Joe Dumars : A Black Man in a White Man's World

Problems overshadow summer of goodwill
Props to Joe. A role model, NBA Championship winner (can you say 'back to back') and the greatest defender Michael Jordan ever faced.......

Some believe there is resentment from the white public in a predominantly black sport. Joe Dumars is the president of the Detroit Pistons and last season was the only black president of an NBA team, but says color has nothing to do with it. As a player, he was such an exceptional example of a professional athlete that the NBA Sportsmanship Award selected by the media was changed to the Joe Dumars Award.

He and the Pistons won NBA titles in 1989-90 and were nicknamed the "Bad Boys," not exactly what you want to promote, but he has pride in what they accomplished. And back then, in his pre-Madonna years, Dennis Rodman wasn't anywhere near the nuisance he became later in his career.

"I relish what we accomplished as a team," Dumars said. "We had a bunch of strong-willed guys and everyone sort of marched to the beat of their own drum. These days, I say the same thing to every new guy who comes in here: 'Don't ever embarrass yourself, don't embarrass your family and don't embarrass the Detroit Pistons. Handle yourself as a professional, and you'll never have a problem with me.' There are a lot of good guys in this league -- most are good guys. All the resentment comes from all the money they make. That comes with the territory. You don't hear 'If I was black I would do such and such,' you hear, 'If I was making all that I money I would do this, this and this.' "