By Nunnie Robinson, Westside Gazette Sports Editor
The number of Black athletes participating in intercollegiate athletics across all divisions has increased significantly. Approximately 87,000 student-athletes represent a 3% jump from last year and a 19% increase over the decade. Division breakdown shows the following: Division I – 39,752 Black student-athletes, 20% of all Division I participants, representing an 8% increase over the past 10 years; Division II, 26,111 Black student-athletes, 19% of Division II participants, representing a 28% increase over the past 10 years; and
Division III, 20,588 Black student-athletes, 10% of Division III participants, representing a 33% increase over the past 10 years.
Sports driving these increases are men’s basketball where 44% of participants are Black with a total of 8,393 student-athletes; Football where 40% of participants are Black, totaling 32,184 student-athletes, representing the highest number across all sports, a 26% increase; Women’s basketball, where 28% of participants are Black, the highest percentage of any women’s sport — with 4,682 student-athletes; Indoor and outdoor track and field where approximately 20% of participants in both men’s and women’s events are Black and is the top sport by number for Black women, at over 6,000.
Other sports have seen major percentage increases in Black representation, including
Men’s volleyball, lacrosse, soccer, wrestling and baseball. On the Women’s side we’ve seen increases in gymnastics, lacrosse, and Women’s volleyball.
The Heat’s Tyler Herro won the 3 point shooting contest over Damian Hilliard and Buddy Hield. He joins previous Heat winners Glen Rice, Jason Kapono, Daequon Cook and James Jones.
The NHL’s first best-on-best tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey featured several Panthers competing for their country including Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola, all of whom are playing for Finland; Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart, Canada; Matthew Tkachuk, United States; and Gustav Forsling, Sweden. So someone will represent the Panthers as Four Nations champion.
Finally, as baseball nears, the Florida Marlins are pushing the be patient, building from ground up scenario, hoping that the fans don’t abandon the perpetual youth movement characterizing their organization every 5 years or so. Owner Bruce Sherman believes the team will exceed expectations despite the youth and inexperience. We shall see.
