Football might not seem like it has much to do with transracial adoption, but in this case it does! After the two NFL play off games yesterday, history has been made twice. Tony Dungy, head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, and Lovie Smith, head coach of the Chicago Bears are both taking their teams to the Super Bowl this year, and both head coaches are black.

This will be the first time that any African American coach has made it to the Super Bowl, and since both teams playing in the big game this year have black coaches, it will be the first time an African American coach wins the Super Bowl.

This is the sort of “news” that may not seem like a big deal to many people or may just sound like another sport statistic, but it is history in the making and is very significant.
Although sports tends to be a place where most people don’t think a lot of racial inequality still exists, there are still a lot of areas where blacks and whites are not represented equally in sports, and coaching is one of those areas.

For instance, Dungy and Smith are two of seven African American coaches in the NFL this season. That is seven out of 32 head coaches.

And when you look at the big picture, including those seven who coached this season, there have only EVER been nine black head coaches in the history of the NFL. Ever. Dungy, Smith and seven others are the only blacks who have ever coached in the NFL.

So Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith coaching their teams into football’s biggest game yesterday, means that two out of the nine African Americans to ever coach in the NFL have made it to the Super Bowl.

As the parents of five black kids, we are always looking for positive African American role models and examples of how blacks can find great success in the U.S. despite the still-existing racism and prejudice in our country. This is one example we will definitely be talking about with our kids.

So on Sunday, Feb. 4, when our family sits down to eat nachos and pigs in a blanket and watch silly commercials and some football, we’ll be doing it with the knowledge that history is being made, and that will be something worth cheering for.