(WKBN) – Next week, WKBN 27 First News will take an in-depth look at racism in sports.

It’s called Fair Play, a half-hour special that will air Wednesday.

Part of the program was taped Friday afternoon by WKBN Community Affairs Director Dee Crawford and Warren Harding football coach Steve Arnold. The topic was on the significance of sports in the Black community.

“But we know, in our community, in the Black community, we use the vehicle of, if it’s football, basketball, and those are the two main sports for the most part, as a way to further their education. So it’s vital in our community,” Arnold said.

“What I have always admired is not only the camaraderie, but for many of the African American males, that’s their role model,” Crawford said.

Crawford went even further to say that Black athletes who go onto college often excel.

“Under the NCAA rules–academic–they have to achieve in the classroom, and that becomes even more important for those who are not going to achieve in the NFL,” Crawford said.

“We can take the ball out of your hands as a coach, but whatever you do academically, what’s here, I can’t take what you know here, I can’t take that away from you,” said Arnold.

Arnold also pointed out that in the middle of a game, race oftentimes doesn’t matter.

“When you’re in a huddle, you don’t look at that guy next to you as being Black or White. We talk about a brotherhood,” Arnold said.

Crawfod says while sports figures in the Black community are portrayed as heroes, we shouldn’t forget the other success stories.

“Regrettably, we don’t show the other side of that, the doctors, the attorneys, the scientists, the achieving that can occur. They don’t get the hype. They’re not the ones doing the advertisements and making the big bucks,” Crawford said.

Fair Play will air Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., and you can watch it on WKBN.