A distressing story from former New England Patriot Eugene Chung on Saturday.
The offensive tackle from 1992-94 with New England told the Boston Globe he was interviewing for an assistant coaching position when he heard the following:
“It was said to me, ‘Well, you’re really not a minority,’ ” Chung recalled.
Chung, who is Korean, froze.
“I was like, ‘Wait a minute. The last time I checked, when I looked in the mirror and brushed my teeth, I was a minority,’ ” he said. “So I was like, ‘What do you mean I’m not a minority?’ ”
The interviewer responded, “You are not the right minority we’re looking for.”
Chung was the assistant offensive line coach for the Kansas City Chiefs from 2013-15 under head coach Andy Reid, after serving three seasons with him in Philadelphia Eagles in the same capacity.
Chung was rehired by the Eagles on Jan. 20, 2016, by head coach Doug Pederson, who was Chung’s offensive coordinator with the Chiefs.
Chung was with the Eagles for Super Bowl LII when they defeated the New England Patriots 41-33.
Chung is of Korean descent and became only the third person of Asian descent to play professional American football when he was drafted in 1992. He was also the first Korean-American to be drafted in the first round.
“I asked about it, and as soon as the backtracking started, I was like, ‘Oh no, no, no, no, no, you said it. Now that it’s out there, let’s talk about it,’ ” Chung said. “It was absolutely mind-blowing to me that in 2021, something like that is actually a narrative.”