The emergence of black agents was examined by HBO's
Sonja Steptoe on "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel." In the
piece, Steptoe spoke with numerous black agents, including
Kevin and Carl Poston, Lamont Smith, Johnnie Cochran, and
Bill Strickland, as well as white agents Drew Rosenhaus and
Scott Casterline. Steptoe: "Among the 1,500 black
professional athletes in this country, less than 150 are
represented by black agents." Kevin Poston, on a "built-in
resistance" to black agents: "A lot of them feel that white
representation is the way to go, because they've been taught
that. Their parents said that." Steptoe: "[Lamont] Smith
already represents superstars Barry Sanders and Jerome
Bettis, but by partnering with [Johnnie] Cochran, he hopes to
build a dominant full-service, multi-sport firm by convincing
more black athletes to choose black representation." Smith:
"If all other things are equal, then wouldn't you want to be
someplace where you feel comfortable? And, they very well
may have that same comfort level with one of my white
competitors, but what I'm betting most of the time is that's
not going to be the case" ("Real Sports," HBO, 11/18).
A NEW FORCE: Steptoe: "It was after April's [NFL]
draft, when six of the first seven players chosen were
clients of black agents, that the competitive threat posed by
black agents became a topic. Casterline says that right up
until draft day, black agents were using race to try and
poach his clients." Casterline, who represents Raiders CB
Albert Lewis, among others: "It should be based on talent and
performance and experience, not race." Rosenhaus: "I think
that the only color that should count in negotiations is
green." Strickland: "When you've got to go into an inner
city and deal with a family problem ... that's not about
money, that's about commitment. My experience has been a lot
of times the white agent can't deal with that." Strickland,
on whether encouraging black athletes to sign with black
agents constitutes discrimination: "It may. But so what?
We've been discriminated against" ("Real Sports," 11/18).
TALKING TOUGH ON THOMPSON: Kevin Poston, on Georgetown
coach John Thompson, who steers his college players towards
his agent, David Falk: "It's one thing for a white coach to
say 'Look, I'm making sure my athlete goes with somebody
white,' but when a black coach does that, that means no
chance at all. ... We're not talking about serving black just
to be black. We're talking about competence, we're talking
about opportunity. ... John owes it to his community."
Cochran, on white agents pointing to the success of the
Postons and Eugene Parker: "They are having success on an
individual basis. ... These major agencies that have all
these athletes [who] are doing movies and merchandising.
There's no African-American agents that have moved into that
yet. ... They haven't had the resources or the opportunity
because of racism." Poston: "Take what the media calls the
top white agents in basketball and football, and take away
the black athlete, and tell me where you are? ... You're out
of business. If the whites just represented the whites,
they'd be having trouble. These are our resources, these are
our kids, this is our future" ("Real Sports," 11/18).
