedule 12 Games for First Season on Court The Delaware County Campus will field an intercollegiate basket- ball team this winter. Mr. Robert Spickler, instructor of Physical Education, will coach the team in their 12-game schedule. The schedule includes four PSU Commonwealth Campuses (Ogontz, Schuylkill, York and Berks) in addition to Mt. Alto, Brandywine Junior College and the Chester Central YMCA all- stars. ; All practices and home games will be held at the Chester Cen- tral YMCA at 9th Street and Edgmont Avenue, Chester. The opening game is slated for Jan- unary 4 at the “Y” against the All Stars. ‘The 16-man squad shapes up like this: The forward posts will be up for grabs among ten candi- dates. They are John Stankiewicz (6°3’’), Steve Santell (6’°3”), Rob Patterson (6’3”), Paul Hilliard (6’2”), Norm Udovich (6°2’), Paul Stolfo (6’2”), Andy McQuade (6’1”), Mike Sweeney (6’1”), Barry Reddish (6°07), and John O’Brien (6°0”’). Reddish and O’Brien may be used at guard while Stankiewicz, Santell or Patterson can also play center. Right now, big Cliff Brown (6’5’") looks to be the No. one center. The guard slots will be filled by Don McCormack (5°11”), Chuck Hackett (5’8’), Gus Margetich (5’8”), Nick Cirilli (5’7”’) and Tim Rumsey (55). Mr. Spickler said it was too early to know what particular type of offense or defense he plans to use. Judging from the overall size of the team, he expects to employ a fast-moving, pressure- type style. He anticipates a rough time this season primarily because Dela- ware is such a young campus and has a limited enrollment. This naturally limits the, number of candidates to choose from. “Other campuses go out and recruit ballplayers,” Mr. Spickler said. “Some of the schools we play will have four or five men on scholarships.” The coach is looking forward to an interesting season despite the handicaps of a newly-organ- ized team. “We’ll work through our prob- lems,” Spickler said. “It’s just going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of hustle.” T.R. OPENINGS AVAILABLE ON LION’S EYE STAFF Sign Up in Room 105A LIONS TO PLAY KASH ELEVEN IN ORANCE BOW The Nittany Lion’s lop-sided victory over a hapless Pittsburgh Panthers team last Saturday, put Coach Joe Paterno’s squad in the position of needing just one more win for a perfect season. Firmly entrenched in third position in the national polls as of this writ ing, the Lions need only to over- power a tough Syracuse team on December 7 to make their Orange Bowl bid well-deserved indeed. Both the Syracuse game and the Orange Bowl, of course, will be televised nationally. The Syracuse game won't be a pushover, either. The Orange- men are undoubtedly fired-up over their surprise loss to West Vir- ginia last weekend and will be out for blood at Beaver Stadium. And, besides, the PSU-Syracuse game is hardly a snap for either team. The Orange Bowl game will be played at Miami, Florida, on New Year’s night. Penn State was ranked third in the country last week by both AP and UPI, behind Southern California and Ohio State. DOWNTOWNERS BEATEN BY OGONTZ, 20-12 On October 24, the campus’ intercampus team, the Down- towners, played Ogontz’s all-star team in flag football at the lat- ter’s field. They lost to Ogontz, 20-12. The Downtowners were chosen to represent the campus by their undefeated record in intramural play. Ogontz was heavily favored due to the size of its student body as compared to that of Delaware. The Downtowners’ highly-spir- ited eleven was composed of Lom- bardi, E. Moore, Pozzi, Froid, Magazzeni, Triolo, P. Moore, Ful- giniti, Bonaventure, Arena and D’Angelis and was coached by Mr. Spickler. The Ogontz team had four com- plete all-star teams chosen from a fifteen-team league. Even in losing, the Downtown- ers made a big impression on the Ogontz squad by their hustle and team spirit. Our intramural football league, which was initiated by Mr. Spick- ler, got off to a shaky start. Only three teams consistently showed up—the Downtowners, Black Pan- thers and the Losers. Despite the small turnout, there were many rough exciting games. In the Ogontz game, touch- downs were scored by Pozzi and Triolo. H. T. LION’S EYE IS LATE; POLICIES ESTABLISHED (Continued from page 1) that up to the students, trusting that they are mature adults cap- able of finding a suitable euphem- ism for every four-lettered word they feel like writing. Our publication schedule will depend primarily on finding enough money to print each issue. ‘We do thank wholeheartedly the SGA for getting us off the ground and we look forward to its con- tinued support despite the con- structive criticism we may hurl its way from time to time. The editorial page is a show- case for students who want to express their opinions, inform, educate, prod others into action or rebuttal. We welcome guest editorials in the form of columns or letters to the editor. The staff reserves the right to cut letters to fit space available. All letters must be submitted with the writer’s name attached; names will be withheld if requested. LINDER BLAMES ‘DEGREE MANIA’ FOR POOR GRADES (Continued from Page 2) sure of parents, are the main causes of cheating today. Being connected with the Divi- sion of Counseling, Dean Linder ‘eels that a student should stop looking to other people for a while and get to know themselves. Dean Linder believes that stu- lent affairs along with student yovernment affairs has grown and will continue to grow with the students. “What some students don’t realize is that these organizations need cooperation and interest of everyone,” he said. “When people need something done or have a complaint they should talk to their councilmen or to those who can go through the right channels to get it done.” The Delaware County Campus of Penn State has already three chartered organizations — S.G.A., the Keystone Society, and the Student Tribunal. Although be- 40 MEN THY OUT OR BASKETBALL, ENTHUSIASM HIGH By Vaughn Morrison More than forty prospective varsity basketball candidates signed up to try out for the cam- pus’ first intercollegiate team. Robert Spickler, sports infor- mation director and coach, was quite pleased with the turnout and optimistic about the upcoming season. He is concerned, however, about the absence of real height in the strong turnout, but believes that if he can get twelve men who are keenly interested in good, tough ball, the team can go far. “I’ve seen enough potential in some of the players in my gym classes to be confident that a solid team can be molded and a successful season secured,” he said. Schedule Advanced Actually, basketball was not supposed to be initiated at the campus until the 1969-70 scholastic year. But through the persistent efforts of Mr. Spickler, the sched- ule was moved up. “lI wanted to give the men a chance to play now,” Spickler said. “We are lucky to have bas- ketball at all this year. If it were not for the efforts of Mr. Vairo and Dean Linder, we couldn’t have received the grant which University Park allotted to us for this purpose. “Most people don’t realize how much even a small eleven-game schedule like ours costs. We need money to pay referees, time- keepers, scorekeepers, = statisti- cians, and to provide refresh- ments, transportation, insurance, uniforms and equipment. In addi- tion, we have to rent the YMCA gymnasium. Future Plans “We needed about $1,000 and that’s what we got.” Regarding next year’s program, Spickler said: “Besides participating in this inter-campus league, we should also have a Junior College league schedule. The whole program at this campus will get bigger and better and soon after the new campus is completed, we’ll have our own gym there. “Right now the only thing that concerns me is getting this team picked and getting the season off the ground. We're far behind. Some of the teams we must play have already started practicing and therefore have an advantage on us. We should begin practicing during Christmas vacation.” Spickler agrees that enthusiasm over basketball at this campus is quite good and should build as the season draws closer and closer. Desire and teamwork will have to be the backbone of our team, he said. The team itself is name- less (suggestions, anyone?). ing the newest campus, we are held in high respect by the other campuses and with the help of students will continue this way. Dean Linder is a graduate of West Chester State College, Ohio University, and Penn’ State. He has a B.S. in elementary educa- tion and special education (men- tally retarded) and an M.Ed. in counseling and guidance in educa- tion.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers