COMMENTARY : NOT A BAD GOAL SPORTS A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE FOR BLACKS.

Byline: Gregory Clay Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service

It first hit me in 1979. It was October; that means the Fall Classic. The black-and-gold clad Pittsburgh Pirates were busy defeating the Baltimore Orioles, 4 games to 3, to win the World Series.

But probably around the 50th time I heard the television network play the Pirates' resonating theme song, ``We Are Family'' by Sister Sledge, I began to wonder why. After seeing Dave Parker and Willie ``Pops'' Stargell and Bill Madlock and Bill Robinson and Manny Sanguillen and Rennie Stennett come to the plate, not necessarily in that order, I said, why so many? Why do so many black men have to play pro sports? Why not play in the other fields: law, medicine, journalism, accounting, engineering, etc.? I was almost resentful or embarrassed that there were so many pro black athletes.

After all, at the time, I'm in my next-to-last year at the University of North Carolina, sitting in a posh, carpeted lounge on the sixth floor of Granville Towers, a private dormitory on campus where the UNC basketball players also resided. A throng of us on the dorm floor - male and female - were glued to the lounge TV.

Then fast-forward to after those halcyon days, when it's time to work for a living. Get a real job. Reality hits. Get off that sophomoric soapbox. It's time to do my 180-degree turn. Those rose-colored glasses of college are shattered. Now, it's if you can play it professionally, then go for it. And do it well. I say more power to any black kid who can play the sports field, considering the difficult and unfair hurdles lurking in the mainstream field. The bottom line: At least these kids have a positive dream - with eyes on a prize instead of a street corner - although I think that dream to celebrity-hood is fueled by the perception that the means to a financially solvent end is quick and easy.

That 1979 college episode replayed itself in my mind after perusing the front page of a recent issue of U.S. News & World Report magazine. The cover story was titled ``Are Pro Sports Bad for Black America? A sobering look at the Air Jordan effect.''

Pro sports aren't bad for black America, but . . .

Crime is bad for black America.

Teen-age pregnancy is bad for black America.

Unemployment is bad for black America.

And ultimately, poverty is bad for black America.

In these economic times, if you are a black kid with athletic potential, then hone those skills. And take those skills to college, where you can hone them some more. And just maybe you will also get an education. Too many 17-year-olds suffer from delusions of grandeur with that NBA mindset.

Former Lakers guard Magic Johnson was right when he told TNT Sports on March 26, ``Well, first of all, I understand because most of them want to, of course, take care of their families and themselves. But I say stay in. I say go to college because you miss a lot. You need the education and it's going to help you out after basketball is over and that's what they should understand.

``And the problem that we have now in the young kids is that they don't have the fundamentals to really play. That's the problem we have with a lot of the players in the NBA now coming out of school early. They don't have the fundamentals.''

But fundamentals can be taught, if you have the willingness to learn from coaches. They are teachers; they must stress discipline, teamwork, work ethic. Coaches, many of whom are tantamount to surrogate fathers, are vastly important in these changing times.

Take note that in 1970, 29.5 percent of black households were headed by females, compared with 7.8 percent for whites. In 1994, that figure soared to 54.2 percent for blacks, compared with 17.9 percent for whites, according to a study called ``African-Americans Today: A Demographic Profile.'' The study was produced by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a black think tank in Washington, D.C.

Playing sports offers many of these kids another supervisor - the coach. A kid comes to practice, where he is supervised after school. With the high frequency of black female-headed households, single mothers need all the positive help they can find.

So do many of these black kids.

George Raveling, former USC basketball coach and current CBS Sports college basketball commentator, agrees with me. ``It (pro athletic career) doesn't hurt anymore than it helps,'' said Raveling, from his hotel room in Indianapolis, site of the 1997 Final Four. ``There's probably more kids who are participating in athletics who are the recipients of a broader view of life's opportunities. As you move along, you find there are other ready pursuits besides athletics, other parallel opportunities.''

However, Henry Aaron, major league baseball's all-time home run leader and vice president for business development with the Airport Network for CNN in Atlanta, disagrees with me. ``I do know in some instances that there is some truth in what they (U.S. News & World Report articles) are saying,'' Aaron told me. ``In my travels, it seems most black kids believe they can make a living in pro sports, no matter what kind of career they had in high school or college or whatever.

``The thing that frightens me, especially for minority kids in sports, is that all of these doors that are open for white kids aren't open for black kids. A white kid can go from sports to Coca-Cola and be an executive. A black kid can't do that. As a black kid, especially, you better be prepared to do something else - besides sports.''

The U.S. News & World Report pointed out a startling, though revealing, statistic from a survey by Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society. The stat: Sixty-six percent of black males between the ages of 13 and 18 in this country believe they can earn a living playing pro sports. Hence, the Air Jordan effect, repercussions and all.

Dr. John Wilson, who has a Ph.D. in anthropology, psychology and education from California-Berkeley and is president of the Washington, D.C. chapter of Concerned Black Men, has first-hand experience. During a recent visit to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, he spoke to a class of black kids. He asked them, ``How many of you want to be pro athletes?''

All of the black males raised their hands. Call it the Tim Duncan Effect. Duncan, Wake Forest's All-World basketball center, is from St. Croix.

Then Dr. Wilson asked the students, ``How many of you want to become a president or CEO of a company?'' None raised a hand.

Familiarity apparently breeds aspirations.

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Photo: Magic Johnson, right, understands why players want to go pro early and take care of their families, but he wishes more would stay in school and improve their fundamentals. George Raveling, above, says, ``There's probably more kids who are participating in athletics who are the recipients of a broader view of life's opportunities. As you move along, you find there are other ready pursuits besides athletics, other parallel opportunities.''

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