By Selwyn Duke ——Bio and Archives--June 27, 2024

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It’s not hard to understand why Caitlin Clark, the record-setting white ex-NCAA women’s basketball standout, is enjoying attention and endorsements like no WNBA player before her. And, no, it’s not because of (mythical) “white privilege.”

It’s just as how Tiger Woods — who brought legions of new fans to golf the way Clark is doing for women’s hoops — was treated like royalty in the late ’90s for being the first dominant “black” (he calls himself “Cablinansian”) golfer. It’s just as how Danica Patrick became the golden girl of auto racing, even though she was perhaps best known for crashing, because she was a woman in a man’s arena.

It’s just as how Gerry Cooney was much ballyhooed in the early ’80s for being a “great white hope” in heavyweight boxing, a category where for decades the champion had almost always been black.

It’s called novelty.

Clark is a white gal, after all, in a league 63 to 80 percent black. There’s another factor, too: People expect the best basketball players to be black. This makes Clark akin to an underdog (that is, in a sense), and people tend to root for underdogs.

Add to this that she’s the “girl next door,” with an impressive college GPA, pleasant demeanor and some obvious intelligence, and........

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