Source: UMass Boston Establishes Motley Chair to Head New Sports Leadership and Administration BA Program
New Balance has been quietly erasing their big mistake in supporting President Trump after their issues with the Obama Administration and the TPP. At one point New Balance was being touted as the official shoe of White Supremacists. It didn’t help that in the mind of more liberal thinkers their support of President Trump in regard to contracts the brand was promised, but not finalized by President Obama, appeared to label the brand as right wing supporters of divisive politics.
While I’m discussing this it should be noted that every major corporation tends to side with the right when it comes to business. Even as vocal as Nike appears to be in supporting Colin Kaepernick, the company just gave a million to a right wing political candidate in Oregon. This issue isn’t black and white. Unfortunately for New Balance the problem stuck with the brand for much longer as their “affiliation” with the Alt Right happened in 2016, but the effects continue to linger although in marketing and sp[onsorships New Balance has been one of the most diverse companies in the business.
With the funding of this New Motley Chair at UMASS Boston,
The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees today unanimously approved the creation of the Dr. J. Keith Motley Chair for Sports Leadership & Administration at UMass Boston. The chair will head a new sports management and leadership Bachelor of Arts program enabled by a $5 million pledge—the largest in UMass Boston history—from the Boston-based global athletic apparel and footwear leader, New Balance.
New Balance continues blazing a trail and leaving contributions to the push for diversity in an industry that severely lacks representation of the people who tend to make up the majority of the athletes in sports that drive the billion dollar sports arena. The endowment is headed and was created in conjunction with two Black men, Dr. J. Keith Motley (who the chair was named after) and Charlie Titus (Vice Chancellor of Athletics and Recreation at UMASS Boston).
New Balance on the position being endowed:
The holder of the Dr. J. Keith Motley Chair for Sports Leadership and Administration will serve as director of, and teach in, the new sports management and leadership Bachelor of Arts program. In searching for the inaugural chair, UMass Boston will seek an internationally renowned scholar with expertise in the global sports industry and a deep understanding of current sport management. The chair must also recognize the value of practical and experiential learning as well as UMass Boston’s unique social justice mission and role as an engine of upward mobility.
Charlie Titus on the importance of the program:
According to Titus, who was instrumental in shaping the sports leadership program, it is designed to create new career pathways and bring additional diversity to the leadership and management ranks of the sports industry. By educating students in the foundations of sport, leadership and management, finance and economics, sports marketing and communications, ethics and sports law, and innovation and entrepreneurship, this new complement of sport leaders will be able to take their place in a dynamic and growing industry. Available beginning in the Fall 2019 semester, the program will take 25 full-time and 10 part-time students in the first year and scale up to a total of 140 students in steady state.
The list of athletes on the board of the Motley Program is incredible:
A distinguished advisory board of sports legends will help to guide the program and develop internships for the students. Olympic track star (and UMass Boston honorary degree recipient) Edwin Moses, former New England Patriot Andre Tippett, Boston Celtics star Tom “Satch” Sanders, and Baseball Hall of Fame executive Jeff Idelson, are among the organization’s members. Representatives of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group, Boston Bruins, Boston Athletic Association, Boston Celtics, City Year, Boston Sports Museum, Bank of America, Citizens Bank, New England Patriots, ESPN, Reggie Lewis Center and New Balance will round out the powerhouse board.
I haven’t written anything on what Nike did with Colin Kaepernick because personally it feels like a distraction that simply benefits Nike as it has taken a side in a discussion that seems to have forgotten what was being protested. What I did write about after the ad from Nike released was the community role Nike plays in Memphis. That is where the company shined.
I’m making sure to write about this endowment by New Balance because it will undoubtedly be overlooked; which is unfortunate. An ad doesn’t do much to empower anyone beyond instilling pride. Pride can’t be quantified. What can be quantified is an investment that breaks down the walls of institutionalized racism. New Balance ‘just quietly’ did something that I personally think is equally as valuable.
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Source: UMass Boston Establishes Motley Chair to Head New Sports Leadership and Administration BA Program
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