NFL’s Griffin, Wilson Following Ashe’s Lead - Higher Education: n 1989, trailblazing tennis player and activist Arthur Ashe said that he knew there were Black athletes “perfectly capable of simultaneously excelling on the athletic and academic fields.”
He knew, well, because he had done so himself.
Perhaps the two most prominent current athletes who embody that vision will face each other Sunday in the NFL playoffs: dynamic quarterbacks Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks and Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins. Aside from sharing the common bond of being rookies, they also finished 1 and 2, respectively, as male selections for the 2011 Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholar Award as selected by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education magazine.
In almost every sense, Wilson and Griffin’s careers would be more appropriately ranked 1 and 1A. You couldn’t possibly go wrong, it seems, no matter which you choose.
