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Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2008 > June > 29 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USSwimmer’s splash could erode stereotypes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cullen Jones is black. Cullen Jones is a swimmer.
Notwithstanding observations from the noted late anthropologist, Al Campanis, who believed African Americans made lousy swimmers because, “they don’t have the buoyancy,” there remains a sad and wide chasm between race and sport in the pool.
Jones is one of the fastest swimmers in the U.S. But his skin tone continues to alter perceptions. He could walk into a room wearing USA gear but most would presume him to be a sprinter, a point guard, a soccer player — yes, even a chess player — before they would guess a water sport.
“Ask the concierge downstairs,” Jones said at a recent USOC media summit in Chicago. “He guessed everything. He said, ‘You’re a chess player, aren’t you?’ I said, ‘Yeah, ultimate backgammon, actually.’ They never guess swimming. They guess everything under the sun.”
They won’t have to guess this week. Jones will stand out from most among the 800 swimmers in the starting blocks at the U.S. Olympic swim trials in Omaha. He is the only African American currently on the U.S. national swim team. Should Jones succeed at the trials, he’ll become a U.S. Olympic rarity. Former Georgia star Maritza Correia made the 2004 women’s team in Athens. Anthony Ervin, whose father is of African American and Native American descent, competed for the U.S. men in Sydney in 2000.
At the U.S. Olympic level, that’s it.
Jones doesn’t mind race being spotlighted whenever he’s on the starting block. He embraces the role. He’s a centerpiece of USA Swimming’s “Make A Splash” initiative, which aims to educate minorities on the sport and make it more accessible to inner-city youth.
USA Swimming has 252,000 members who swim competitively. Less than two percent are black. African American children are nearly three times more likely to die from drowning than non-blacks. Nearly 60 percent of African American children (ages 6 to 16) can’t swim (almost twice as many as whites).
Jones is a fitting spokesperson for the program. He nearly drowned when he was 5.
He was born in the Bronx and raised in New Jersey. He hadn’t had a swim lesson when he convinced his parents to let him go down an inner tube water slide in Pennsylvania. The ride was fun. The landing at the bottom war was near-tragedy. The tube flipped upside down. Jones held on and flipped with it under water. He passed out and CPR was required to revive him.
“I don’t remember panicking too much,” he said. “But I do remember being unconscious.”
He also remembers asking his parents, “What can I go on next?”
He had found a home in the water. So his parents got him lessons. He got good. He started winning races. His father, Ronald Jones, who played basketball at a small college in the Bronx, tried to push his son into hoops, but Cullen kept coming back to the pool.
“By the time I was 12 years old, my father kind of let it go,” he said.
If he had known where this was going, Ronald Jones never would have had an issue. Cullen became a standout at North Carolina State and the first African American male swimmer to share a world record (400 freestyle relay).
Ronald Jones never got to see any of that. He died of lung cancer in 2000, when Cullen was 16. Cullen has a tattoo that reads, “Jones 41” (his former uniform number). He writes “41” with his autograph. “I always wanted my dad to be a part of my career,” he said.
An Olympic berth would be an appropriate next step, and one more chance to erode stereotypes.
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Comments
By Proud dawg
June 30, 2008 12:38 AM | Link to this
I couldn’t even read this article all the way through… what do they pay you guys… write one article a week and this is the best you could come up with? Pray every night and thank the journalistic gods that you live in a market with ONE sorry newspaper
By Keeping It Real
June 30, 2008 11:47 AM | Link to this
Proud dawg,
It is 12:30 am in the morning and you are whinning. Does your momma know where you are? You must be mourning the death of UGA VI. You are pathetic.
By GABred
June 30, 2008 1:47 PM | Link to this
Great article Jeff!!! Very informative, very well written. Us educated bloggers can appreciate a feature that doesn’t look to insight a riot or look to relive the civil war(the south lost). I hope the rest join us in the 21st century, great read.
By jj
June 30, 2008 3:14 PM | Link to this
Forgive me if I have the title wrong, but I believe the movie “Pride” did a great job of explaining the struggles of the black swimmer. Perhaps with Cullen Jones’ story we could have another version of the movie in the making.
By Dixie Dawg
June 30, 2008 4:16 PM | Link to this
As a former swimmer I enjoyed your article. However, while he may be one of the best yet, Albany State had a swim team in the 70’s with some good swimmers. Don’t believe that any of them achieved the level of your article but they were out there trying and competing. I was also not proud of what “proud dawg” wrote. He’s proof that you don’t have to be smart, educated or even thoughtful to write a reply on a blog. Thanks again, nice work.
By Jeff Schultz
June 30, 2008 4:57 PM | Link to this
Hello folks. Despite what some people may think, every column is not written to generate 100 blogs. If that were the case, I would have Matthew Stafford and Lindsay Lohan in every lead. So to people like “Proud dawg” who are disinterested in anything not about Georgia football, I say simply: turn the page. It’s an Olympic year and I’m headed to Beijing in a few weeks so my objective is to dig out as many human interest stories as possible, even if it has no impact on the Auburn game. To the others, thanks for the comments. Back later. JS
By Roswell Ed
June 30, 2008 7:41 PM | Link to this
Take a mask with you Jeff.
Air Quality there is nonexistent.
See if you can watch that Outside the Lines on that before you go.
By Omar Morris
June 30, 2008 9:44 PM | Link to this
I saw this story on the news. The more people who hear about this young man, the better. It’s great to hear about an African American male who is not in trouble or making a spectacle of themselves. I will be cheering for Mr. Jones because he is African American AND because he embodies the American spirit that makes us proud. Jeff … good work.
By Ben in Athens
July 1, 2008 1:28 AM | Link to this
Keep it coming Jeff. Great human interest piece. I look forward to more leading up to Beijing. It helps give a different perspective on the athletes than just flags and numbers. I’m also 99% sure that, with words like that, the so called “Proud Dawg” has never received a degree from my alma mater. I just hate that he and others like him insist on trying to associate themselves with the university. It makes me sick. Good work Jeff.
By Anna
July 1, 2008 7:34 AM | Link to this
Thank you, Jeff. Because of the sheer numbers of African-Americans who are afraid of swimming and of the children who drown every year, it is important for them to have a role model in the pool. As a former swimmer, I will certainly be cheering Cullen Jones on as he swims in Beijing.