Percentage of Black Athletes in College Sports Is Increasing

New data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association finds that blacks are increasing their percentage of all athletic scholarships in college sports. In 2006 blacks were nearly 13 percent of the American population. They were about 12 percent of all college enrollments but they made up 23.7 percent of all students on college athletic scholarships.

In some sports the percentage of black athletes is even greater. For example, in 2005 blacks made up 55.3 percent of all athletes on football scholarships at the NCAA’s Division I schools. In basketball 62.6 percent of the men and 44.1 percent of the women on basketball scholarships were black. Blacks made up 28.0 percent of the men and 32.2 percent of the women on track scholarships.

The black percentage of scholarship athletes in these sports has increased significantly in recent years.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.