By Greer Waldrop
When radio host Don Imus uttered his now infamous comment last year about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, former University of Louisville basketball star Lancaster Gordon understood how the women felt.
While Gordon was a guard under U of L head coach Denny Crum from 1980-1984, a commentator made a similar remark: “[Crum] has a good team, but their collective IQ is 40.”
“That was all it took,” Gordon said. “I used that to make me work that much harder.”
After playing four seasons in the NBA, Gordon has moved back home and works for Court Appointed Special Advocate agency here in Louisville. He spoke to a crowd of around 30 at U of L’s Chao Auditorium Thursday about words, their impact and importance.
Gordon said that while growing up in Mississippi in the 1960s and through his basketball career, he was exposed to much negativity and adversity. During his speech, though, he explained how he used this to empower himself through personal revelations.
The lecture was developed and sponsored by the Diversity Committee of Undergraduate Affairs. Dorthy Goden of Undergraduate Affairs hoped students would feel motivated from the lecture.
“We wish to create an awareness of the need to speak out, even if it means standing alone, so we can all receive the dignity and respect we deserve simply by being human beings,” Goden said. The message resonated among students attending the lecture.
“I was shocked when I heard the first-hand accounts. I will for sure keep it in my mind when I hear things like that today,” Ally Fugate, freshman psychology major, said of the presentation.
Gordon said he was glad about the outcry over the Imus incident. He compared it to the lack of response after the comment was made about his team, and used it as a reminder of how far we have come. Yet, his presentation reminded students that the buzzer has not sounded on diversity in the U.S.
