Riff Raff: ‘Symbols matter’

One will encounter a good number of jerks in this journalism work, especially if you do it long enough. Or maybe even if you do it for a day or two. But the jerks fade away and one remembers the really good folks who sought benefits for all rather than all the benefits.

Good folks like Jim Rowland.

The dang-near canonized Rowland is one of the most respected football coaches in Arkansas high school football history, and was the Fort Smith Public Schools athletic director for 25 years. He passed away July 24 at the age of 83.

The reverence was immediate and unequivocal in the few hours after it was learned he had died. He was hailed in news stories and on social media as a “legend and a hero,” cited often as “a mentor,” and “an icon,” praised as a “consummate gentleman,” and always being “straightforward and honest.”

One only needed a few encounters with Rowland to understand the impact of such a strong but gentle soul, and why so many experienced deep emotions on learning of his passing.

The school board in July 2015 voted to end use of the Rebel mascot. It was a highly charged period that created deep community divisions. Rowland reinforced the July vote in August 2015 when he told school board members the Rebel imagery was “hurtful” to minorities and those outside the city. To be sure, Rowland was speaking to people inside the city.

“Unfortunately symbols matter. How can we tell those students, our friends, that slavery has been over 150 years and they should get over it while we then adopt the symbols that they associate with slavery and display them with a sense of pride?” Rowland said in August 2015.

His admonition was Papal. Efforts to retain Rebel imagery floundered.

Rowland returned in May 2016 to encourage the school board to resist a last-ditch effort to bring back the symbols he knew were harmful. It was at the May meeting when Coach Rowland surprised, if not shocked, a crowded room at the school board meeting with his resignation as athletic director.

Rowland took time in the emotional aftermath of that meeting to talk to the media. I had maybe a minute or two with him during which we were frequently interrupted by folks, many crying about his fresh retirement news, who just wanted to hug his neck. As the interview ended I said something like, “Thanks for your time and thoughts. It’s been tough trying to get the voices from all sides.”

And without pause he responded with something very much like, “Just be fair to all of them.”

There it was. A clear and present revelation. His request that fair treatment be afforded all was autonomically instinctive – as natural to him as respiration. A coach knows you play like you practice; that repetition results in success, in getting better, in doing better, in being better. Fair play was his playbook.

“And when the right thing has been done, you’ll dance circles round the sun,” sings Rodney Crowell in his song “Dancin’ Circles Round The Sun.”

To be fair, Coach Rowland was the Sun around which many people for more than five decades learned to dance; learned to be fair.

During this time in which we may rightfully wonder if character matters, Coach Rowland serves as an absolute reminder that “symbols matter,” and he never failed to be a symbol of character.