When the Knicks hired Scott Perry as a general manger last week and elevated Steve Mills to president, the team became the first NBA franchise to have two African Americans serving in those top management spots.
This fact, as noted by Perry and Mills, is a bit shocking considering that 80 percent of the NBA's players last season were people of color and 74.4 percent were classified as African American or black, according to statistics published last month by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES).
What isn't shocking, however, is that Perry would be a part of a trailblazing duo, given that the Knicks' new general manager comes from a long line of accomplished trailblazers, starting with his grandfather who was a civic leader and one of the first African-American dentists in Ypsilanti, Mich.
"The story our dad used to tell is that my grandfather was living in Montgomery, Alabama, and heard about the University of Michigan," said Lowell Perry Jr., Scott's older brother. "He had 25 dollars in his pocket, caught a train to Ann Arbor, Michigan and worked his way through school."
Scott Perry's father, Lowell Perry Sr., in 1957 became the first black coach in the NFL since Fritz Pollard in the 1920s when he was named the receivers coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, after his playing career with the Steelers was cut short due to a serious hip injury. Perry Sr. attended law school Duquesne University while working for the Steelers and later was appointed head of the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission by President Gerald Ford.
Perry said in Monday's introductory Knicks news conference that he understands the importance of being part of the first all African-American president/general manager team.
"That's not something lost on me," Perry said. "I mentioned in my opening about my dad, his history in the game and that being groundbreaking. At the end of the day, we want to be recognized for the quality of individuals we are and what type of job we'll do to produce a winner in New York regardless of race. But I also would be remiss not to say I don't understand the gravity of that and embrace the gravity of that. Hopefully, if we're successful, it will open the doors for other young, aspiring African-Americans who want to have these jobs."
Richard Lapchick, the director of TIDES, said the NBA has long been the industry leader among men's sports for racial and gender hiring practices. Still, in its report card issued at the end of June, TIDES gave the NBA an "F" for racial diversity in both its president/chief executive officer and general manager categories.
Out of 30 teams, the NBA currently has five black presidents of basketball operations, including the Los Angeles Clippers' Doc Rivers, Los Angeles Lakers newcomer and Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, Charlotte's Fred Whitfield and the Toronto Raptors' Masai Ujiri. There are now two black general managers, Del Demps of New Orleans and the Knicks' Perry. Richard Cho, the Myanmar-born general manger of Charlotte, is Asian.
The NBA was the first major sports league to have an African-American general manger as Wayne Embry was hired in 1972 to run the Bucks and went on to have a long front office career with the Cavaliers and Raptors. Lapchick said some of the turn this year is "cyclical" but noted that the league needs to improve on its current "F" grade and not let the numbers get as low as they currently are.
He said he believes that most young people would not see race as a barrier to obtaining a general manager job in the NBA, but does believe that having to African-Americans head up the Knicks could encourage talented young minorities to pursue such a career path.
"The optics are strong when you see an African-American president and general manager on a storied franchise," Lapchick said. "If the Knicks become more successful in the short term, that will help that."
Well, yes there is that. And this management team does have a lot on its plate as it attempts what will amount to a total rebuild. Yet, when it comes to challenges, righting the Knicks ship can't be more challenging than some of the obstacles Perry's father and grandfather faced.
