A panel of former college athletes, scholars, administrators, and a coach discuss a variety of issues surrounding race and sport as part of Black History Month activities. Breakout sessions to follow.

William Mitchell’s successful thirty-two-year career coaching college football at the Air Force Academy, Ohio University, and Wake Forest University started as an athlete on his high school football and track teams in North Carolina. Mitchell served in the military for twenty years and retired as a major from the U.S. Air Force in 1993. During his coaching career, he improved many of the teams and players he worked with, especially on the defensive teams and punters. Mitchell is a family man and served as a role model for his players, helping to mold them into fine young men.

Leonard Moore serves as associate vice president of Academic Diversity Initiatives and a professor of history at the University of Texas. In addition to Moore’s teaching and administrative work, he has worked with athletic programs across the country to implement diversity initiatives to help athletes succeed on both the playing field and in the classroom.   After receiving a PhD at The Ohio State University, he taught American and African American history at Louisiana State University and the University of Texas at Austin.

Cameron McCoy is an assistant professor of history at BYU, specializing in U.S. military history and race. McCoy is a BYU alum and former student athlete. He received a PhD at the University of Texas at Austin and completed a post-doc at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point before coming to BYU. He has served a number of missions for the Marine Corps and still serves in the reserves.

Moderator: Mikaela Dufur, associate professor of sociology, BYU

Co-sponsored by BYU General Education and the Department of Sociology.