Tag: Cody Shear

The aspect of the #WeAreUnited campaign among Pac-12 athletes which has near-universal support from the public — and journalists, and outside commentators — is the need for health-care protections to be given to college football players and any other athletes being asked to play in a pandemic.

I talked to Arizona State offensive lineman Cody Shear for nearly half an hour this past Sunday. This is personal for Cody, as you can see here below:

As far as the post-career health insurance, that felt like something I needed to step forward and talk about. My uncle (Tim Shear) played football for the University of Oregon in the Pac-10 back then in the late ’90s — 1998 through 2001. Coming out of high school he was one of the highest-recruited linebackers in the country. He had offers all over, he could have gone to school wherever he wanted to; he chose the University of Oregon. He definitely had the talent and the aspirations to go to the NFL.

“Unfortunately his career was cut short due to excessive concussions, multiple concussions. Instead of potentially using his skills to get to the next level and getting the NFL check that everyone dreams of, his career was cut short. He was stuck with insurance bills and covering medical expenses by himself. He still has to live with concussion-related injuries to this day. If he gets one more the doctors told him… it could be extremely dangerous to him. He’s got three little girls and a wife at home. I just think that’s something that hit me and made me want to step forward and talk about this.”

Plenty of people will have debates and especially strong disagreements about the economic dimensions of the Pac-12 athletes’ demands toward the conference and the NCAA, but you won’t hear much of any opposition — certainly not fierce or vocal resistance — to the idea that athletes need to be given expansive care at no cost to them or their families.

The #WeAreUnited movement has sparked a lot of conversation about the various goals of the Pac-12 athletes who launched the campaign. Economic benefits and health protections are two significant components of the movement. Seeking racial justice is also part of the mix.

I asked Arizona State offensive lineman Cody Shear — as part of a longer conversation — to elaborate on why seeking racial justice is part of the Pac-12 athletes’ demands.

This is what Cody had to say:

“That is something that really hits home because I play for coach Herm Edwards. The majority of my coaches at Arizona State are African-American coaches, and if you look at college football as a whole, the majority of players are African-American. But unfortunately, that’s not very common at a lot of different programs to have a Black head coach. That should be something which is more normalized especially in this day and age… Every single day we’re watching it on the news. I think it can be really, really good for the players to come together and teams to come together and go to bat for each other, not the just African-American kids standing up for Black Lives Matter, not just little groups. Everyone needs to come together as a whole. That can be a good step in the right direction.”

Later in the conversation, Shear added this set of insights on racial justice:

“This is definitely something that could potentially start in the realm of college football and branch out into the real world. Playing for Coach Edwards, we’re able to have real conversations with him like this. He talks to our team all the time and lets us know this is just the reality that we live in. Racial injustice is still very much an issue and it continues to be an issue. Phoenix is a large area; some players here in Tempe have faced racial slurs and seen systemic racism just within the restaurants that they go to and the people that surround them — the fact that’s happening today, that has to stop. It’s something people are talking a lot more about now, especially with everything that’s been going on in this country, but unfortunately I don’t think everyone has opened their eyes to it or put their best foot forward. It’s something some people accept and they say “Things are getting better, that’s a good thing,” and that’s all they can do about it. I think that’s wrong. I think college football players, we have a big platform. If we go out on a limb to stand up for what’s right and stand up for our teammates…

“You see African-American collegiate athletes, they’re standing up for themselves… but you don’t necessarily see, consistently, a lot of the non-African-American athletes standing up for their teammates. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re racist and they’re trying to be socially unjust… but that isn’t right. If we can flip the script and have it be normalized for teams to come together and stand up for one another, I think that can be a really big movement on and off the field.”