While there is far less stereotyping and racism in professional sports than there was, fifty years ago with respect to African Americans, and while African Americans have made tremendous strides in many pro sports, some degree of stereotyping and discrimination still remains, though it is far more subtle than in the past. Richard Lapchick writes of the great breakthrough achieved by Jackie Robinson, the first black player to reach the big leagues of professional baseball, but he concludes his Introduction with these starling words:
The book is also the story of how little has changed since Jackie Robinson took that courageous step. America has made many promises to its people. The promise of racial equality is one that has been broken time and time again. Some commentators have said that time is running out, that it is five minutes to midnight.
Lapchick's discouraging words were written in 1984, and the author seems to be more pessimistic than necessary because of a series of terrible examples of racism he witnessed and experienced personally. This is not to minimize the importance of discovering and rooting out every demonstration of illegal and immoral racism in pro sports wherever possible. However, great strides have been made to bring greater justice to African Americans in pro sports, and such strides need to be acknowledged. The fight against specific racism in pro sports is not over, but certainly a number of important battles have been won.
Arthur Ashe, in the three volumes of Hard Road to Glory, acknowledges the successes of African Americans in pro sports, but also warns young blacks that the road to great success is sports is a narrow and treacherous one which far more often disappoints than fulfills:
If contemporary black athletes' exploits are more well known [than the exploits of black sports heroes of the past, such as Jack Johnson, Marshall Taylor, Isaac Murphy, or Howard P. drew], few fully appreciat...