FORMER NATIONAL football team player and coach Everald “Gally” Cummings sees the recent election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States as a triumph for persons of African descent, as well as persons of “colour”, who struggled to deal with racism in the US throughout the years. Cummings, the only footballer to claim the local (now First Citizens) Sports Personality of the Year (1973), played professionally for Atlanta Chiefs in the original North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1972.
He recently related his experiences in Atlanta, in the state of Georgia, during the era ofivil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King junior and at a time when “blacks” were restricted in almost everywhere they went, including stores, malls and social gatherings.
“I was the only Trinidad and Tobago footballer to play in Atlanta in the 1960s, even though I was at Fatima (at the time) and they (the scouts) had to see my parents,” he noted. “There were mixed feelings but my parents decided that I should go. At the age of 18, Cummings earned a professional contract for the Chiefs during the NASL’s inaugural year (1967), after American scouts recruited players from Haiti, Jamaica and Latin America.
“I wasn’t briefed properly about the racial tension in Atlanta,” Cummings confessed. “While in Atlanta, I experienced first-hand the indignity of segregation, racism and bigotry that degraded “blacks” in the South. I had to live with it in Georgia and I also had to face inter-racial problems in my own team, which was predominantly whites from Britain.” Cummings was housed close to the Martin Luther King (senior) Baptist Church and had the privilege of meeting the American hero.
“In those days, soccer was now starting in the States and I met and listened to a host of “black” activists (including) Stokely Carmichael (better known as Kwame Ture). “That really shaped and moulded my identity as a “black” man and made me very conscious of who I was,” he continued. “Those early experiences helped me to formulate my identity as a person and a player.”
Cummings admitted that, for coloured athletes, things were so bad that legendary baseballer Hank Aaron, who was a member of the Atlanta Braves, was never allowed to have a television advertisement during his career because of his pigmentation.
Things were so bad in Atlanta that Cummings actually enjoyed his vacation time in Trinidad.
He highlighted that fact that there were no mixed marriages or compromising of positions in the area, and there were separate areas for “whites” and “non-whites”. Looking back at his stay in Atlanta, he noted, “what was important was (that) it bolstered my confidence and assisted me tremendously in understanding the emancipation of spirit and soul. “In the bowels of the Atlanta Stadium in the 1960s, I shook off the colonial footballing shackles and emancipated myself (football-wise) and vowed to display my indigenous style of football as an Afro-Caribbean person. And this helped my career to be a excellent one.”
Cummings avidly followed Obama’s campaign for the White House, and revealed that Obama’s success on November 4 brought tears to his eyes since it was something he thought he would have never seen – a person of colour being elected as the US President. “I felt it better since I experienced it first hand,” he said, referring to his time in Atlanta. The year 1968 was an eventful year for Cummings – in April saw the assassination of Dr King (Cummings stated that he heard the news after a team practise) while in October, the Chiefs won the NASL title.
Since he was so close to the teachings of Dr King, he attended the funeral in April of that year. “Only myself and a Ghanaian (teammate),” he said. “I travelled in the same bus (to the service) with the Supremes, Diana Ross, Bill Cosby and Stevie Wonder. “I was like a little kid in a candy store, but the only sad thing was that (we were) going to a funeral,” he continued. After his time at Atlanta Chiefs, Cummings went on to play with the New York Cosmos. “It was a different environment,” he said. “It made me understand what American people were going through.” With regards to Obama’s glory, Cummings pointed out, “I am so elated and privileged as a ‘black’ man to see when Obama won.” Cummings admired his poise, positive attitude, family love and caring style, as well as the fact that he carries his African name (Obama’s father is Kenyan).
And the local football great left a parting message for persons aspiring for glory, similar to the US president-elect. “The greatest change in life for most of us is not that our aim was too high and we missed it but it was too low and we missed it.”