By the time Eddie Salter was 10 years old, he already knew he wanted to become a coach when he grew up.
That aspiration had nothing to do with the prestige of winning championships or working with talented athletes, but everything to do with wanting to influence young lives similar to the way his had been impacted.
In 1969, when Salter, as a first grader, was one of four Black students to be integrated into an all-white elementary school in racially charged Hamilton, Alabama, the school’s physical education teacher became something of a personal hero.
“There was a group of bullies who would chase me and the other Black kids in the hall,” Salter recalled. “They would call us names, and we knew if they caught us what they would do. But if we made it to the gym, the P.E. teacher, Ralph Emerson, would stand up for us and make them leave us alone.
“That became sort of a safe place. If we could make it to the gym, Coach Emerson would be there and we’d be OK. I said to myself then that I want to be like him when I grow up.