THE FIRST AMENDMENT IN SPORTS 1

The First Amendment in Sports

Jarod Hamilton

North Carolina A&T State University

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The Bill of Rights, established September 25, 1787, are the first ten amendments of the
United States Constitution. These rights were established for the purpose of insuring personal
freedoms, limiting the government’s judicial powers and ensuring that the rights not specifically
tied to the United States Congress were chartered to the states and or the people. The first
right being the right to free speech. The amendment also covers the right to express your
religious beliefs, ensures that there cannot be a law involving religious establishments,
impeding the freedom of the press, preventing the right to peacefully protest and the right to
complain to the government without disciplinary action.

Someone who used the first amendment with no problem was the former Cassius Clay,
Muhammad Ali. Ali infamously refused to join the armed forces in 1966 after his draft status
had been activated. Ali said in a statement, “My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother,
or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America.” Ali
was not granted a boxing license by any state and was exiled from the sport from March 1967
until October 1970. This led to the Cleveland Summit where Jim Brown, Lew Alcindor (later
Kareem Abdul Jabbar), Bill Russell among other athletes came to a random office in Cleveland
joined by Ali to voice their support for the 1960 Olympic gold medalist. Ali would get reinstated
and later become a world champion again but as his legendary trainer Angelo Dundee stated,
Ali lost “the best years of his life” (ages 25-28) and that“Ali was “more flat-footed” when he
returned to the squared circle (Calamur 2016). The outspoken former world heavyweight
champion was not the only athlete who knew how to use the first amendment.

In the 1968 Olympics, held in Mexico City, African-American athletes Tommie Smith and
John Carlos had just finished first and third respectively in the 200 meter race. They chose to
come to the podium wearing black socks without shoes to bring attention to poverty amongst
blacks in the United States, beads to protest against lynchings and black gloves to represent
solidarity and support amongst black people (Blakemore, 2018).

These were the same Olympics that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar chose not to participate in and for
good reason, as a political statement of raising their fist in the aforementioned attire, negatively
affected their careers and life. They not only immediately endured jeers, racial epithets and
slurs while on the podium in Mexico City, they were kicked off the United States team and sent
home where they received death threats (Blakemore, 2018).

Abdul-Jabbar, who was at the meeting in 1967 with Jim Brown amongst other black athletes
who were there to voice their support for Ali, stated that the dunk ban in 1967 in college
basketball was aimed at him and other black athletes. “Most of the people who dunk are black
athletes,” said Abdul-Jabbar (who was still going by his birth name Lew Alcindor). To me, the
new no-dunk rule smacks a little discrimination (Wulf, 2019).”

Abdul Jabbar never got suspended for his religious or political beliefs but some 27 years
later Louisiana State University (LSU) standout and Denver Nuggets guard Mahmoud Abdul-
Rauf did. Abdul-Rauf’s given name at birth was Chris Jackson. Abdul-Rauf was a highly skilled
guard at LSU and won the concensus former third overall pick and was but like Abdul-Jabbar he
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decided to change his name after converting to Islam in 1991. During the 1995 season Abdul-
rauf began to sit during the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner believing that the flag
represents oppression and that it was against his Islamic beliefs.

Abdul-Rauf was suspended one game on March 12, 1996 for his actions. Abdul-Rauf was
known for stretching, standing with his hands on his hips and avoiding eye contact with the flag
itself(Maisonet, 2014). At the time of his suspension he was 27, leading the league in free throw
percentage at almost 94 percent, and was tying his career high in points per game with 19.2.
Abdul-Rauf came to a compromise with league where Abdul-Rauf agreed to stand during the
anthem but would be able to close his eyes and recite a prayer.

After the season the 1993 Most Improved Player was traded to the Sacramento Kings
for an aging Šarūnas Marčiulionis and a second round pick. Marčiulionis would average 6.5
points per game in 17 appearances for the Nuggets and retire at the end of the season. This
would be the beginning of the end for Abdul-Rauf as he went from averaging nearly 20 points
per game and 35 minutes per game in Denver to receiving Did Not Participate(DNP)- Coach’s
Decision in Sacramento for the next two seasons as a member of the Kings. In his prime, at age
29, Abdul-Rauf was completely out of the NBA. Not because of fighting, drug abuse or legal
matters but just because he voiced his opinion on why he did not stand for the anthem. His
religion bothered teams as not only did he not want to stand for the anthem, he fasted during
Ramadan in the middle of the season meaning he would easily lose 15 pounds and be playing at
around 150 pounds (Maisonet, 2014).

He did however get another chance to play in the NBA with the expansion franchise the
Vancouver Grizzlies in the 2000-2001 season at age 31. He appeared in 41 games was not the
player he was in his prime.

To this day Abdul-Rauf’s impact lives on in the NBA as just as recently as the 2017-2018
season deputy commissioner, Mark Tatum released a memo teams that everyone must stand
for the anthem, no exceptions. “The League office will determine how to deal with any possible
instance in which a player, coach or trainer does not stand for the anthem. (Bontemps, 2017”

The most prominently known and blackballed athlete of the modern era is former San
Francisco quarterback Colin Kapernick. Kaepernick gained popularity in the NFL for taking over
the starting quarterback spot for the 49ers midway through the 2012 NFL season and leading
them to their first Super Bowl berth since 1994. He then led them to the NFC Championship
game in 2013. Kaepernick gained worldwide attention when he began to sit and later kneel
during the anthem throughout the 2016 NFL season. His right to peacefully protest drew the ire
of many fans and media, but none bigger than the incumbent president Donald Trump who
insisted in 2017 that players should be released from their contracts for sitting out the national
anthem.

Kaepernick was protesting unjust treatment of blacks in America and systematic

oppression, similar to that of Abdul-Rauf some 20 years earlier. Kaepernick’s contract with the
49ers expired after the 2016 season in which he posted a 3-16 record in his last 19 starts. While
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Kaepernick was not the quarterback who led the team to back to back NFC Championship
games he was still better than most backups in the league and even a couple starters at the
time of his free agency following the 2016 season.

Kaepernick who not serves as an NFL quarterback and political activist but as a
philanthropist, has donated millions of dollars to charity across the world and still remains
unsigned in 2019. Keep in mind that players such as wide receiver Josh Gordon and running
back Kareem Hunt have all at least got another chance to play in the league despite their legal
troubles.

Gordon has been suspended for drug abuse multiple times since he got in the league in
2012, including being suspended for the last 11 games of the 2014 season, the entire 2015 and
2016 seasons, the last 11 games of the 2017 season and the last seven games for the New
England Patriots (including the postseason) Super Bowl run in 2018.

Former Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt was signed to the Cleveland Browns in 2019
after the running back was released by the Chiefs in 2018 for assaulting a woman. Hunt told the
Chiefs when the incident initially happened that he did not assault the woman but when video
evidence of Hunt assaulting and kicking the woman in the aforementioned incident was
released near the end of the 2018 season the Chiefs suspended him and later released him.
After a couple months the Cleveland Browns signed Hunt in the midst of their investigation of
the incident, Hunt was handed an eight game suspension to start the 2019 year. This just goes
to show that someone’s first amendment right is much more intolerable than drugs and
domestic violence.

In conclusion, many athletes have took the stand against injustice in their eyes, whether
it was by peaceful protest or by speaking out and time and time again they were shown
disciplinary actions. Consequently, while it may be everybody's right to free speech apparently
not everyone gets to use it the same way.

References

Maisonet, E. (2014, March 25). Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf: Here, gone and quickly forgotten.
Retrieved from https://www.sbnation.com/2014/3/25/5544920/mahmoud-abdul-rauf-nuggets-
national-anthem

Bontemps, T. (2019, April 27). NBA memo reinforces national anthem rule and encourages
community engagement. Retrieved from
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2017/09/29/nba-memo-makes-clear-
players-and-coaches-must-stand-for-national-anthem/.

Calamur, K. (2016, June 4). When Muhammad Ali Refused to Go to Vietnam. Retrieved from
https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/06/muhammad-ali-vietnam/485717/.

Eig, J. (2017, June 2). The Cleveland Summit and Muhammad Ali: The true story. Retrieved from
https://theundefeated.com/features/the-cleveland-summit-muhammad-ali/

Blakemore, E. (2018, February 22). How the Black Power Protest at the 1968 Olympics Killed
Careers. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/news/1968-mexico-city-olympics-black-
power-protest-backlash.