^ 'I J n r tla n h ffibseruer
Page A2
lanuaiy 24, 2007
Steelers
Hire First
Black Coach
African American Coaches Reach Top
On world stage for
Super Bowl XLI
For the first time in theSuperBowl’s41-
year history two African American head
coaches will be on one of the sporting
world's biggest stages.
Leading the C hicago Bears in Miami
on Sunday, Feb. 4 will be Lovie Smith,
who becam e the first black head coach
to reach the title game with his team ’s
victory on Sunday. A few hours later.
Smith was cheering for his good friend
and m entor Tony Dungy as Indianapo­
lis reached the big game by staging the
greatest com eback in an NFL co nfer­
ence cham pionship.
The Bears ended the New Orleans
Saints fairytale season w ith a 39-14 thrash­
ing to capture the NFC championship at a
snowy Soldier Field propelling the 'Mon­
sters of the Midway 'to the Super Bowl for
the first time since 1986.
Indianapolis rallied to edge the New
England Patriots 38-34 to put the Colts
into their first Super Bowl since the 1970
season, when they called Baltimore their
home.
The historic mark for black coaches
on the N FL’s cham pionship game is a
long overdue breakthrough for a league
that still enforces a rule requiring teams
with coaching vacancies to interview
minority candidates before filling the
position.
"O f course, you know where my loy­
alty is, for the Chicago Bears, but we
have to play someone and in my perfect
(A P )-M ikeT om lin, the defensive
coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings,
was hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers
— the first black head coach in the
team's 74-year history.
TomJin was hired on Sunday, the
same day two black coaches, Lovie
Smith and Tony Dungy, made it to the
Super Bowl for the first time.
Tomlin had a
successful first
season as Min­
nesota's defen-
sivecoordinator.
His name was
one of about a
dozen on a list of
qualified minor­
ity can d id ates
given
to Steelers
Mike Tomlin
o w n er
Dan
Rooney at a mid-December meeting in
New York. Rooney is the chairman of
the NFL's committee on workplace
diversity.
Tomlin was chosen largely because
of the motivation, enthusiasm and or­
ganizational skills he showed in two
strong interviews with Rooney, team
president Art Rooney II and director
of footbalI operations Kevin Colbert.
"It's humbling," Tomlin said last
week of being in the running for one of
the most high-profile jobs in pro
sports.
Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith at a news conference one
day after his team clinched a berth in Super Bowl. The Bears
face the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI in Miami on
Sunday, Feb. 4. (AP photo)
Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy holds up the Lamar
Hunt Trophy after defeating the New England Patriots 38-34
in the AFC Championship football game Sunday in Indianapo­
lis. (AP photo, for Super Bowl XLI in Miami, Florida, on
Sunday, Feb. 4.
world I would like to see the Colts be
that team," Smith told reporters before
Indianapolis joined his side in the title
game.
"Tony Dungy has done an awful lot for
our game (but) he hasn't had the opportu­
nity to coach in the Super Bowl...
"Being the first black coach to lead
his team, o f course the players knew
about it and w anted to help us make
history today," added Smith. "But I'll
feel even better when I'm the first black
coach to hold up the cham pionship tro­
phy."
The game will also feature two quarter­
backs who still have something to prove.
Despite guiding their teams to the Su­
per Bowl, Bears quarterback Rex Grossman
and the Colts Peyton Manning have still
failed to meet the expectations of demand­
ing fans and media.
Perennial Pro-Bowl quarterback and
twice NFL MVP, Manning's credentials
also include a Hall of Fame ring but he is
saddled with the reputation of a player
who crumbles under pressure at the big
moment and is incapable of winning the
big game.
The Bears quarterback has helped Chi­
cago to 15 wins this season and their first
Super Bowl in 21 years but has received
precious little credit because of his incon­
sistent play.
BNMBKSMNinMNMM*
Local Church to Host Bernice King
War Forum
Saturday
B ernice A. King, the youngest
daughter o f Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. and Coretta Scott King will be the
keynote speaker at the Williams-King
Scholarship Banquet presented by
V an co u v er A venue F irst B aptist
Church on Saturday, Feb. 10 at 6:30
pm at the Holiday Inn Convention
Center, 1441 N.E. Second Ave.
As an ordained preacher, Bernice
King is an elder at New Birth Mission-
. ary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in
Everyone is invited to attend a
forum on how to m aintain our con­
stitutional rights here at hom e while
the governm ent wages a war on
terror.
The group Radical W omen pre­
sents the public session titled “W ork­
ing Class W omen vs. the W ar on
Terrorism " on Saturday, Jan. 27 at
6:30 p.m. at the Bread and Roses
Center, 819 N. Killingsworth St.
psychology from Spelman College as
well as a law degree and masters in
divinity from Emory University. She
also received an honorary Doctorate
o f Divinity from Wesley College and
is a mem ber of the State Bar of Geor­
gia. As an author, she has two books
to her credit, Hard Questions, Heart
Answers: Sermons and Speeches; and
Father I Never Knew: The Father I
Know Now.
Bernice King frequently speaks at
churches, universities, and com m u­
nity events around the country. She is
nationally and internationally known
as a powerful, m otivating and life­
changing orator and speaker.
Proceeds benefit the Williams-King
Scholarship Fund named in honor of the
late Rev. Dr. O.B. Williams, founder of
Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church
and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Tickets are $50 and available at all
Ticket West outlets (service charge
additional). For more information, call
the church at 503-282-9496.
Bernice King
INVESTING
IN YOU
Portland
Soldier
Killed
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(AP) — U.S. Army Sgt. Sean
Patrick Fennerty of Portland has
been killed in combat in Iraq.
Fennerty, 26, died Saturday in Al
Anbar Province when the vehicle
he was in was struck by a roadside
bomb, according to the Oregon
Military Department.
Fennerty was stationed at Ft.
Richardson, Alaska with the 25th
Infantry Division.
He was born in San Diego at the
Naval Hospital while his father was
on active duty. Fennerty grew up in
Tucson, Ariz. and Portland. He
graduated from Jesuit High School
inPortlandin 1999 and Oregon State
University in 2004.
His family told the Oregon Mili­
tary Department that Fennerty al­
ways wanted to be in the military
and serve his country and felt this
was part of honor and service.
Fennerty is survived by his
mother, father, two sisters and
brother.
According to a list kept by Gov,
Ted Kulongoski's office Fennerty
is the 78th soldier from Oregon or
with close Oregon ties to die in the
Iraq war.