The men’s basketball team huddles up. Black players stand side-by-side with white players.
There is a lot more racial diversity on the court than in the classroom at Fairfield. Only 2 percent, 28 out of 1379, of male students at Fairfield are black. On the basketball team, 50 percent of the men, eight out of 16, are black, according to the University Fact Book online.
Many minority players are faced with the task of adjusting – adjusting to being part of a Divsion I sports team, plus adjusting to being part of a small portion of Fairfield’s student population.
Senior center Geoff Middleton, from Maplewood, N.J., came to Fairfield from Columbia Senior High School, which is comprised of 60 percent black students and 30 percent white students.
Middleton, a black player, said that students at his high school were exposed to more of a variety of different cultures than students at Fairfield. Middleton cited his familiarity with the white middle class as a factor in his comfort at Fairfield. But he did sense some initial disconnect from players who grew up in mainly black neighborhoods.
“The school embraces us [basketball players] as the primary sport,” he said. “But there are cultural differences. The way we [black players] dress, the way we act. Some people are taken aback, but once they get to know us, they are drawn in.”
Marty O’Sullivan, a white fifth-year senior center, credited his growing up playing on AAU teams for increasing his comfort level on the basketball team.
“Basketball is a diverse sport,” he said.
Sullivan added that the basketball team feels no more isolated than any other sports team.
Herbie Allen, the only black male in the junior class and a guard on the team, said he felt comfortable at Fairfield despite coming from Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn, N.Y., where 84 percent of students are black.
“My roommates were cool people [as freshmen at Fairfield],” he said. “I didn’t see color; I can associate with anybody.”
Head Coach Ed Cooley, the first black head coach in Fairfield’s history, said that he stresses to his minority players the importance of adjusting to the University.
“I draw from college [Stonehill], where I was a minority player as well,” he said. “I emphasize the positives from being part of a community. Little by little [the minority players are fitting into Fairfield’s community]. You have to give people time to adjust socially, academically and then athletically.”
However, neither the players nor Cooley see a black coach as being an advantage or disadvantage.
“I can relate to anybody,” said Cooley. “That’s just people skills.”
“A coach is a coach,” said Allen. “Every coach gets on your ass.”
Nationally, 12 percent of college enrollment is made up of black students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. According to the NCAA, 58.9 percent of Division I men’s basketball players were black during the 2005-2006 basketball season.
While Fairfield is below the national averages on both counts, the team is providing an experience that the University hopes all its students receive.
O’Sullivan was pleased with experiencing different cultures to which he might not normally be exposed.
“We had a guy from Senegal and a guy from Israel last year,” he said. “My freshman year we had a player from France. I’m glad I got exposed to different cultures through basketball.”
Larri Mazon, director of institutional diversity initiatives, sees the team as a microcosm of what the University as a whole would like to achieve.
“I see that they have a really strong rapport,” he said. “We want to try to replicate that; it is a small version of what we are trying to accomplish.”
Will Johnson, director of student diversity programs and former Division II basketball coach, agreed with Mazon and added, “Supporting all of our students is one area where our University struggles.
“It is hard to identify student needs, especially when they [the students] don’t tell you what they are. Athletes are somewhat unique since they are monitored.”
The women’s basketball team has the same racial breakdown, but there are slightly more black women on Fairfield’s campus. Eight out of 15 female basketball players, or 53 percent, are black; there are a total of 52 black women, or 2.7 percent at the University.
University President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx acknowledged that Fairfield still has a ways to go in racial relations in general on campus but said the University is headed in the right direction by trying to create a “welcoming and diverse culture on campus.”
According to the team and the statistics, the basketball teams are already there in both regards.
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