Different Strokes by Cecil Harris

Author:Cecil Harris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SPO045000 Sports & Recreation / Tennis, SOC001000 Social Science / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies
Publisher: UNP - Nebraska

Some believe champions are born. Others believe they are made. The correct answer may lie somewhere in between. But it is probably a safe bet to believe that if no one in your family tree has ever shown a considerable amount of athletic ability, or achieved something of significance in an athletic endeavor, then it is highly unlikely that you will become a champion in an individual sport. Not impossible. Just highly unlikely. Fortunately for the five-foot-seven, 140-pound Stephens, when she dove into the athletic gene pool, she came up big.

Sybil Smith, Sloane’s mother, grew up in Fresno, California, and attended Boston University, where she became the first African American female swimmer to achieve All-American status at the highest level of competition, Division I. She was a four-time All-American at BU and the finest female swimmer in school history. Her specialties were the backstroke, the butterfly, and freestyle. The Boston University Athletic Hall of Fame enshrined her in 1993. She then attended graduate school at Harvard University, earning a master’s degree in counseling and consulting psychology while also serving as an assistant coach of the women’s swim team.

As a celebrated black athlete in a predominantly white sport, Smith prepared Stephens well for the quizzical stares and questions she would face as a black girl who plays tennis. Let your accomplishments speak for themselves, Smith taught her daughter. Nobody will think it’s unusual to see a black swimmer or a black tennis player if you show them your ability. Skin color will be what they see first, but your ability and your character will leave a stronger impression.

John Stephens, Sloane’s father, debuted in the National Football League as a running back for the New England Patriots. Following a successful collegiate career at Northwestern State University in Louisiana, he became the American Football Conference’s Rookie of the Year with the Patriots in 1988. That year he made the Pro Bowl (the NFL’s all-star game) when he gained 1,168 yards. He ran with force and abandon until a game on October 22, 1989, when his helmet-to-helmet collision with San Francisco 49ers defensive back Jeff Fuller left Fuller paralyzed. John Stephens seemed to lose a certain zest for the game after that. He spent six years in the NFL, four with the Patriots followed by stints with the Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons, and Kansas City Chiefs. In a noteworthy achievement off the field, he won the NFL’s first Gale Sayers Humanitarian Citation for his work on behalf of a community health center in Roxbury, Massachusetts. His life then took a tragic turn. He was charged with raping a woman in Kansas City in 1994. He pled guilty to sexual assault, was sentenced to five years’ probation, and was required to register as a sex offender. Sybil Smith, from whom he had been estranged, severed the relationship and took Sloane with her to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. John Stephens was then arrested in Kansas City for carrying a concealed weapon, and later apprehended in Texas for not properly registering as a sex offender.

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