Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Teacher of men
Boynton sharing history during Black History Month
By Chris Becker
Joshua Cleary Oklahoma State head men’s basketball coach Mike Boynton walks at the MLK Oklahoma State march on January 18, 2021.
Mike Boynton started college at the University of South Carolina with the goal of being a business major, but after a trigonometry class his freshman year, he vowed to never take another math class again. With a business degree out the window, he was looking for another major option. His friend and professor of African American studies, Christopher Leevy Johnson, gave Boynton a book called “Makes Me Want to Holler.” Boynton read the book in 12 hours and wanted more. He now uses that knowledge to engrain into his coach See Teacher on pg. 4
Former OSU athletes speak on Black History Month Alumni’s Athletic Panel By Connor Burgan On Thursday night, Oklahoma State’s Office of Multicultural Affairs hosted its Black History Month Alumni’s Athletic Panel on OState TV. The panel was moderated by Andrew McGee, former Cowboy defensive back and now a recruiting coordinator and communications for OSU’s ethical leadership. McGee’s guests of former OSU athletes throughout the panel included:
Marshall Moses, a former OSU basketball player and now motivational speaker Yves Bobata, an OSU walkon defensive back in 2010, and current vice president of player development and marketing manager for Neostar Football Ryan Simmons, an OSU linebacker in 2015, and current prospect analyst and recruiter for the Cowboys
for speaking to people in every community… just sharing my journey and being real and relatable with people,” Moses said. Many references were made throughout the panel such as Lebron James’s platform that he has created through these times of social justice and lyrics that have been said by J-Cole. When it came to the importance of athletes of colors using their social media platform, Simmons explains how it becomes easier to spread the message. “The more we have (social media), the easier it is going to reach the masses… it’s just going to get better and better as time goes on,” Simmons said. Another main discussion point throughout the panel was Babota’s experience with the Miami Dolphins as a member of player development. During Babota’s time, former NFL quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, began to take a knee during the national anthem in 2016. At that time, the Miami Dolphins had the most players out of any team in the NFL with players protesting during the anthem, including receiver Kenny Stills and running back Arian Foster. Babota went on to explain the progress that was made with making a change. “Our mission was to make sure to empower the players and to ensure that they were leading this town hall,” Babota said. After the town hall meeting, over 20 different new programs were then created to help empower the meaning of social injustice and what was being fought for, including Dolphins players going on ride alongs with officers to bridge the gap that had been divided for so long.
The panel ranged from a variety of topics from the history of Oklahoma State’s athletics throughout the late 50s and 60s to current activists creating a platform to help be able to create programs to bridge the gap that our country still suffers today to how current sports have become safer for our younger generation to participate in. For Marshall Moses, having a journey ranging from playing college basketball at OSU to overseas and seeing things in different perspectives, Moses has been vocal on sharing his life journey, “I have a deep passion sports.ed@ocolly.com
KT King Marshall Moses and the Cowboys will face off with Nicholls State on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Gallasher-Iba Arena. Moses leads the team in rebounds with an average of eight per game.