[1][2] In 1969 a group of nine African American student-athletes boycotted Syracuse University's football program to demand change and promote racial equality.
[4] The boycott began after Floyd Little (who at that point was with the Denver Broncos) made critical comments in an interview published in The Daily Orange.
Black athletes were pushed to take basic reading, writing, and physical education classes, while their white teammates had access to every course within their major of study.
As one player described it, “One week you'd be the second-string fullback, and then it'd be time to travel to an away game, and all of a sudden, you'd be the third string defensive end, and left off the team bus.
[11] Jim Brown, Syracuse alum, Heisman Trophy winner, and now member of the Pro Football Hall Of Fame, was brought in to try to mediate between the Nine and the head coach.
A silver lining that came from this announcement was that the nine players, that have been effectively removed from the team at this point, would be permitted to keep their scholarship for the remainder of their academic careers at Syracuse University.
Pillars of the movement such as Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X were all still fresh in the minds of Americans and certainly in the media for the time.
Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law by President Lydon B. Johnson,[15] many behaviors and society “norms” that had come to be common place in America during the “Jim Crow era” were hard to unlearn and adopt new, progressive policies by many states and cities.
Much work still needed to be done in reversing Jim Crow laws at the local and state level for its African American citizens to see real change.
Even after this landmark Act, the resistance by "pro-Jim Crow" lawmakers, politicians, and some white Americans, particularly in the southern states, led to the further unwilling to adapt a changing America.
[16] 1968 Summer Olympic Black Power Salute Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who had won gold and bronze respectively, agreed to use their medal wins as an opportunity to highlight the social issues happening in the United States at the time.
They sought out active forms of protests and advocated for racial pride, Black nationalism, and dramatic action rather than incremental change.
Though the project initially proposed a boycott of the Olympics altogether, Smith and Carlos decided to compete in the hopes they could use their achievements as a platform for social movement.
[17][18] As the American athletes raised their fists, atop the medal stand, the stadium hushed, then burst into racist sneers and angry insults.
Smith and Carlos were rushed from the stadium, suspended by the U.S. team, and kicked out of the Olympic Village for turning their medal ceremony into a “political statement”.
On March 8, 1971, Ali fought Joe Frazier in the “Fight of the Century” and lost after 15 rounds, the first loss of his professional boxing career.
The Black Lives Matter movement and Colin Kaepernick's protests against police brutality are just two examples of how sportsmen have recently used their platforms to promote social and political causes.
With advances in technology and sports medicine, trainers now have access to a wide range of tools and techniques to help athletes stay healthy and perform at their best.
[23] Since then, the program has had a number of different coaches, including Paul Pasqualoni, Greg Robinson, Doug Marrone, Scott Shafer, and Dino Babers.
In recent years, Syracuse has also implemented a comprehensive Life Skills Program to help student-athletes with personal development and career planning.
Additionally, the activism of that era paved the way for greater student participation in university governance and decision-making processes, which can be seen after Syracuse 8 took a stand.
Athletes today such as LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick, and Megan Rapinoe, frequently use their platform to speak out against racism, sexism, and police brutality.