4 The Daily Collegian
Athletes create their own minority
Continued from Page 1
It doesn’t matter if the athlete is
late for a class, or for a study hall.
“What people fail to understand,”
said Terrell Jones, vice provost for
educational equity, “is that these
students from morning to evening
nave their day planned out for
them. There’s a certain allotment
for study hall, for eating, and prac-
Those activities take place in a
structured living and eating area.
It is the same for most of the ath
letic programs. The living situation
is a sore point with many in the
community.
“I hear they get to live wherever
they want,” said Laßay Jolly
(freshman-business). “That doesn’t
seem fair, but I guess there’s a rea
son.”
Athletes are strategically placed
throughout campus where they will
be close to where they spend more
than half of their time the field.
Director of Academic Support
Services Don Ferrell regards the
housing situation as a much
overblown issue.
“Why should athletes be housed
at one end of the campus when
their (field) is on the other side?”
Ferrell said. “If the coach says to a
player ‘I want to see you in my
office,’ and the player says ‘OK,
coach, I’ll be there in 45 minutes.’
It doesn’t make sense. It’s the
modus operandi for athletes to be
housed where they are.”
And ironically, the housing issue
is one that is misunderstood. With
the possible exception of football
players, who usually live in Nittany
Apartments, Assistant Director of
Housing Lynn Dußois explained
that the housing situation for ath
letes is much the same as for any
other students.
“Athletes are pretty much
housed across campus. They usual
ly chose a (location) close to their
sport. For example if you’re a soc
cer player, you’d probably request
East Halls, and if you’re in volley
ball, you’d want West Halls.”
About 20 to 25 percent of on
campus housing is reserved for
freshmen, Dußois said. That num
ber includes interest houses and
housing for University Scholars.
“There may also be an allotment
for athletic housing, but it’s in that
20 to 25 percent. A person could
get Hamilton Hall as a freshman,
but if all the space reserved for
freshmen is gone, a freshman ath
lete wouldn’t necessarily be able to
live there.”
Older athletes, sophomores and
up, are subject to the same housing
system as the rest of the students,
Dußois said. They have reassign
ment rights to the dorms they
reside in, but if they want to move
to a different part of campus, they
Aaron Collins leans against his desk in his room in Nittany Apartments.
Collins, a defensive player on the football team, enjoys gospel music
and sings in a choir.
DIVERSITYB DIVISION
Keith Olsommer and Wally Richardson relax while playing a game of
Sega college football in Richardson’s room last night. Olsommer, tight
will be considered by their semes
ter standing.
Football players have a set num
ber of Nittany Apartments and Nit
tany Hall put aside for their use.
The football team is the only athlet
ic team that has space reserved in
Nittany Apartments and Nittany
Hall. Dußois said that the main
reason for this is because Nittany
Apartments is close to the team’s
playing and practice facilities.
Tanya Dunbar, who is black, said
athletes probably do withdraw
from the community. “But it’s kind
of impossible for them with their
schedules and where they live. It
must be hard to mix in I do think
that they could make more of an
effort, though,” said Dunbar
(freshman-premedicine).
The big taboo
The popular persona of athletes
is one compiled from various inci
dents and folklore passed down
from class to class. With the addi-
igian Photo/Laura Chi
tion of more minorities on campus,
the tale has changed just a little
bit. Many people say that in terms
of a social life, minority athletes
want to be seen with the “in”
crowd, and perhaps that crowd
isn’t in the minority community.
Tales of black athletes dating
predominantly in the white com
munity and placing themselves out
of the loop are common. As one
female student said, “(They) date
white women because black women
won’t put up with their stuff. White
women will do whatever (in hopes)
that the guys will make it to the
pros.
“Sometimes I see (the athletes)
just fronting on me. They have
their white women on the side.
They need to be real about it.”
Still others don’t understand
what all the hoopla is about. Collins
points out that the big stereotype
of black jocks on this campus is
that they seek out white girlfriends
for status.
“I have nothing against black
females, I have a black girlfriend,”
Collins said. “(Some) players might
have white girlfriends. I don’t
think it’s a big matter. It’s basical
ly whoever crosses your path.”
Heather Collins (sophomore
journalism) has been around the
football team and athletes longer
and more often than most people
on this campus. Though she can
only speak for her two brothers,
Aaron and Jason, who are current
ly on the team, and those close to
them, she believes that the interra
cial dating issue is a nonfactor.
“I don’t get the perception that
most athletes are exclusively dat
ing white women,” she said. “As far
as I know, athletes aren’t the only
ones (dating interracially). There
are other people who do it, so I
can’t say why it’s such a big deal.”
No autographs, please
Most Penn Staters have followed
the athletic program in some detail
before they ever stepped foot on
campus. It takes until the first Ag
Sci class where you’re among 400
people and see Mr. Big Athlete on
Campus for the realization to set in
that you are within an elbow’s
length from a person only previ
ously known through television.
The superstar image of an ath
lete might not be shattered by his
performance in the classroom, but
if he passes by on the street with
out speaking, then a problem aris
es.
It is common in the minority
community to exchange greetings
with other minorities. The belief is
that minority athletes, more so
than any subcommunity on cam
pus, walk around on their own pri
vate pedestal ignoring everyone.
Ferrell offers his view on why so
many students have those feelings.
Ferrell has been an administrator
at Penn State for 30 years and has
worked with Lion football coach
Joe Paterno for 26 of them. In his
tenure here, he has seen and heard
every myth, rumor and snide com
ment known to man. The thought
that athletes, and in particular,
black athletes snub the University
community alarms him.
“There are two black communi-
end for the Nittany Lion football team, and Richardson, quaterback, are
apartment mates.
ties,” Ferrell said. “One on campus,
and the one off campus, and I
believe that the athletes interact
with both of them very well."
“(People) see what they want
through their own eyes. People
have dual perceptions (of ath
letes),” Ferrell said. “ ‘I will toler
ate you because you’re a star, but if
I see you doing something I don’t
like, I will condemn you.’ You can
not live in a world where there are
a mix of people wanting to both
idolize and kill you at their own
convenience.”
Could it be that the very students
who want to get to know the ath
letes are the self-same ones that
widen the distance between them
selves and everyone else?
“People put them up on such a
pedestal,” Heather Collins said.
“They create the distance them
selves by treating them different
ly.”
Along that line of thinking,
Raheem Jarbo (freshman-biobe
havioral health) said he has had
contact with minority athletes and
they treat everyone like regular
people and the feeling is recipro
cated.
“I play basketball with people on
the football team, and on the track
team and it’s cool,” he said. “I don’t
treat them any differently because
they’re well-known and they don’t
look down on me.”
Nittany Lion tight end Keith
Olsommer thinks that the student
body is too hard on him and his
brethren, probably because they
have no idea what an athlete goes
through.
“The problem is we are the peers
of everyone when we’re doing
good, but when we’re not then
(they) say we’re getting special
treatment. (We’re) given this,
allowed to do this and that.
“My peers are on the football
team. Let them get up 5:30 in the
morning, five days a week. It’s
hard to explain. It gets really frus
trating sometimes.”
Shadows
But other types of athletes
attend the University besides foot
ball players. The rugby, soccer,
fencing, lacrosse and even the bas
ketball players don’t have the stig
ma attached to them that the foot
ball team does. Add to this the
remarkable fact that the female
athletes are almost out of the loop.
These athletes, minority or oth
erwise, are considered “all right.”
Yet, they have the athlete prefix to
their names as well, so what makes
them so different?
Call it an athletic hierarchy. At
Penn State, the sports that get all
the attention coincidentally are the
ones that get the most endorse
ments and air time. Football is
Penn State. Many students, before
they even step foot on campus, are
well aware of the JoePa legacy.
The same cannot be said for the
basketball team, and it certainly
can’t be said for newer teams, like
men’s and women’s volleyball.
So these student-athletes are like
other students. It’s as if their ath
letics serve only as something to do
after classes. Never mind they put
in the time in the weight room, in
practice, at games, like the football
players. Yet, because their sports
do not get the same support, the
athletes aren’t in the same brack
ets as football players, and them
putting on airs would make as
much sense as a chicken at a wolf
convention.
Women athletes have had to fight
to have their athletic contributions
taken seriously. As a result, it is
hard trying to get people to talk
about what they have done on the
field, to say nothing of their “civil
ian" conduct.
“You really don’t hear about ten
nis players being stuck-up,” Jarbo
said. “I don’t think anyone really
knows who anyone is on the small
er sports.”
As far as the men’s basketball
team is concerned, perhaps the
fact that four of the starting five
players are white has to do with the
relative ambivalence about basket
ball players’ interaction with other
students.
For sports such as baseball, soft
ball, fencing and lacrosse, it is safe
to say that the majority of the ath
letes are white, on both the men’s
and women’s teams, so they are out
of the minority loop from the
beginning.
And finally.
But the athletic issue extends
well past the minority community.
The debate runs on a grand scale
with varying degrees of ideologies.
The bottom line is that the minority
community and its athletes have
something between them that
keeps them from being unified.
All the taboo issues have yet to
be solved, all the hard feelings
have yet to be assuaged. In truth,
the athletic community is its own
little minority 600 or so students
out of 40,000 so it is unusual that
there is no sense of common
ground. Until then, however, the
jokes, rumors, and angry glares
are going to continue, and a sizable
section of the Penn State communi
ty will remain divided.
Tuesday, March 12, 1996
Lady laxer
transcends
tradition
Shauna Williams, a
redshirt senior on the
women’s lacrosse team,
excels in a predominantly
white male sport.
By ERIN WRIGHT
Collegian Sports Writer
Eleven years ago in quaint
Philadelphia, a young girl
began to play a sport that
would guarantee her a time in the
spotlight. Not because she would
burn up the field, or become the
best, brightest, or most incredible.
No, her big claim to fame would be
one that has raised eyebrows for
almost 12 years she is a black
female lacrosse player.
Shauna Williams is a redshirt
senior who has been a staple on the
defensive side of the field for the
Lady Lions the past four years.
Because of an injury, she will be
around for at least another semes
ter. She loves the game and has
played it long enough and well
enough to be able to put aside any
extraneous information. But the
fact that she is a black woman
playing what is considered a pre
dominantly white male sport is one
that many have noticed.
Williams began her career at the
Springside School in Chestnut Hill,
Philadelphia, as a fifth-grader. The
private school offered lacrosse as a
physical education class. Williams
took it and liked it. The fact that
she was the only black person on
her team didn’t deter her at all.
loto/llan Sherman
“I just went out to play. (It) did
n’t make me feel weird,” she said.
“I just love to play and I didn’t
even notice that I was the only
black person on the team.”
Time passed quickly, and when
the time came for Williams to
apply to colleges, she was not par
ticularly looking at Penn State as a
possible school, or even a Division
I school at that. It took her coach,
Betsy Williams, sister of Lady Lion
lacrosse coach Julie Williams, to
persuade her to give Penn State a
look.
“I applied to other schools, Divi
sion 111 schools, but Betsy wanted
me to apply to Penn State,” she
said. “Julie saw me play and
recruited me. I didn’t even visit the
place before I came up here to
school.”
Williams came up to Penn State
knowing well what to expect, and
boasts a “very good relationship”
with her coach and her teammates
that transcends any kind of color
barrier.
Amy Carnaggio, a junior defend
er, has played with Williams for
three years and has never felt that
either Williams or the rest of the
team have had any feeling of divi
sion.
“When I played with Shauna, I
never got the feeling that she felt
or was treated differently,” Car
naggio said. “We also have a fresh
man, Summer Downing, who is
black, but she’s a freshman and its
going to be hard for her to step for
ward.”
Carnaggio and teammate junior 2
midfielder Tam Crowe admitted
not really thinking about the
minority distribution on the
lacrosse team.
“Coach Williams treats us all like
equals,” Crowe said. “The lack of
(minorities) is relative, because
there’s nothing you can compare it
to.”
Shauna Williams has gotten ver
bal double-takes from people who
are unfamiliar with the game. She
admits that most of the chiding
comes from black people.
“(They’ll) say things like ‘where
did you learn to play lacrosse? No
black people play that.’ I tell them
that my school had it and I liked
it,” she said. “They don’t know any
thing about the game, like that it
comes from the Native Americans.
“Once I tell them about the game
they get more interested. My
friends come to the games I play
in, and they love it. It’s an addict
ing game once you see it, you
start really liking it.”
She believes that the trick in
spreading the appeal of lacrosse
over all ethnic groups and genders
is to make it more available in the
cities and to start early. She talks
up the sport in her neighborhood,
and two Philadelphia public
schools, Central High School and
Philadelphia High School for Girls,
both have intramural teams.
She believes that its only a mat
ter of time before her story isn’t so
extraordinary.