I saw recently that Gov. Matt Bevin has decreed the 2017 will be the “Year of the Bible” in the dark and bloody ground.
Never mind that such a designation ignores and insults Kentuckians who are non-Christians, agnostics, or atheists. Last time I checked, the all had the same citizenship rights as Christians.
Perhaps the Governor’s decree will jack up attendance at the Ark Park, that monstrous attraction for tourists who take the Bible literally. But it will certainly do nothing to increase understanding, respect, and tolerance on the subject of religion. To get that, tourists will have to visit the Muhammad Ali Museum.
So I have a better idea, which means it’s something the Governor would take as seriously as, oh, the University of Louisville board of trustees. Let’s declare 2017 in Kentucky as the “Year of the Book.”
That would not exclude the Bible because it’s a very good book on many levels. But it would include holy books from other religions, textbooks, biographies, autobiographies, histories, novels, and any other kind of book that comes to mind. The idea would be – ta-dum – to use reading to help start lifting Kentucky out of the cesspool of ignorance.
If you are a Kentuckian who is proud that you’re poor at reading and writing, that you have no skill in logic or critical thinking, then you can write me off as just another of “them pointy-headed in-tul-lectuls who think they’re better’n us.” But for the rest of you, aren’t you tired of being at or near the bottom in every category by which education is measured? Are you tired of being the butt of national jokes?
Well, I am.
By now you may be wondering why you’re seeing this stuff in what is usually a sports column. It’s because I see a way in which college and professional athletes, who are role models whether they accept the designation or not, can help lead the commonwealth out of its intellectual swamp.
The vast majority of athletes who play their college ball in Kentucky do not move on to careers in the NBA or NFL. To the contrary, many go on to career as doctors, judges, teachers, lawyers, scientists, and business leaders.
Some don’t stay in Kentucky, but many do. And at least partly because of the reputations they forged in athletics, they become community leaders. Just one ex-player like this is worth 20 who go to to the NBA and never see Kentucky again unless they’re flying over it.
So I suggest the Governor mobilize these individuals to help him in the “Year of the Book.” Let our college coaches do public service announcements on the vital importance of education. Ask our community leaders to tap into their fame as former athletes to lead campaigns that will emphasize the importance of reading and writing.
Throughout the Commonwealth, let us have programs in which successful Kentucky authors, educators, government officials and business leaders tell young people about the value of reading, writing, learning, thinking, staying in school, and getting a degree.
When Bob Knight was at Indiana, he always told me he thought of himself as a teacher first and a coach second. During his early years at IU, he taught one class every semester. He also made significant financial contributions to the IU Library.
For all the wrong things he did, this is one thing Knight got right. I believe it then and I believe it now. Coaches should see them as educators. That’s why I thought Alabama football coach Nick Saban looked stupid when, asked if he voted in the Presidential Election, he said, “Election, what election?”
As I’ve wandered around the Commonwealth the past several years, I’ve become convinced that the coaches who are the best teachers are not necessarily the ones coaching the big-money programs. I think of the coaches at Bellarmine, Georgetown, Centre and Transylvania. All approximate Knight’s ideal of the coach as teacher first.
In our Commonwealth, as in the rest of the nation, our coaches and players can go one of two ways. They can be part of a system in which academics are a only necessary evil, cheating is acceptable as long as you don’t get caught, sportsmanship doesn’t matter as much as showmanship, and money is the only way to keep score.
That’s pretty much the way things are, but it’s not the way they should be. The other option is to change the way we look at athletics. Let’s start leaning on former athletes to honor their former coaches by teaching their values to the current generation.
So let’s start a revolution here in Kentucky with the “Year of the Book.” Let’s put coaches and athletes in the vanguard of a concerted movement to emphasize the importance of education. Heck, I’ll join up. I’ll go to any part of the commonwealth to do a reading and talk about education.
Just as Kentucky kids seem to learn the pick-and-roll right out of the cradle, so we must teach them to use their minds. The message would go something like this: “Don’t be afraid or ashamed to be smart. So what if it makes you a minority? So what if it makes you the object of bullying? Let me introduce you to a former UK player who was in your shoes at one time in his (or her) life.”
The Year of the Book. We can do it. All we need is leadership.
Billy Reed is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and the Transylvania University Hall of Fame. He has been named Kentucky Sports Writer of the Year eight times and has won the Eclipse Award twice. Reed has written about a multitude of sports events for over four decades, but he is perhaps one of media’s most knowledgeable writers on the Kentucky Derby