Obama victory buoys Bombers

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/11/2008 (6380 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’ll always remember the first time Milt Stegall referred to his then-newborn son Chase as “the first black president of the United States.”

Someone nearby chuckled.

Stegall took notice.

“I’m not joking,” he insisted, with a purposeful stare that only Stegall and Mark Messier can muster.

Then along came Barack Obama. So Stegall had to improvise. Does it on the football field all the time. So on a piece of tape over his locker, beside a picture of Chase, the Bomber slotback wrote “second black president of the United States?”

Yes, there was a question mark.

Until Tuesday night, at least, when the son of a Kenyan father and a Kansan mother — literally an African-American — was elected president of the United States.

“That’s a good thing,” the Bombers’ elder statesman said. “It’s just a blessing to see where we came from. My father was born in 1922 in rural Georgia. And he used to tell me about some of the things that used to go on (racism-wise). A lot of people don’t realize that as an African-American we weren’t even able to vote until 1965.

“It’s only been 50 years that we’ve been allowed to vote and now we have a president of African descent,” Stegall added. “It says a lot about the country and the direction it’s going in. It’s not the way it should be but it’s not where we used to be.”

It used to be that when Eural C. Smith was a young lady growing up in the Deep South of Louisiana, racism was literally burned into the consciousness. Smith is now almost 80 years old. Her grandson is Kelly Malveaux, the leader of the Bombers’ secondary. And by absentee ballot, Eural Smith’s grandson voted for a black man to be president.

“It’s just goes to show that in America anything can possibly happen,” noted Malveaux. “I think back to a time when my people couldn’t vote. We didn’t have a say in what was going on in the political realm. And women couldn’t vote.”

Meanwhile, the grandmother of Malveaux’s wife, Sharell, originally came from Jackson, Miss.

“They saw racism first-hand,” he said. “It wasn’t uncommon to see a cross burning in their front lawn. So for them to be living today to see a black president in office… it has to be very fulfilling as an African-American woman. Or man, who lived back in the day when it was very tough on them.”

“Just to see the evolution of where America is going is a phenomenal thing. This is the biggest change we’ve ever had.”

Bombers all-star linebacker Gavin Walls hails from Virginia, which voted for the Democratic senator from Illinois.

“Virginia stood up,” Walls said. “A lot of people came out and voted and our state was a key (swing state). It shows the world that we can accomplish new and different things.”

Walls likened the election of Obama to the Berlin Wall being torn down.

“Oh, it was a great moment. History. It was a big moment,” he reasoned. “It’s very overwhelming. A huge, huge, huge barrier has been broken. Now because the barrier has been broken people can really believe. The biggest thing, if you want to accomplish something you want to do, is believing.”

Belief not confined to the political arena, either, but open to any profession or goal. Any dream.

“Obama has literally expressed a belief and the world, we have to believe, we have to stick together,” Walls said.

So what does althetics have to do with politics? First, ask yourself this question: Would Barack Obama have been elected to the Oval Office in 2008 if not for Jesse Owens? Or Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis? Or Muhammad Ali and Arthur Ashe? Or Micheal Jordan and Tiger Woods?

Some would argue, absolutely not.

“Their reach stretched generations, perhaps long and far and elastic enough to pull the lever in a booth and put a black man in the highest office,” offered Newsday columnist Shaun Powell, the author of Souled Out?, a history of black athletes. “Remember, before the rest of society took note and followed, sports led the way in kicking down walls of bigotry, uniting races and cultures and giving blacks a chance.”

Malveaux agreed.

“Those were pioneers,” he said. “Guys who made historical landmarks in African-American history are the guys who set up Senator Obama. This has been a long time coming. I think you have to credit the Martin Luther Kings and the Jesse Owenses and the Jackie Robinsons who were willing to put their lives on the line to try and break down those colour barriers. And not just break through, but make an impact.”

Obama doesn’t officially take office until January, but the impact is only beginning to register, according to Bomber linebacker Barrin Simpson.

“I never thought I would see the day when we’d have an African-American president,” said Simpson, who was raised in Missouri and Mississippi. “I was always very proud to be an American. That made me proud of America.

“The things that our ancestors… had to deal with just for the right to vote. I’m almost lost for words about how far we’ve come to get to this point.”

For Stegall, the impact will be the opportunity for Obama to trump what he believes is a slanted portrayal of African-Americans in the media. Hello, Michael Vick.

“Now we have somebody, the highest figure in the United States,” Stegall contended. “Now you’re going to see a positive figure all the time. I’m sure he’s going to try and change things about how we’re portrayed.”

And more. Just the other day, Bombers quarterback Kevin Glenn sent Stegall a text message that had been making the rounds. It read: “Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run. Obama is running so our kids can fly.”

In a football locker-room somewhere in Canada, one of the greatest receivers in CFL history ripped the question mark from the declaration taped to his stall.

For now, Chase Stegall will have to settle for second. His dad is OK with that.