Blacks gain majority on Div. I football rosters

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - In Division I men's basketball, black athletes account for nearly 61 percent of participants, compared to 55 percent in 1999...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A new NCAA report shows that black football players outnumber whites on Division I teams for the first time since the survey began more than a decade ago.

The annual Race and Ethnicity Report released this week found that 45.8 percent of football players in the NCAA’s top division were black in 2009-10, compared with 45.1 percent who were white. The statistics cover both Division I divisions.

The NCAA began tracking athletes’ race and ethnicity in 1999. That year, 51.3 percent of Division I football players were white and 39.5 percent were black.

In Division I men’s basketball, black athletes account for nearly 61 percent of participants, compared to 55 percent in 1999.

Other sports saw less significant changes over the 10-year period. More than 80 percent of NCAA baseball players and wrestlers remain white, for example.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

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