Corey King is a senior on the track & field team at Case Western Reserve University, where he also played football. He is majoring in aerospace engineering and has been named to the UAA All-Academic Team a total of seven times in football and track & field. King has taken a leadership role in beginning the Spartans’ student-athlete of color group.
The UAA “Conversations About Race and Racism” series seeks to lift the voices of people of color and recognize the challenges faced in both athletics and academics at the collegiate level. By sharing personal stories, we hope to elevate the conversation about race to raise awareness and bring about change.
Mix of School Experiences
“I have been blessed with different experiences and have always been a part of accelerated classes. What that meant racially didn’t stick out to me at a majority Black high school, but it did beyond that. I was surrounded by only white kids in upper-level classes and that opened my eyes to the inequity. I questioned why the majority at my school were not in the best classes,” he reflected. “I started playing football my sophomore year of high school. I also took International Baccalaureate classes all day with peers who were white. Then I went to practice where we had a majority Black team. I didn’t think my white teammates were any smarter than my Black teammates.”
This differentiation between classes and football challenged King and led to him to question why they were so different. “I was wondering how to meld those two worlds together while still being myself. How can I change this for Black males? It was important to me to be more than an athlete, to do well in school by excelling in my classes. I transferred to Louisiana School for Math, Science & the Arts, which was a totally different experience for me. The school is a PWI (primarily white institution) at its finest and didn’t have a football team,” he stated. “I had options where to play and ended up playing for a private school that went to the state championship. Things could have been a lot different if I stayed at my old school or played at a public school.”
“I see a lot of people who look like me who don’t have the same experiences, not because they are incapable, but because they haven’t had the same opportunities. There were a lot of resources my white peers had like tutoring for standardized tests that I didn’t even know existed and others can’t take advantage of.”
Misconceptions and Challenges
“I go places and wear CWRU clothing as a badge of honor that says I attend one of the best institutions in the U.S. When people hear I play(ed) football, they ask if my schooling is paid for. They make an assumption, not even knowing that (NCAA) Division III schools don’t have athletic scholarships,” he pointed out. “I walked on to both the football and track teams. I came here based on how well I did in school and just happened to get the chance to be part of these teams as well.”
He came to college having always had people who looked like him to mentor and advise him. “I didn’t have that person when I got into college, a time when I think students develop the most as individuals and interests may change. In my first high school, I knew I could depend on my dad. In boarding school, I also had a student life advisor who was a Black man who shared his high school experiences and how he got to the next level in his education and career,” King recollected. “We have great coaches here and I loved my experiences, but we don’t have the most diverse coaching staffs. That makes it hard for someone who looks like me to relate and ask certain questions, some of which I didn’t even know I had.”
Toward the end of his sophomore year, he did find that mentor. “I met (CWRU Associate Director of Multicultural Leadership & Programming, Office of Multicultural Affairs) John Killings and he knew my beliefs and concerns. We talk about all kinds of things that I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about with people who don’t look like me through no fault of their own. It is a cultural thing,” he remarked. “John has been that person for me at CWRU. He has given me the resources to find myself. In addition, coach Debs (Greg Debeljak) has always been very active and understanding about racial issues. He does the right thing at the right time.”
Welcoming at CWRU
He felt CWRU’s commitment to different people and experiences as soon as he arrived on campus. “It has an understanding and welcoming community. There was a lot of discussion about diversity in freshman orientation, which I appreciated. Compared to experiences growing up in the South, any troubles I may have had on campus I likely didn’t even notice because of the blatant things I dealt with previously,” he commented. “I have always found ways to adapt to racism. My mom always told me to dress professionally and to look a certain way when I left the house, so I never looked like we were in need. Being Black, it is as if we always have something to prove based on how we look. That’s why I wear a lot of CWRU things to show I am part of this institution.”
Wearing gear in high school was not going to serve the same purpose for King. “A lot of people knew me in the city because I was doing well and was on the state championship football team. I got a lot of things for free, but none of that mattered one county over or at LSMSA. Those were completely different experiences,” he elucidated. “It wouldn’t matter if I was wearing LSMSA stuff. I was jogging at the school in my junior year to prepare for the football season when a truck pulled up next to me and white students started calling me racial slurs. I didn’t even know how to react, but I knew if I retaliated, things could get really ugly really quickly. I knew that I would be doing bigger things at the end of the day than these guys in a ratty truck spewing racial epithets, so I rose above it and kept going.”
Wearing CWRU gear is something he does off-campus around Cleveland and surrounding areas, where he acknowledges he faces more racism. “I recently started being conscious of protecting my skin, so I went to an Ulta Beauty store. Being my first time there, it took me about 40 minutes to look around, at which point I noticed the manager was following me around. Why me? Having my own ‘personal assistant,’ I said, ‘Can you help me?’ and it turned into a good experience, but being followed around in stores is common,” he verbalized. “There is an understanding that there are certain places you don’t go into in any city as a Black man. That’s just the nature of the beast. I’m not happy about it, but I am aware of it.”
Advice for Other Black Student-Athletes
“I always remind myself that there are those who came before me who have seen and experienced much worse,” he shared. “That is my fuel to keep pushing forward.”
King recognizes that those who come after him will have faced racism in various forms. “To those coming behind me, I would let them know that they, unfortunately, are not alone in those experiences. Always try to find someone near you who can empathize, even if it is someone who doesn’t look like you. Everyone has their own hardships,” he articulated. “Keep working and pushing. As soon as you believe the outcome is not going to be what you want, you have already defeated yourself. Giving up is the worst option even if it is easier. There are high-achieving people at CWRU and all the UAA institutions. Keep being amazing. Everything will work out and you can lend a hand to change institutions and systems that made it hard for you and others. What you do is all about the long run, not the short term.”
Being on two different teams has impacted King immensely. “I did a lot of growing when I started playing football and track has continued to teach me the importance of hard work. How well the team meshes is so important to team success. I have been on a state championship team and a 1-8 team. I understand what emotions were present. Take the positive things and push them into your life, while learning from the negative things. You are in a special position for learning and growing.”
Role of Allies and Teammates
“We are in very different times. More allies have expressed being allies recently than I have ever seen. A lot of people are talking, which I am thankful for. Continue to talk because that is what will build solutions. We are in the data collection stage of problem solving. That is what I do as an engineer. I collect data,” he announced. “The more data we have, the more we can look and see what needs to be done for a specific set of outcomes from the data.”
King believes that offering a helping hand can go a long way. “It is hard to be an ally. I try to put myself in other people’s shoes and being an ally is a hard job. You don’t always know what the right thing is, or the right way, to ask. Cancel culture (rejecting someone completely for something offensive they said or did) is not healthy. A lot of people are newbies to being an ally and they can learn from things they may not have done well,” he suggested. “As a human being, be open-minded and try to understand more than what you have been told. If all you hear is that pit bulls bite and are dangerous, you are probably going to be really scared of pit bulls. When you see one in real life, you will act accordingly. When you only allow yourself to see and hear negative things about people of color, you are going to perceive the worst in them.”
Those expectations can manifest themselves in multiple ways. “If you think a Black man is a cool guy, do so because he is a human being, not because of what he looks like. Then extend this to every human being, not based on looks, but on who they are. Continue to push those conversations,” he recommended. “Bad information coming in can only produce bad outcomes. A lot of my teammates are future leaders and play a big role in leading by example. Express that we are all individuals trying to succeed at the end of the day. It doesn’t matter what you look like, but what you are capable of.”
He applies that to being a teammate. “When I am on the field, it doesn’t matter what you look like as long as you are doing your job. We will support you because of what you do, not how you look. It should be the same when it comes to the color of a person’s skin. When you get the job done, we all do better,” he explained. “Off the field, a lot of people on my team are my brothers and we continue to discuss hard topics. They are leaders looking for growth and change. It is okay to make mistakes. Just learn from those mistakes. We all grow from continuing to learn. Learn more about your teammates and your neighbor. That expresses an open-mindedness that can help change a lot of dysfunctional systems currently in place.”
Role of Coaches and Individuals
“Society has to work like football. Different positions are all necessary to keep things moving effectively. I recently read Caste by Isabel Wilkerson about occupation hierarchy. She points out that we need people in different positions in order to run a society, but that your occupation shouldn’t be determined the day you come out of the womb. It should not be predestined or pre-ordained by what you look like,” King illuminated. “Coach Debs and Coach (Eric) Schmuhl and their staffs are some of the most open-minded individuals I have ever met, which has been very important to my growth here. I understand that they have a lot on their plate, but they are aware of current events. They also don’t determine what your limit is based on what you have done previously. We can all get better.”
He acknowledges that talking about injustice is not easy. “It is hard to speak about race. We avoid those conversations because it is easier. There is a balance between overbearing and informative. One discussion a year may be appropriate to understand what we stand for as a team. A pillar of our football team was E=R=O (Events, what happens to you = Response to that event = Outcomes you experience),” he described. “The coaches see us as the leaders of tomorrow, so they don’t expect you just to perform on the field and in the classroom, but also emotionally and as part of society.”
The murder of George Floyd in May 2020 provoked discussions about race. “I got the chance to talk to some of my teammates in a different setting, speaking about my experiences as a Black man. We could talk about what we thought about the current racial climate and how we can best approach bringing about the outcomes we want to see. Those are hard questions to ask a young person when we all have a lot of growing to do individually,” he admitted. “I was happy to get the opportunity to talk about these things. I was very upset about what was going on nationally and very conflicted about what we should do as a team. I can feel change happening in society, but it is slow. You can change yourself in a month, maybe 10 people in a year, but to change millions of people takes centuries.”
The CWRU football team discussed signing a document about being open-minded. “I spoke to a lot of teammates about it, and I think it is great, but it will take more than a signature to make profound change. We are all expected to do amazing things when we leave CWRU. They have shown the ability to handle adversity on the football field and in the classroom at the same time. I hope they will stand up for what they believe in,” he stated. “Each person has to decide what is right, but if you see the things happening in this country and it sits well with you, look deeper into yourself and see if that is the side of history you want to stand on.”