From the NFL to academia
A former NFL player turned clinical researcher will serve as the guest speaker at the Center for African American Studies’ Annual Opening Lecture at The University of Texas at Arlington.
Robert W. Turner II, assistant professor of clinical research and leadership at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Science, will discuss his research and his book, Not For Long: The Life and Career of the NFL Athlete. Turner, who played briefly for the San Francisco 49ers, is also a research scientist at the Center for Biobehavioral Health Disparities Research at Duke University.
Turner will be guest speaker at the Center for African American Studies’ 8th Annual Opening Lecture at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25. The lecture will be held in the Bluebonnet Ballroom in the E. H. Hereford University Center on the UTA campus.
The event is free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to register for parking.
Turner says the career of a professional athlete is brief, filled with injuries and, for many NFL players, not financially rewarding enough to sustain them throughout their lifetimes.
“There’s something about young people that is the same throughout generations across time,” Turner told the Chicago Tribune recently. “They think they’re invincible and whatever has happened to everybody else is not going to happen to me, and so I’m the exception to the rule.”
His book and research focuses on the struggle that many players experience in life after football. The book draws from Turner’s personal life as well as interviews from more than 140 current and former NFL players.
The opening lecture also will feature a panel of NFL sportswriters who are nationally known for their coverage of the Dallas Cowboys. Clarence E. Hill Jr. covers the Cowboys and the NFL for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Calvin Watkins covers the Cowboys for The Dallas Morning News and previously wrote for The Athletic, ESPN and New York Newsday. Jean-Jacques Taylor is a professional sports radio commentator for ESPN-Dallas (103.3 FM).
The journalists have written extensively about African American athletes, pay equity and social justice within professional sports.
Jason Shelton, director of the Center for African American Studies, says the issue is a high-stakes one for young athletes and their families.
“Many young people place too many of their hopes and dreams on becoming professional athletes,” Shelton said. “They have a better chance of becoming doctors or lawyers than making it into the NFL, NBA or MLB.”
Ryon Cobb, assistant professor in UTA’s School of Social Work, worked in partnership with CAAS to invite Turner to campus.
“The risks these athletes experience on the job have long-term effects,” said Cobb, who studies aging-related issues and works with Turner on research. “By using former athletes as his case study, Robert’s work nuances claims of healthy aging and demonstrates how social institutions set athletes up for a lifetime of pain and impoverishment.”