African-American alumni athletes discuss experience at Tufts

On Saturday morning, for the first time in Tufts history, nearly 20 African American Tufts graduates convened to remember their experiences at Tufts University, both as students and as athletes, in a meeting organized by History Professor Gerald Gill.

In conjunction with the symposium, Gill also put together an exhibit at Aidekman Arts Center that chronicled the stories of many of Tufts black athletes through past newspaper articles and pictures. The symposium took place prior to a 3:00 p.m. basketball game where two of Tufts' ECAC championship teams were honored at halftime.

The athletes were broken up into two discussion panels _ one of athletes from the 70s and the other drawing from the 80s and 90s _ and each discussed team and social experiences. The stories reflected many different perspectives, with recollections of pain juxtaposed with those of glory and triumph.

Amongst the most highly touted athletes ever to don the Brown and Blue, Madaras Jihad, formerly known as Darrell Brown, who graduated in the 70s, spoke of his tumultuous four years at Tufts. While at Tufts, Jihad amassed many honors including recognition as an All-American in Div III for football and basketball, as well as the Bob Cousy award, honoring the best basketball player in New England under six feet. Jihad curtailed his discussion of his awards by explaining that, although his athletic accomplishments were staggering, they fail to tell the whole story of his struggle.

Later supported by other athletes, Jihad spoke of his painful athletic career, saying that he was "prostituted" by the University for its athletic program.

His dreams were not as easily achieved as he had hoped.

"I wanted to escape the ghetto and go pro but it was a lot different than I'd imagined," Jihad said.

All-American track star, James Lavallee '96 related his story of struggle at the Tufts' campus and the refuge he found on the track. He discussed how at the end of the year banquet for athletics he did not win the Tufts' athlete of the year award, although his accomplishments, as well as those of another black athlete, seemed far more deserving of the award than those achieved by the winner.

After this, he recalled that he turned his back on the University in response to his experience. He correlated problems with the athletic program, to the university's revenue problem.

"One reason that we don't give back is that we don't have a great athletic program," Lavallee said. "It's much different than Williams and Amherst."

Troy Cooper, the soft-spoken star center on the Tufts basketball team through 1983, recounted his struggle to secure his degree, as well as his experience on the basketball team. Cooper told how he came from a different time of basketball, when the fans packed the stadiums and the famous coach John White recruited the team from more modest backgrounds.

This program fostered a much different demographic on the team and provided a focal point for the black community on campus. Despite what Reggie Evans '74 called a time when it was "good to be black," Cooper recalled having a stigma attached to him. He recalled White's blunt explanation of this stigma.

"He told me, 'You are a 6'6" black man. People are going to be afraid of you, especially white people,'" Cooper said.

Cooper recounted his struggle to stay for a fifth year when his basketball eligibility had run out, as well as his work to finally claim his Economics degree with the help of Professor Saul Schwartz.

Some players observed that the current percentage of African Americans, both on athletic teams and at the University as a whole is lower than it once was.

During the 1970s, the University's black population grew both in size and stature, dwarfing the current 5.5 % in this year's freshman class. The basketball team in particular featured a large ratio of black to white players.

"The nature of the basketball program has changed," Tufts' all-time leading scorer Greg Davis said, describing the change in current recruiting tactics.

Despite all of the problems with the program, the camaraderie between all of the players was evident _ a point which Gill emphasized in his closing remarks.

"I've had good times and bad times," Gill explained as he spread his hands over the panel of athletes. "But the reason I keep coming back is for this."