LEXINGTON, Ky. _ Kentucky coach John Calipari will endow a McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative Future Leader position at North Carolina Central University, it was announced Tuesday. The program's namesake, John McLendon, coached at North Carolina Central from 1941 to 1952.
"North Carolina Central University is where Coach McLendon got his first opportunity at the collegiate level," Calipari said in a news release. "I'm grateful to be able to honor his legacy by helping provide that same opportunity to a Future Leader on NCCU's campus."
North Carolina Central coach LeVelle Moton will mentor his campus' Future Leader.
"Coach Cal and I have been good friends for years," Moton said in the news release. "Not only is he a man of integrity, but a man of action. I'm grateful for his friendship and his quest to provoke necessary change while continuing the legacy of John McLendon."
Last week Calipari detailed how UK would implement the Minority Leadership Initiative that was formally announced on July 6. It is designed to create access and opportunity for minority applicants to get practical work experience in college athletic departments. Calipari has spoken several times about the program allowing college athletics to participate in easing, if not ending, systemic racism in this country by diversifying the culture of athletic administrations.
UK will have five such employees in each of the next six school years, said Calipari, who suggested he would enthusiastically support a means by which a Future Leader could shadow Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart and school President Eli Capilouto.
Calipari said his role might be to invite the employees to dinner at his home at least once a month and arrange for speakers. He said he had spoken to filmmaker Spike Lee and actor-comedian Jamie Foxx.
When asked how he could define success in the program, Calipari said athletic departments would be more diverse in 10 years and that in 20 years there would be five times as many minority athletic directors.
The MLI program is supported by 36 other college head coaches and the John McLendon Minority Scholarship Foundation, Calipari said.
The UK coach has pledged to fund five of the MLI Future Leaders in each of the next six years.
UK will be part of the program beginning with the upcoming 2020-21 school year.
Calipari spoke of such a program multiple times this year as a way he could make a difference in dealing with this country's systemic racism.
"It was really important for me to take a step back these past few weeks and listen," the UK coach said in the news release. "Now it's time to take action. The MLI is about access and opportunity: real-world experience and networking platforms designed to elevate talented young women and men of color who have previously been ignored by a system that lacks diversity and inclusion. For this work, I couldn't think of a more appropriate vehicle than the McLendon Foundation. I'm excited about where we're headed and feel this is a great first step toward affecting measurable change in our corner of the world."
Calipari has spoken of the program expanding across the country and into non-athletic departments at colleges and universities, plus into the business world.
Marc Morial, who is president of the National Urban League, has given "an all-hands-on-deck commitment to participate" in the program, said P.G. Peeples, who is president and CEO of the Urban League of Lexington-Fayette County.
During his 12 years at North Carolina Central, Coach McLendon led the Eagles to eight CIAA championships. McLendon also helped organize "The Secret Game" vs. Duke University, which is regarded as the first college basketball game where Black and white players competed on the same court.
McLendon considered the inventor of basketball, James Naismith, as a mentor. McLendon graduated from Kansas in 1937. His coaching career included stops at Kentucky State, North Carolina Central, Hampton, Tennessee State, Cleveland State and the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association.
McLendon also became the first Black coach at a predominantly white university.
