Athlete Upstanders & the Role of Activism in Sports

Dr. Tommie Smith is a former track & field athlete and internationally distinguished figure in African American history. During the 19th Olympiad in Mexico City in the summer of 1968, Tommie Smith completed the 200 meter-sprint in under 20 seconds, breaking the world and Olympic record and winning a gold medal. On the victory podium, Tommie Smith and fellow medalist John Carlos famously raised clenched, black-gloved fists in a historic stand for equality, liberation, and solidarity known as the The Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR). This courageous, unexpected worldwide stand propelled Tommie Smith into the spotlight as a human rights spokesman, activist, and symbol of African American pride at home and abroad. Since the games of the 19th Olympiad, Tommie has enjoyed a distinguished career as a coach, educator and activist. See more at tommiesmith.com.

Bethany Donaphin is Head of League Operations for the Women’s National Basketball Association. In this role, she oversees all on-court basketball operations, including the management of rule changes, the enforcement of conduct standards, the evaluation of game officials, and the application of analytics and innovation on the future of the game. She also leads the administration of player-related policies and programs.

Bethany played professional basketball in the WNBA with the New York Liberty, and overseas in Spain, Turkey, and Italy. She has a B.A. in Public Policy from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Elliot Perry is a native Memphian, graduate of Treadwell High School and the University of Memphis where he also played basketball. After graduating in 1991, Perry was drafted in the second round of the 1991 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers and went on to play for 10 years. After retirement, Elliot served as a player representative with the NBA Players Association, and in 2005 he joined the Memphis Grizzlies ownership team. Perry works for the Poplar Foundation which supports educational opportunities for underserved communities in Memphis, and serves as the board chair of the Memphis Grizzlies Charitable Foundation, which provides mentorship opportunities for Memphis youth. He also serves on a number of other boards including National Civil Rights museum, Teach For America, Memphis Athletic Ministries, and New Hope Christian Academy. Elliot lives in Germantown, TN with his wife, Kimberly and daughter Morgan. Elliot and his wife are avid art collectors and have amassed one of the top contemporary collections of African American and African artists in the country.