Speech at UGA Article

By: Brooke McMillan

“What will you have done to make people want to come say thank you?” asked Richard Lapchick who spoke to a combination of students and fans on April 20 at the 2010 Clifford Lewis Scholar Lecture. The lecture was sponsored by the College of Education's Department of Kinesiology at UGA. A crowd of about 60 sat and listened closely as Lapchick passionately spoke about his experiences and efforts to decrease racism specifically in the sports arena.

Lapchick received his Bachelor of Arts in 1967 from St. John’s University and his doctorate in international race relations from University of Denver in 1973. He is credited with writing more than 450 articles over the years and continues to write for companies such as ESPN. Lapchick has delivered more than 2700 speeches in his lifetime thus far. Many awards and honors have come his way over the years, and in 1994 he was specially invited to Nelson Mandela’s inauguration.

Throughout his captivating lecture, Lapchick constantly inserted the phrase “there’s something about sport,” stressing the great impact sports have on people. As the son of famous Celtic player and recognized basketball coach, Joe Lapchick, young Lapchick felt the expectation to grow up and play basketball. He attended basketball camp in Europe at the age of 14 where he experienced his first exposal to race and racism. Ever since, he has made large efforts to decrease racism.

Through his father, Lapchick learned that racism was a huge issue in sports. His father experienced non-integrated basketball teams, and learned about racism through watching sports. Once Richard Lapchick viewed racism in his generation, it was apparent that integration in the coaching position was very hard to achieve. Lapchick seemed very excited to deliver his speech at the University of Georgia boasting the fact that “Georgia had the guts to hire the first African American athletic director in the SEC.”

Lapchick focused largely on those who influenced his life, and those he has been exposed to while on his journey through life. He emphasized the great impact sports have on people’s life such as the Saints win after the devastation Louisiana experienced due to hurricane Katrina. Lapchick was raised to hate the New York Yankees. Even so, he rooted for the New York Yankees to win the World Series after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, destroyed much of the state and the hearts of many people.

The importance of change was expressed through the words of Lapchick. He is a man who adovocates change, and the belief that people have the capacity to influence those who continue hate crimes across the world. The audience nodded their heads in agreeance with Lapchick as he expressed the need for change. He said “the reason I wanted to be here today is because you can be difference makers,” leaving his listeners to think about how influential each person can be in the world.