I am going to cheat a bit in my editorial this issue and borrow some thoughts and words from someone else on an often-neglected issue that is vital to the business of team sports. But first, some background.

Greg Beckwith passed away in late May, just a few days after many of us – myself included – had been with him at the NSGA Leadership Conference in Phoenix, AZ. His sudden passing shocked many of us who knew him because he was always so enthusiastic about his new role with S&S Activewear after retiring from a full career at Adidas. And as a Hall of Fame basketball player at his alma mater, the University of Richmond (where he famously took down Charles Barkley’s Auburn University in the NCAA tournament) he was probably in better shape than 95 percent of the people attending that conference.

But that’s not what hit home. To pay him a bit of a tribute I asked his long-time friend Jim Watkins, now also with S&S Activewear and another long-time colleague at Adidas, to provide some insight into the man that ran in the June issue of our TeamInsightExtra newsletter. What struck me were not the accolades, but rather the fact that “Beck” was one of the few men of color working in the business of team sports and was a true pioneer in that sense.

And here I borrow from Jim Watkins:

“If we all take a second to reflect on the fact that when we attend all the industry shows, there are very few African-American, Latinos and people of color in our industry. I know the politically correct environment in today’s corporate world is to have Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. Have classes…have training…have DEI committees to put a spotlight on awareness. All that seems to be doing is checking a box…and then we move on without doing the one thing that these programs, classes and training are trying to accomplish — change behavior.

“For this industry to thrive and move forward, we need to make this industry more inviting and attractive to more people. Beck did that every day. He always said to me, ‘It’s not a sprint Jimmy…it’s a marathon.’

“For all those who have worked, spent time and knew Beck, he would only want us to keep pushing forward and be one percent better today than you were yesterday.”

It struck me that so many other related industries such as golf, tennis, outdoors and running, are making admirable efforts to increase both participation by people of color as well as representation on the business side. Ironically, team sports does not have to look to increase participation — everyone already plays sports.

It is in the business of team sports where there is an obvious disconnect of the people who sell the products and the boys and girls, men and women, who buy them. There are no easy answers – and this editorial is certainly not going to change a lot – but at least we can heed the advice of Greg Beckwith and realize that “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.” Perhaps it is time to take those first few steps.