There are approximately 100 African American and other student-athletes of color this school year at the University of Minnesota. In an occasional series throughout the 2017-18 school and sports year, the MSR will highlight many of these players This week: Gopher freshman baseball pitcher Joshua Culliver Joshua Culliver is one of eight first-year hurlers on … [Read more...]
Sports: a space for local and national sports news, with emphasis on stories pertaining to African Americans.
Being on both sides of the whistle
A seasoned Coach Staley advises new Coach Whalen New Gopher Women’s Basketball Coach Lindsay Whalen said in last week’s “View” that she soon would “reach out” to South Carolina and U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Coach Dawn Staley. Staley in 2000 became the first WNBA player to take a Division I head coaching job (at Temple) while still an active player. That reach-out … [Read more...]
‘If they made it, so can I!’
Black hockey players see themselves as role models Two conferences were represented earlier this month in this year’s NCAA Frozen Four in St. Paul. Eventual champion Minnesota Duluth (NCHC) and Notre Dame (Big Ten) played for the 2018 title. This was the first time since 2005 that three schools in the same conference – Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan, all from the Big Ten … [Read more...]
Whalen named new Gopher coach after ‘whirlwind’ search
Will she be more successful recruiting local Black athletes? I love Lindsay Whalen. I’ve known her since her freshman year at Minnesota and throughout her stellar WNBA career. “You saw this coming?” a local reporter asked yours truly, the longest-tenured Gopher women’s basketball beat reporter, of my thoughts on perhaps the quickest coaching search since LaRue Fields, … [Read more...]
Celebrating Black Gopher student-athletes
In recognition of Black History Month this year, the University of Minnesota is "Celebrating Those Who Made Us Great" by interviewing (via surveys) former Black student-athletes. In this month’s “Sports Odds and Ends” we will publish as many of these interviews as space allows. This week: Ibrahim Kabia, Lea B. Olsen, Alena Brooks Ibrahim Kabia Sport(s): Men’s … [Read more...]