Meet Joe • Recent Press

2006

October 31

Former NFL football player, panel to discuss "The Challenge of Ethics in Sports"

Joe Ehrmann, a former National Football League player who is now a football coach at Gilman School in Baltimore, will give a free talk on “The Challenge of Ethics in Sports” Sept. 20 at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Parade magazine once called Ehrmann “the most important coach in America.” He will speak at 7:30 pm in Fetzer Gym 109, followed by a panel discussion. Ehrmann is former defensive lineman for the Baltimore Colts (now the Indianapolis Colts) and a 13-year veteran of the NFL. His life and coaching philosophy are the subject of a best-selling book by Jeffrey Marx, “Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood (2003).”

In the book, Marx describes Ehrmann’s innovative coaching philosophy at Gilman, an independent boy’s school. Ehrmann’s football program, called “Building Men for Others,” helps young athletes avoid damaging stereotypes of masculinity, such as aggressiveness and competitiveness, and cultivate strong relationships in their lives.

Ehrmann says, “Masculinity ought to be defined in terms of relationships, and taught in terms of the capacity to love and be loved.”

Jan Boxill, director of UNC’s Parr Center for Ethics and public address announcer for the women’s basketball team, will moderate the twohour panel discussion to follow. The discussion is designed to showcase a broad range of diversity and ethical issues in sports.

Panelists include William Friday, president emeritus of the University of North Carolina system; Rosalind Fuse-Hall, executive assistant to the chancellor at North Carolina Central University; Richard Baddour, athletics director at UNC; Kathleen K. Smith, professor of biology and faculty athletics representative at Duke University; Joseph Dailey, UNC football player; and Charlotte Smith, UNC assistant women’s basketball coach.

The lecture is sponsored by the Parr Center for Ethics, department of athletics, department of exercise and sport science, the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs and UNC sport clubs.