Ownership is Rare Air for Blacks in Sports
One being former Chicago Bear standout Dave Duerson, who was 51 last year when he committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest; before his death, Duerson wrote a note that requested his family to donate his brain to experts who study the effects concussions have on human beings.
Another more recent tragedy was the suicide of hall of fame linebacker Junior Seau, who on May 2nd 2012 killed himself at the age of 43; also dying of a single gunshot wound to the chest. It was reported that he tried to kill himself once before in 2010 by driving his SUV off a cliff.
Presumptive and wishful thoughts that he moved pass that horror were shattered with his untimely death. Stories like these are less prevalent in baseball and hockey, who also have less black athletes than football and basketball. 8.5 percent of baseball players in Major League baseball are black, and 2.8 percent of the hockey players are black. Compare that with 65 percent of all the players in the NFL being Black and 80 percent for the NBA. The numbers suggest that there is some type of correlation between black athletes having money and not be able to keep it.
Or is it simply that the support system for former players in the NFL and the NBA are inadequate in comparison to MLB and the NHL. I would like to believe that the disproportionate numbers are based less on race and more on distribution of wealth. According to a 2010 Harvard Business School/Duke University; the average wealth for a white household was 20 times greater than a black household and 18 times greater than a Hispanic household. I would like to believe that these black athlete’s are giving back to some of those less fortunate families and investing in those communities, as oppose to spending money on cars, jewelry, groupies and nightclubs. With that said; Michael Jordan ascension to the ownership seat represents a moment of triumph for the former athlete