GERSSON ROSAS, GLORIA NEVAREZ AND THE LATIN CONNECTION

According to the US Census Bureau, the population of our nation in 2019 is 329,288,982.

By 2055 the Pew Research Center estimates that although whites will remain the single largest racial group in the US, they will no longer represent the majority.

Growth in Hispanic and Asian populations is predicted to triple over the next 40 years. By 2055 our racial profile will look like this: 48% White; 24% Hispanic; 14% Asian; and 13% Black.

Nearly 39 million immigrants have come to the US since 1965, most of whom emigrated from Asia and Latin America.

Gersson Rosas, 40, is the embodiment of the American Dream circa 2019. The newly-hired (May 1, 2019) Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations, a native of Bogota, Colombia is the first Latino to run an NBA front office. Before that he was the NBA’s only Latino VP of Basketball Operations in Houston where he worked for 16 seasons serving as Daryl Morey’s right-hand man. He was the Dallas Mavericks GM — the first Latino GM in NBA history — in 2013 but left the post after only three months due to disagreements with management. (ESPN reported that Rosas departed because he wanted more control. Rosas remarked simply that, “…it wasn’t the best fit…”).

According to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports’ 2018 NBA Racial Gender and Report Card, the percentage of Latino players in the NBA dipped from 4.9% in 2016-’17 to 2.3% during the 2017-’18 season. There are no Latino owners and just one head coach, the Charlotte Hornets James Borrego.

Rosas wants to see that change. “It’s surprising,” he conceded. “There’s not a lot of Latinos in executive positions or in front offices. And, hopefully, that number will grow.

That’s one of the things that is important to me. I want to see Latinos in every part of the NBA: on the front-office side, on the coaching side, on the playing side, on the corporate side. And to know that I can motivate someone or give someone the hope that they can do it — if I can do it, they can do it — it’s very special to me.”

With the Rockets Rosas was involved in all player personnel moves. He was instrumental in the trading of Tracy McGrady for draft picks and assets which were later used to acquire James Harden. An American citizen, he has been the international player personnel scout for USA Basketball’s Men’s National Team since 2015.

Former Celtic Al Horford, a native of the Dominican Republic spoke glowingly of Rosas and his contributions, describing him as a role model for Latinos aspiring to a future NBA executive position. “His impact has been real big,” Horford said. “I got a chance to spend time with him at Basketball Without Borders [in the DR]. He’s always one of those guys pushing for the NBA to be more involved in Latin America. He wants to make sure the game will grow in our countries over there.

That is always what I’ve gotten from him. He doesn’t only talk about it. He goes down there, does work and makes a difference.”

Diversity reflected in many forms is key for Rosas — in culture and background certainly but also in terms of thinking. He believes that the NBA promotes diversity on each front, citing the high premium placed on a global and inclusive mentality.

Courting different perspectives and varying opinions is a strength which leads to a broader understanding and building from that defines his (and the NBA’s) passion and personna. “The reality is, the more perspectives you can get, the different opinions…that’s what you can value. And I’m very blessed to be part of the league that really values that.”

Gloria Nevarez is likewise blessed. In March of 2018 she was hired as the commissioner of the NCAA’s West Coast Conference, a collection of ten private universities that include Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount and basketball titan Gonzaga.

Her resume was comprehensive to say the least. She had spent eight years at the Pac-12 Conference as the senior associate commissioner and senior woman administrator overseeing all conference championships except football.

The Berkeley Law graduate also served as senior associate athletic director at Oklahoma and on the senior administrator level for the WCC, Cal and San Jose State.

Nevarez assumed her position among a new generation of women running Division I conferences around the country (one of ten female commissioners of the 32 NCAA Division I conferences) and she is the first Latina to do so.

Remarked Dan Coonan who heads the ECAC and worked with Nevarez at Cal-Berkeley, “Half of the student-athletes are female and now they have something to aspire to. I can’t think of a better role model than Gloria.”

True enough perhaps but never her plan. Nevarez did not intend to be a trailblazer; the former scholarship UMass basketball player simply wanted to carve out a career in sports.

Sports law interested her and with an acceptance to Cal’s prestigious law school, the ball started rolling. Coonan was Cal’s athletic department compliance officer, Nevarez became his intern and upon graduation in 1997, a career as an NCAA administrator — first at San Jose State — began to blossom and then bloom.

The list of female NCAA administrators was a relatively short one. “There were hardly any,” said Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida. “Generally speaking, people had paid more attention to the racial issue and not as much to the gender issue.”

And as Nevarez conceded, “There are not a lot of people of Mexican-American descent representing [in college athletics].”

The daughter of a Mexican father, she is equally proud of her mother’s Filipino and Irish heritage. “When we were doing the release and I was asked about the race aspect, what do you say?” she queried. “Technically, I’m half Mexican, a fourth Filipino and a fourth Irish, so what do you call that? The first Mexican-American…the first Latino, because I’m first in either gender. The first Latina, because I am the first female. Or Latinx. [A person of Latin-American descent used as a gender-neutral or nonbinary alternative to Latino or Latina].

Or am I offending my Irish and Filipino background by not mentioning either? It’s a lot to figure out how to say it…Honestly, I didn’t earn that. I just am that…How do I get publicity or credit for something I just am, as opposed to, ‘Oh, she has a law degree. She’s worked really hard and did this.’”

Her work ethic, directorial/executive acumen and her strong relationships were put to the test right away when shortly after her WCC appointment she played a pivotal role in sealing the deal to keep Gonzaga and its powerhouse men’s basketball program in the WCC, instead of watching the Zags depart to the Mountain West Conference.

As she recalled, “The fortunate thing was I already knew their administrators. I already knew [Gonzaga AD] Mike Roth when I first worked in the league, so I was able to have candid conversations with him. I was really the last leg of that relay…I feel like Gonzaga fits. They fit in our league wholeheartedly, culturally and geographically. I haven’t heard a negative word since they stayed. They belong with us.”

But throughout the process it became clear to her that the WCC and its travails were flying too far under the radar. No ‘pub’ to speak of, congratulatory or other.

“What that told me was the league office had not been a voice. So in addition to keeping Gonzaga in the league and all that flows from that, it was really an ‘aha’ moment that we need to establish ourselves as a voice, an authority and a representation of being in the WCC when stuff happens.”

Diversity is the way it is. And the way it should be.

Everyone must have a voice and harbor lofty aspirations unsullied by the toxicity of inequality and discrimination. If one has to work a little harder to achieve the desired result, then so be it. The NBA features two foreign-born owners in Mikhail Prokhorov (Brooklyn) and Vivek Ranadive (Sacramento) and a host of upper-level management minority executives.

In fact, the term “owner” is hotly rumored to be stricken altogether from the NBA lexicon due to its racial connotations in a league where the majority of the players are black.

CEO? Chairman?

The NBA said in a statement to TMZ Sports, “We refer to the owners of our teams as Governors; each team is represented on our Board of Governors,” the release read. Fifteen organizations do not reference “owner” in the staff directories on their official websites. Rather a variation of Chairman, Managing Partner, CEO or Governor is the descriptive word choice.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver himself weighed in. “I don’t want to overreact to the term because, as I said earlier, people end up twisting themselves into knots avoiding the use of the word owner…But, we moved away from that term years ago in the league…We call our team owners ‘Governor of the team’ and ‘alternate Governor.’…I’m sensitive to it and I think to the extent teams are moving away from the term, we’ll stick with using Governor.”

In the real world we could take a lesson from the NBA and the WCC in terms of espousing the virtues of inclusion, sensitivity and diversity.

Worthy people like Rosas and Nevarez worked diligently to get where they are. As have the likes of Julian and Joaquin Castro and Alexandria Ocascio-Cortez. Justice Sonia Sotomayor before them. Luis Munoz Marin and Dr. Antonia C. Novello before Sotomayor. Jorge Ramos. Ted Cruz. Marco Rubio. Ellen Ochoa. Eva Longoria. The beat goes on.

We all have the right to a legitimate opportunity to prove our mettle…our worth.

An equal right and an equal opportunity.

[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in December 2019.]