[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 25 (Friday, February 9, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E300]]
    CONGRATULATING LOVIE SMITH AND TONY DUNGY ON BECOMING THE FIRST 
  AFRICAN-AMERICAN HEAD COACHES OF NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE TEAMS TO 
                       QUALIFY FOR THE SUPER BOWL

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 30, 2007

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the historic 
meeting of two wonderfully talented African-American coaches, Lovie 
Smith of the Chicago Bears and Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts. 
These two men have made history by leading their teams to Super Bowl 
XLI. February 4, 2007 will remain a significant day in the pantheon of 
sports history, as well as American history. Prior to this date, there 
was never an African-American coach at the helm of a team that 
qualified for the big game. It is important for us to recognize the 
historic nature of this meeting--the meeting of two extremely 
successful coaches and two very talented teams--because the victories 
celebrated on this date extend far beyond the length of the football 
field and speaks to significant changes from a time when Black players 
and coaches were not allowed to join White sports leagues. The 
leadership of African-American coaches who pride themselves on their 
Christian ideals and coach using positive reinforcement demonstrate the 
resilience, perseverance and desire to partake in all aspects of the 
American dream of people of African descent. I urge my colleagues to 
support the resolution to H. Res. 90, congratulating Lovie Smith of the 
Chicago Bears and Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts on becoming the 
first African-American head coaches of National Football League teams 
to qualify for the Super Bowl.
  We should pause to commemorate this historic event, but it is 
important that we remain critical while celebrating. Though there have 
been significant improvements in racial inequities in the NFL, there is 
still much work to be done. Frederick Douglass ``Fritz'' Pollard became 
the first African-American head coach of an NFL team in 1921 with the 
Akron Pros. It would be another 70 years before another head coach 
joined the ranks. Throughout the 1980s, there was not a single African-
American head coach in the NFL, in fact all head coaches were 
Caucasian. In 1989, Art Shell joined the Oakland Raiders as head coach. 
He would be joined by two more Black coaches in the years that followed 
while the number of African-American assistant coaches continued to 
grow. The stark contrast between the number of Black coaches, always 
very few in numbers, and the number of Black players has sometimes 
drawn critical attention from those outside of the Black community; 
however, it was extremely difficult to avoid discussing these 
discrepancies in the coming weeks. I hope that as we move forward and 
continue to remember the first meeting of two great African-American 
men and continue to push for true equality, throughout the ranks, in 
the NFL and in other professional leagues.

  Football, in America, has always been more than just a game. It is 
the American game, deeply entrenched in the fabric of our society and a 
symbol of our culture as Americans. Travel to any city or town 
throughout the Nation and you will see people of all races, 
ethnicities, religions, socio-economic classes and social backgrounds 
discussing, celebrating and playing football, sharing in the losses and 
successes of their favorite teams. While tremendous progress has been 
made, especially in the area of racial equity, there is still work to 
be done in extending equality to all Americans.

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