Martin Luther King Jr. and Basketball

Today, we commemorate one of the greatest leaders this country has had in its existence. Because all of you understand the importance and impact of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, I am not going to into a long spiel on how profound his life was—I am sure if you are interested there are plenty of other sites on the Internet to read up on.

Instead, I want to talk about how Martin Luther King relates to basketball and coaching.

As a player, I always found quotes, whether from coaches or historical figures, to have a positive impact on the teams I was playing on.  From a player’s standpoint, not only did quotes break down the monotony of practices and pre-game speeches, but these quotes simplified what coaches were trying to preach to us. The quotes related basketball to life in general. They gave us lessons in life that were easily understandable, as they were related to the sport we loved, while motivating us on the court and bringing the team together.

While in my history class in college (yes I went to class), we were studying Martin Luther King Jr. and my professor passed around the below quote. The basketball player in me immediately related this quote to a basketball team and thought it is a profound:

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“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

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In basketball, every player has their own role on a team. After all,  not every player can score every possession, and there is a reason the sport is played with one ball and 10 players on the court at one time.

There are multiple roles on a basketball team: one may be a scorer, one a screener, one a passer or one a defensive stopper–the list can go on.  Well, in life, there are endless roles as well. Dr. King explains  in this quote that whatever role you are given or attached to that you attempt to perfect what you do. Not all roles or jobs are the most glamorous—being a street sweeper is not glamorous nor is the screener on a basketball team–but one should do their best at their specific role.

In society, if everybody accepts their role and perfects it, we flourish. The same goes in basketball. If players accept their roles and perfect them, the team flourishes and wins.