Racial Position Segregation

Abstract

Since the mid-1960s, the level of participation of African American student-athletes in intercollegiate football programs at predominantly White universities has changed significantly. Nearly half of all varsity football players in Division I and Division I-A schools were Black in 1992, indicative of more opportunities at the college level for minority athletes. Based on this statistic, many media observers have concluded that racial discrimination in athletic programs is a thing of the past. However, with the establishment of Proposition 48 by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the mid-1980s and the various amendments that followed, race continues to be an important component in athletic competition. Perhaps rather than being eliminated, the nature and form of racial discrimination in football programs have changed. The objective of this research effort is to analyze changes in the nature of racial discrimination in intercollegiate football. The Southwest Conference is the focus of the research and provides a case study through the use of student-athlete data from the 1978 and 1989 football seasons. More specifically, the incidence of two forms of racial discrimination in football identified in the sociology of sport literature, racial stacking and unequal opportunity, were identified and analyzed. This research links important findings in college football to earlier studies conducted in the professional arena. Racial stacking refers to situations in which African American players compete for peripheral positions whereas central positions are reserved for White players. Unequal opportunity implies that the entrance requirements into college football are more rigor-