Beginning in the 1920s,Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson put Jazz and Blues music on the American scene. At that time, Jazz music was representative of an evolving African-American culture. This music was one of the first things African-Americans could define as their own.

While the names Armstrong and Fletcher have been replaced by Jay-Z and Kanye in the African-American music industry, now in the twenty-first century African-Americans dominate numerous areas of society. One of the largest black dominated areas of popular culture today is the game of basketball.

Although James Naismith invented basketball using peach baskets, it is black culture that deserves credit for the reinvention of what the game has become today. The National Basketball Association is 78 percent black and 61 percent of Division I basketball players are black. The MIAC however has a disparity in the opposite direction. Only 15 percent of varsity basketball players in the MIAC are black.

“Many black players don’t feel there is a reward for playing Division III like there is for Division I,” Senior Guard for the Men’s Basketball Team Ty Moore, said. Moore is Gustavus’ only black team member.

Moore has found a substantial reward in playing Division III basketball. “I love the game of basketball, but first I am a student,” Moore said.

Moore’s career at Gustavus has given him an opportunity to enter a white dominated culture and become a dynamic part of it. “At [my] high school there were three white kids. At Gustavus, people were intimidated by my tattoos and long hair, but I was just as intimidated by them,” Moore said.

His first-year was a social struggle for Moore; he quit the basketball team and felt Gustavus “wasn’t his crowd.” He explained an epiphany he had at the end of his first-year attending the Gustavus vs. St. Thomas MIAC championship. In the game Gustavus struggled to have the ball cross half court upon facing St. Thomas’ pressing defense.

“It was at that game I realized I can break the press and I knew I could bring something to this team,” Moore said

After that season Moore approached Head Coach Mark Hanson about the opportunity to play on the team the following year. Moore knew there would be an obvious trust issue after abandoning his spot on the team the previous season.

“I never ruled out Ty coming back the next year. And since he did come back, every bit of playing time he has worked for and he has deserved,” Hanson said.

Moore explains the difficulty he dealt with sitting on the bench the following year, and again wrestled with the worth of playing college basketball.

“Every day in practice Ty has expressed a charisma and desire to embrace the Gustavus system and for that reason he has been embraced by the team. I find him to be an absolute joy,” Hanson said.

Today Moore represents a growing gateway from inner-city high school to post-secondary private schooling. The percentage of black players in Division III basketball is rising nationwide and it is because of people willing to break the ice and shatter the mold of what makes up a college student. “Growing up where I am from people had never heard of Gustavus and now I can tell them that GAC is the place to be,” Moore said.

As students we have all felt the life changing effect that Gustavus Adolphus College has had on each one of us. It is through Ty and the many other African-American leaders at our college that we are diversifying to a level that is representative of what our world really looks like.

“Gustavus has been great for Ty. But more so Ty has been great for Gustavus,” Hanson said.

The Gustavus men’s basketball team just finished their regular season, splitting the MIAC Championship with St. Thomas. The Gusties have received a number two seed in the playoff tournament and will host a semi-final matchup Feb. 24, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at Gus Young Court. The MIAC championship then could be poised for yet another Gustavus vs. St. Thomas rematch at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 26, again hosted by the University of St. Thomas.