William C. Rhoden Quote

The peculiar fascination with Davis reflected the way sports-crazed Southerners were struggling with race: On the one hand, they were steeped in the white South's revulsion at the presence of blacks, but on the other, they couldn't suppress their admiration of—and need for—the black physical presence. It was writ large in the South in 1966, but it's a paradigm that continues to define the dilemma of race and racism in sports in the United States: Behind the cheering often lurks angry resentment.

William C. Rhoden

The peculiar fascination with Davis reflected the way sports-crazed Southerners were struggling with race: On the one hand, they were steeped in the white South's revulsion at the presence of blacks, but on the other, they couldn't suppress their admiration of—and need for—the black physical presence. It was writ large in the South in 1966, but it's a paradigm that continues to define the dilemma of race and racism in sports in the United States: Behind the cheering often lurks angry resentment.

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About William C. Rhoden

William C. Rhoden is an American sports journalist and author who formerly worked as a columnist for The New York Times from 1983 until 2016, when he joined ESPN's The Undefeated as a writer-at-large, where he is currently employed. Rhoden is also a visiting senior practitioner at Arizona State University as well as the director of the Rhoden Fellows program.