Emory Alum, Former NFL Player to Lead Forum March 25

An in-depth look at the ways in which race and sports have been intertwined at Emory University will be held Wednesday, March 25, when the university's Transforming Community Project holds a forum on “Changing the Game: Race and Sports at Emory.” The event begins at 4 p.m. in Cox Hall on the Emory campus and is free and open to the public.

Opening remarks will be given by Emory alumnus Pellom McDaniels III, a seven-year member of the National Football League (1993-1999), as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons, and one of only a handful of former NFL players to earn a Ph.D. He also is a poet, artist and a teacher.

Now an assistant professor of history and American studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, McDaniels received both his master of arts degree (2006) and his doctoral degree (2007) in American studies from Emory's Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts with his dissertation “The Angle of Ascent: Race, Class, Sport, and the Representations of African American Masculinity." McDaniels’ publications also include “My Own Harlem’ (1998), “You Want to Be Pro” (2000) and “We’re American Too: The Negro Leagues and the Philosophy of Resistance” (2004).

The forum will be moderated by Emory alumnus Amri Johnson, a member of the Emory Alumni Board and its diversity and community board.

Other panelists include: Tim Downes, director of athletics and recreation at Emory; Lloyd Winston, former head coach of the men’s basketball team (1987-1992) and first African-American head coach at the university; Christy Thomaskutty, head women’s basketball coach; Jason Campbell, a member of the track and field program; and Amelia McCall of the volleyball team.

The panel discussion was made possible through the Transforming Community Project, a five-year initiative begun in 2005 to document the university’s past and confront current challenges around the issue of race, as well as the Caucus of Black Emory Alumni; the President’s Commission on Race and Ethnicity; Public Humanities Race and Difference Initiative; Emory Athletics and the Black Graduate Student Association.