The ultimate goal. (Publisher's Page).

For most Americans, it is all but impossible to fathom any major sports league without African Americans. Not Major ague Baseball. Not the National Football League. Not even the National Basketball Association. Yet, prior to 1946, the year Woody Strode and Kenny Washington became the first black players in the NFL's modern era (Jackie Robinson became a Brooklyn Dodger and broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947), that's just the way it was in the upper echelon of professional sports--whites only This is not ancient history, but well within the lifetimes of most Americans. But to today's generations, accustomed to decades of athletic excellence and highlight-film exploits from the likes of Barry Bonds, Michael Jordan, and Emmitt smith, this must sound like The Twilight Zone.

Breaking into major league sports as players was only the beginning and, in the words of the late tennis great Arthur Ashe (and also the title of his great book on the history of the black athlete), it has been "A Hard Road to Glory." Once African Americans gained access as players, we had to fight for on-the-field leadership positions such as quarterback, pitcher, and point guard. Then came the battle to compete as coaches and managers--a struggle that continues, particularly in Major League Baseball and the NFL. More barriers began to fall as African Americans sought decision-making, front-office posts such as general manager. And always in the distance was the final frontier: entree into that small, powerful, and exclusive cadre that rules the multibillion-dollar industry of major league sports--the team owners. Now, 52 years after Earl Lloyd joined the Washington (D.C.) Capitols to become the first black player in the NBA, billionaire Robert Johnson has achieved the ultimate goal by successfully negotiating the purchase of the NBA's new franchise in Charlotte, North Carolina, becoming the first African American majority owner of a major sports team.

Credit goes to Johnson, whose track record as a successful media entrepreneur (the founder of Black Entertainment Television became a billionaire when he sold his company to Viacom in 2000) and high-powered networker follows the proven formula of business savvy and political connections used by others competing for team ownership. But it is also not a coincidence that this historic breakthrough took place in the NBA, the most successful of the major sports leagues when it comes to opening up opportunities to African Americans on the sidelines and in the front office. While other sports still struggle to create opportunities for African Americans as head coaches and general managers, the NBA hired its first black coach, Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics, in 1966. Today the NBA boasts 13 black head coaches, including Lenny Wilkens, coach for the Toronto Raptors (who holds the record for the most wins among all NBA coaches, past and present).

Johnson is set to show America what pioneering athletes Robinson, Strode, Washington, and Lloyd demonstrated more than 50 years ago: Given a chance to compete, we will perform, and even excel. Johnson and the NBA have proven it can be done. Let their example be an inspiration to other African Americans and all of American sports and business.