Stereotypes of a black male (student-athlete) misunderstood, and it's still all good: The life of Eric Christopher Garrett
Overemphasis on graduation rates has relegated Black male student-athletes to their academic identity at the expense of their athletic identity. Intentionally or otherwise, the limited attention paid to Black male student-athlete’s salient identities in sport studies research has contributed to constraints placed on their goal of achieving a professional career and/or college degree (Bimper, 2014). The academic reform movements led by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been particularly complicit in institutionalizing restrictions on the identity of Black male student-athletes. The NCAA utilizes sport studies research to establish initial eligibility requirements, benefits restrictions, and practice and performance standards (Harrison & Boyd, 2007). These constraints have disproportionately penalized Black male student-athletes by creating a binary that leverages their academic identity against their athletic identity. This study is an extension of the sports studies research used by the NCAA, but in a different direction. It examines Black male student-athlete identity development and argues that academic and athletic identities are complex and conflicting, which requires Black male student-athletes to negotiate and renegotiate their identities when confronted with binaries such as academic versus athletic expectations. This research conducts an instrumental case study. It uses one person’s circumstances to evaluate conflicting complexities associated with the wants of organizational and institutional units such as the NCAA and universities, to the wants of the student-athlete. The life experiences of the participant in this research inform us that intercollegiate athletics has a positive impact on academic success. It details how an athletic identity is salient, and how the Black male student-athlete is constantly negotiating the importance of earning both a college degree and being excellent in his sport.
Black males, Student-athletes, Identity, Salience, Negotiation
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign