In 1989, trailblazing tennis player and activist Arthur Ashe said that he knew there were Black athletes “perfectly capable of simultaneously excelling on the athletic and academic fields.”
He knew, well, because he had done so himself.
Perhaps the two most prominent current athletes who embody that vision will face each other Sunday in the NFL playoffs: dynamic quarterbacks Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks and Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins. Aside from sharing the common bond of being rookies, they also finished 1 and 2, respectively, as male selections for the 2011 Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholar Award as selected by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education magazine.
In almost every sense, Wilson and Griffin’s careers would be more appropriately ranked 1 and 1A. You couldn’t possibly go wrong, it seems, no matter which you choose.
Consider their resumes while under consideration for the Ashe Award, which was started in 1992:
Griffin won the 2010 Walter Camp Award as the nation’s best collegiate football player and owned or shared 30 Baylor University records. He also was a Big 12 Conference 400-meter hurdles champion, and graduated in three years with a degree in political science.
Wilson set an NCAA record at North Carolina State with 379 consecutive passes without an interception. He finished ranked No. 13 all-time in the Atlantic Coast Conference for passing yards (9,377) and No. 3 in touchdown passes (76). Wilson graduated in three years from N.C. State with a degree in communication.
