George Raveling, I Have A Dream, and EA

George Raveling died on September 1 at the age of 88. He was a former Captain of the Basketball Team at Villanova. He coached at the college level for more than 30 years. He was the first black coach of the Pack 8 at Washington State. He coached at Iowa and the University of Southern Cal. He was inducted in in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 and the National Collegiate Hall of Fame in 2015. His honors would fill several pages.

After a severe automobile accident he left college basketball to become an executive at Nike. He signed Michael Jordan to his Nike contract which many believe started high compensation for professional athletes.

But this blog is about something else. When George was an Assistant Coach at Villanova, he was visiting a friend in Delaware whose father encouraged both men to go to Washington for the March for Jobs and Freedom and hear Dr. King speak at the event on August 28, 1963. George and his friend arrived at the march early and were asked to be security for Dr. King. During Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” George stood a few feet from Dr. King. When Dr. King finished speaking George asked him if he could have King’s copy of the speech. Dr. King handed it to George.

George put the speech in one of his favorite books, a personally signed copy of President Harry Truman’s Autobiography. The speech stayed there for 20 years. When a reporter heard that he had the original draft of the speech, word spread rapidly. What people didn’t know was that the phrase, “I have a Dream,” was not part of King’s address. He adlibbed it. When people learned that he had the original address, George’s life changed in a significant fashion.

I always operated from the stance of “nothing ventured, nothing gained”. I called George, identified who I was, and asked him to come to the Episcopal Academy to address our community in chapel and to bring the address with him. We talked for a long period of time and the conversation shifted to feeling that we were talking friend to friend. That is a gift he has based in humility. Nike had him on a tight schedule, but he said, “Rev, I will come and speak to your school.” I wanted him to come to our school’s celebration of Dr. King’s holiday. I told him, “You give me a date, and I will make it happen.”

I learned that one of the secrets to his success is to make instant friendships but to never give up. He had just broken his leg in a fall, but he thought he could still do it. I kept the Vestry, the student spiritual leadership group, informed of progress. Coach Raveling and I were constantly exchanging calls. His first effort to get East was a call with Coach John Calipari of Kentucky. Calipari could fly him in on Kentucky’s private plane used in recruitment. I thought that we were home free. George was as excited as I was. When he ran the trip by his doctor, his doctor said it would not be good for him to fly. I think it was danger of blood clots.

George needed to get more control over his recovery and his commitments to Nike. Jay Wright, EA past parent and legendary coach at Villanova, said after hearing of George’s death: “The finest human being, inspiring mentor, lived his life for others.” I value the memory of George and my conversations as well. But there is more!

The” I Have A Dream Seech” was cited as one of the most famous speeches in American history by many. George was offered millions of dollars for his original copy. Scholars in a 1999 poll considered it the number one speech given in American History since it inspired civil rights legislation, including themes of justice and equality.

Given the greed and corruption in Washington there is one more thing you should know about George Raveling. Keep in mind that he could have received millions of dollars for his copy of the original speech. For years it was housed at The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. It has since been given to Villanova University.

Before George Raveling died, he left the copy of the speech to his son, Mark, with a simple phrase: “This speech doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the American people. It can never be sold!” It will be people like Coach Raveling that are needed in Washington to turn this country in the right direction. If our country doesn’t put the nation first, we will not live into the dream that George Raveling grasped in the writing of Dr. King many years ago.