Honoring MLK through sports

BASKETBALL| Current Bulldog guard honored at Women’s Hall of Fame

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On a more specific level, Dean said Belanger has learned not to just be a great shooter but also how to add it to her game and improve on her defense.

Dean thinks the future will only improve for Belanger and that the sky’s the limit for her. He said it’s phenomenal that one of the players with the most natural talent is also one of the hardest workers.

Belanger said she hasn’t been able to visit the WBHOF, but her parents planned to go soon. So far this season has been a little stressful as the Bulldogs lost two starters, but the team is now on a seven game winning streak.

Looking forward, Belanger wants to get her masters degree in nutrition, ideally while playing basketball overseas.

Ellie Weltha, a junior starter on the team, has been playing with Belanger for three years and last year was a third team all conference player. Weltha said Belanger was a great player and very deserving of the All-American award because of how hard she works. Weltha said Belanger was a great teammate and person to have in your life.

“I have to say, she’s probably like the hardest working player I’ve ever played with, one of the most motivated teammates I’ve ever had,” Weltha said. “She’s the first one in the gym, last one out, does whatever she’s told and does it as best as she can, and she’s just a really good player all the way around.”

“She’s just incredible, probably the best teammate I’ve ever had, best teammate I’ve played with,” Weltha said. “And she’s just really, really good, and it’s so fun to play with her, but very deserving, and I’m not surprised at all … This is the first of many for her.”

Honoring MLK through sports

ANDREW HOLDER Staff Writer

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a time of remembrance of our storied past and of hopeful aspiration for our future, especially as we experience social turmoil in our nation. Martin Luther King Jr. came from humble beginnings, born Jan. 15, 1929 at 501 Auburn Avenue, a home certainly fit for the upbringing of a king. When I think of who King was, I think of someone who is heartbreakingly mortal. A proponent of an ideology of equality that sought to rock the world. Yet he, like many others, was killed by the ideology he sought to eradicate.

I once had the opportunity to visit the Lorraine Motel where King was shot and killed. Despite the reverence of the ground surrounding the motel, the motel itself is surprisingly humble. Garnished with seafoam green doors, recently replaced windows and beige walls with a light brown trim, it is nothing impressive to gaze at. However, it serves as a reminder that has become increasingly important since his death. We are constantly reminded of King’s message of equality by the deaths of black men and women at the hands of law enforcement, and everytime the civil rights of others are violated. Martin Luther King Jr. not only stood in support of the advancement of the black community, but of every oppressed community. In remembrance of this day, I wanted to highlight the athletes that most exemplify King’s message .

At this point, we all should recognize the name Colin Kaepernick, the man who was refused a roster spot in the NFL for his peaceful protest of kneeling during the national anthem. The right of protest that has consistently been upheld in the supreme court since its foundation was denied to a rising star in the NFL out of fear that it may upset viewers. The NFL put up a front that they were trying to make strides towards promoting equality, but instead stood against Kaepernick and his message when faced with it.

One of my favorite quotes regarding civil rights comes from the great John Lewis when he spoke on the Edmund Pettus Bridge only months before his passing. He said, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble and help redeem the soul of America. “This raises the question of how we get into, “good trouble.” How do we pursue the advancement of civil rights in a world marked by inequality? How do we be peaceful in a nation scourged by violence? These are difficult questions to answer and again I believe we can find answers through an examination of the sports world, specifically the unity sports leagues have brought about throughout the world. During the 2020 NBA playoffs, following the shooting of Jacob Blake, sports leagues across the world responded by declaring that the best way to pursue justice would be refusing to take the floor, and so they did. In a magnificent display of unity and power, games from every professional sports league in America were postponed. Protesters showed a similar level of unity, marching in cities across the country in the midst of a pandemic, an act of bravery and unity similar to the civil rights movement King once led. A little known fact, often omitted from discussions of King because of its relative unimportance, is that he was an avid baseball fan. He was a fan of the Dodgers and was especially enamored with Jackie Robinson who had broken the color barrier in baseball when King turned 18. He and his siblings played baseball, basketball and football as children. King, like us, was remarkably human, a man who took his fragile humanity and created ripples in the fabric of society because of a dream. We all have a dream of a more equal world, it is our responsibility to make that dream a reality.

Graphic by Jinyu Li