WASHINGTON– When Timon Kyle Durrett played basketball for Alcorn State University, his day began at 4:30 a.m. to get to practice by 5. Practice could last up to an hour and forty-five minutes. Then he had class, mandatory lunch and more practice. He also had to study and do his homework.
“You are flat-out exhausted,” Durrett said. “It can be very, very grueling.”
Durrett – now an actor, author and visual artist – appeared on an eight-person panel at the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference called “The State of the Black-Student-Athlete in America,” one of a number of conference panels that touched on higher education.
The panel featured voices from across college sports: NCAA Executive Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Stan Wilcox, Commissioner of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Jacqie McWilliams, former NFL player Vincent Fuller, Morgan State University Director of Athletics Dr. Edward Scott, Florida State University basketball coach Leonard Hamilton, George Washington sociologist Dr. Robert Turner and motivational speaker Wanda Durant, the mother of NBA two-time champion and MVP player Kevin Durant.
An advocate for student athletes, Rep. Al Lawson Jr. introduced the panel. Lawson, a former college athlete and coach, came out with the NCAA Act earlier this spring, which would offer more work opportunities to student athletes, provide medical coverage for sports-related injuries and remove the ‘one and done’ rule.
“This has always been a significant discussion here,” he said. “All across America, really.”
Guided by moderator Georgia Dawkins, founder and CEO of Georgia Dawkins Media, panelists discussed athletic scholarships as a pathway to college for low-income students. Most of them said they got into sports because it felt like the only way they could afford a higher education.
