Black Girls Talk Sports is a podcast where women of color discuss topics in mens’ and womens’ sports. The hosts are Rekaya Gibson and Angela Spears. Their mission is to inspire, educate and encourage women to participate in conversations about sports. They discuss unique topics about sports and they provide interesting facts about them.
A timely episode for Pride and Caribbean American Heritage Months is about Emile Griffith. Griffith was born in St. Thomas. He began boxing after his employer noticed his athleticism. An infamous bout that he had was with Benny ‘Kid’ Paret. He called Griffith homophobic names due to his sexuality before the fight. Paret was knocked unconscious in the bout and he died after being in a coma for ten days. Though some people believed Griffith deliberately tried to injure Paret, Griffith denied this and he had tremendous guilt for what happened. This is an interesting episode and the hosts provide a concise summary of Griffith’s amazing career.
Gibson and Spears discuss Calvin Peete in another interesting episode. Peete is described as being “the black trailblazer into golf.” Interestingly, Peete did not start playing golf until he was 23. He broke an elbow which caused one of his arms to be crooked. Some think that his crooked arm made his stroke more accurate. Peete had an outstanding career and won twelve PGA tournaments. Before Tiger Woods, he was the most famous African American golfer. This is a fascinating episode about a golfer that some may not know about.
A fun episode is about WNBA players whose sons play in the NBA. A few examples are: Niele and Jaden Ivey; Pamela and JaVale McGee; and Rhonda and Paolo Banchero. These mothers had excellent college and professional careers and they were instrumental in developing their sons’ basketball skills. This is an entertaining episode that will hopefully attract more interest in the WNBA.
Gibson and Spears provide concise summaries of a wide range of sports topics. Listeners will be educated about figures, such as Calvin Peete, that broke color barriers in sports. Those interested who are sports fans and historians will be delighted by Black Girls Talk Sports.
You can listen to Black Girls Talk Sports online or on apps such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Michael Walsh
Adult Service-Will Branch
6/15/2023