ven rough her up a bit.” (Meggyesy, 1970, p. 75) Another example of sexism occurred later in his career. During a game with the Cardinals, Meggyesy ducked a tackle. The coach responded to this perceived act of cowardice by saying he looked “almost feminine” in making the tackle. (Meggyesy, 1970, p.181) As Meggyesy said:This sort of attack on a player’s manhood is a coach’s doomsday weapon. And it almost always works, for the players have wrapped up their identity in their masculinity, which is eternally precarious for it not only depends on not exhibiting fear of any kind on the playing field, but is also something that can be given and withdrawn by a coach at his pleasure. (Meggyesy, 1970, p. 181)Because of the coach’s comments, he went back to his hotel room and began to seriously doubt his ability to play professional football. (Meggyesy, 1970) In fact, the missed tackle left such an impression of failure in his mind that he seriously considered jumping out of his twelfth story window. (Meggyesy, 1970)Meggyesy also described numerous instances of racism. During training camp with the Cardinals, Meggyesy noted that black and white players went their separate ways when practice was over. In addition, the team assigned rooms in the player dormitories on the basis of race, and blacks and whites were usually assigned to separate wings in the dorms. Such racism was also displayed by the players’ wives. For example, Meggyesy’s wife, Stacy, discovered that no blacks were invited to the parties held each year by the players’ wives. (Meggyesy, 1970)Racism was also perpetuated when the Cardinals’ team roster was determined each season. Meggyesy revealed that:Black ball players are selected even more stringently on the basis of ‘correct attitude’ than whites. Blacks are in an especially difficult position; if they act like Toms, they will be completely dominated by the whi...
