By BILL BRADLEY
Nashville Tennessean

	THE GROUND BREAKERS

Tyrone Willingham, the most famous of the five black football coaches at the NCAA Division I-A level, told the group they can help to improve the number of minorities coaching college sports.

"The power of the pen is mighty," the Notre Dame coach said. "You can draw attention to a clear injustice taking place. You have been challenged this morning to see if you can make a difference."

Willingham was among four that talked about the advances of minorities and the issues ahead during a session at the Associated Press Sports Editors convention in Philadelphia. The session was called "Ground Breakers," moderated by Dr. Richard Lapchick, professor at the University of Central Florida and a nationally recognized expert on race and sports. Other panelists included Damon Evans, University of Georgia athletic director, and Herman Boone, former football coach at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., about whom the movie "Remember The Titans" was based. While all of their words resonated with the crowd, it was Willingham — who said he rarely speaks publicly on race — who had the most pointed remarks.

"All of all of the qualities of a great leader, not one of those have a tint or shade to them," he said.

"The greatest quality of a leader is you have to be unselfish. Those that are unselfish look at what's best for all.

"There is an opportunity here for each of us to make a difference. I hope that each of you accept it."

"When I was offered this job in December, my goal was never to be first the African-American athletic director in the SEC," said Evans, 34. "It was just to be an athletic director.

Herman Boone
Damon Evans
Tyrone Willingham

"But I can sit here — next to these gentlemen — and see the magnitude of what I am doing. I didn't have to go through the things they went through. Because of what they have done, I have the opportunity.

"Everyone in the country was waiting for first minority to be named in the SEC. When Sylvester Croom was named at Mississippi State as the first black football coach in the SEC, I felt like Sylvester somewhat opened the door for me. Now it was time for me to step through the door."

Evans said he finds it sad that in the year 2003, when he was hired, so many people felt that there couldn't be an African-American athletic director at an SEC school.

"I hope one day ... when the next African-American head football coach is hired," he said, "that they won't be announcing that individual as an 'African-American football coach' and only as a 'football coach.' "

Boone, whose story has become known as the one of the top sports movies, made his points with humor, offering anecdote after anecdote of his dealings with race issues. He talked about how he was the only child in a family of 12 to graduate high school and how he used a college degree to follow his dream of being a football player.

"I wanted to be a football coach because a football coach believes in discipline and respect and standing up on your own two feet," he said. "I stood for what I believed in.

"I could stand here and tell you many stories, and it won't touch the skin of the racist things that happened to me."

Boone also stressed that black coaches needed a champion when he started coaching — and they still do today. He remembers a column from the Raleigh News & Observer nearly 50 years that proclaimed "the day of the Negro coach is over."

"Where do we go from here? It's up to you guys to pick us up and put us on your shoulders," Boone told APSE.

"It's up to you to stand up and speak out for what you believe in.

"Speak up and speak out about when you see inequalities in this country. The day of Negro coach is over, but by God, I'm gonna fight back."

Boone didn't need an anecdote, though, to sum up what the point of the panel.

"Are things better today?" he said. "Yes they are. Do we have long way to go? Yes, we do."