By Jordan Mamorsky
The steep fall from grace is not surprising anymore. We have seen it all before. Whether it is a star NFL wide receiver bringing a gun into a tightly packed night club, an NBA all-star swingman bringing a gun into his team’s locker room or a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback allegedly sexually assaulting a girl in a seedy bar restroom – over the past few years, egregious misconduct by professional athletes has been a major blemish on an otherwise vibrant sports industry.
While fans pack the stadiums and arenas to see their favorite players compete on game day, in their off-time players have increasingly found ways for their names to be the subject of headline news for all the wrong reasons.
Searching for answers, I recently spoke with Allan Houston, assistant to the president for Basketball Operations at the New York Knicks and founder of the Legacy Foundation, an organization that works with local communities and corporate sponsors to help develop father-mentors and life skills for young athletes.
Houston believes that sports leagues, like the NBA and NFL, are not responsible for the rise in player misconduct.
“First of all, you can’t put it on the NBA and its programs,” Houston said. ”That’s the first really big mistake to say that the NBA and its programs are responsible for the well-being of these young men… It comes down to the support system around [the players] that can really walk with them and they can trust; that they respect. That’s one of the things that current players, potential players have to take very seriously.”
Houston speaks from personal experience as his own “support system” was largely responsible for his development from a New York Knicks’ legend to one of the rising front office-stars in the NBA. Houston’s strong family structure as a youth enabled him to understand the value of hard work, determination and education as a professional basketball player.
“My parents were very hard working parents, who set high standards for us,” Houston said. “They were just examples. I made my share of mistakes but faith gave us a foundation and a standard that helped channel the gifts my sisters and I had.”
“When I got to the Knicks I had not just my parents, but a lot of strong men and people to look up to, to have as a point of reference. A lot of it comes down to how serious you treat your education. I wanted to be the best at everything I did. I never wanted to do anything half-way.”
Many other professional athletes are not as fortunate as Houston. Single parent homes, poverty and other negative external pressures burden many young athletes with difficult childhoods that leave them hungry for fame and fortune once they enter the business of professional sports.
“Eight out of 10 African Americans live at some point [of their lives] as part of a single parent home,” Houston said. “It’s probably 60-70% for white families. To me, this is a cultural battle, the family, the structure; the standards are kind of dropping in general. We get in these debates about president and politics and this and that, but if you look at the statistics we can’t blame the NBA, the NCAA [or other institutions]. We have to look at what is happening at the core of what our culture is and where we are getting it from.”
In order to battle a modern culture where traditional families are the exception, rather than the norm, Houston feels that other interpersonal relationships with a young athlete’s role models should be stressed.
“A lot of it could be the high school coach a lot could be the AAU coach, a lot of it could be the people who are around them,” Houston said. “It comes down to the person who builds players’ trust and that’s who a lot of responsibility falls on.”
The idea that athletes as well have a responsibility as role models is a disputed issue. While some disagree that athletes should assume a role model responsibility, Houston believes that an athlete’s fame and fortune should reflect exemplary behavior as role models.
“As professional athletes I believe we have a responsibility,” Houston said. “But other people might not have that insight instilled in them so that they might not think that. So I can’t tell you what someone like LeBron James thinks, because I don’t know him enough to get that answer, that in depth answer. But I believe [sports] is a platform that was given to us to use – that God has given us – and we are responsible for it and it’s not for us.”
A lack of ethics and personal responsibility has not only been seen as the culprit in professional athlete misconduct, but also in the way pro athletes go about their own marketing and free agency. This past summer the sports business world was rocked by an unprecedented NBA free agency period, which received negative criticism in the sports community for overshadowing a competitive NBA season and playoffs.
There might have been nothing wrong with the way NBA players like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh handled the free agency process, however, Houston admits he would not have counseled his own son to act in a manner which resulted in a media circus never seen before in the sports industry.
“What they did was not wrong,” Houston said. “It was just unprecedented, so I am not sure if I would have advised my son to handle it the way he [LeBron James] handled it but it wasn’t wrong. He had every right to go wherever he wanted to go and he had every right to say look I want to take less money and go somewhere else. There’s nothing wrong with that. The character in which he did it didn’t come off the way I would have said all right Allan do it this way.”
During his time with the Knicks Allan Houston received a then franchise record $100 million contract in the free agent period. Yet, despite receiving such a watershed deal, Houston positioned himself as a role model in the sports and sports business community. Now as an executive within the organization, Houston is dedicated to helping professional athletes transition into successful businessmen.
“My real goal is to use my platform to help the young men behind me use their brand to create a strong legacy for themselves,” Houston said. “A lot of our young men look at basketball as the end all and be all. Very few, especially African American young men, channel themselves to focus on a long term legacy, generations after now, and what you are going to leave them. For me, that’s my goal.”
Houston’s aim is an important one for more former professional athletes to have. With few current and former players willing to carry the mantle of exemplary role models, the sports community is in need of more players like Houston willing to work to insure athletes blossom into responsible, dedicated, and successful professionals.
