Nick Cormier, founder and editor-in-chief of “The Fabric of Culture,” joins the show to discuss the connections between athletes, marketing, and fashion. As one apparel company founder said recently, “Sports stars are the new Hollywood stars.”

From the third panel in our Sports & Activism symposium, Courtney M. Cox, professor at Oregon, Perry B. Johnson, professor at Southern Cal, and Joanna K. Love, professor at Richmond, lead a presentation on the connections between sports, music, and activism in the context of the Super Bowl halftime show.

As part of our second annual sports and activism symposium conducted in partnership with the James Lawson Institute, Jesus Ortiz of Our Esquina.com hosted a session on the state of Latino athlete activism. Joining Jesus are professor Adrian Burgos Jr., former pro soccer player Janelly Farias & sports exec Sara Toussaint.

Yussuf Khan, founder of FirstandPen.com, leads a discussion on the current state of athlete activism at both the professional and collegiate levels. Joining him are Michigan State professor and author Lou Moore, former NFL player Chris Kluwe, Benedict College professor Aquasia Shaw, and Ursinus College professor Johanna Mellis. This discussion was recorded during the 2nd Annual Sports & Activism online symposium hosted by the Vanderbilt Sports & Society Initiative and the James Lawson Institute for Research and Study of Nonviolent Movements at the Vanderbilt Divinity School on May 15, 2025.

University of Oregon professor Courtney M. Cox joins the show to discuss her new book, “Double Crossover: Gender, Media, and Politics in Global Basketball.” The book “considers how Black women and non-binary athletes maneuver through the global sports-media complex.” Cox is also co-director (with Dr. Perry B. Johnson) of The Sound of Victory, a multi-platform digital humanities project located at the intersection of music, sound, and sport.

Former Vanderbilt quarterback Kurt Page, the first SEC QB to throw for 3,000 yards in a season (1983), joins us from Europe to discuss his experience as the quarterback coach for the Wroclaw Panthers in Poland and how the opportunity has expanded his horizons and changed his life.

Former Vanderbilt placekicker Rob Chura joins the show to discuss his recent trip to the US-Mexico border. A football coach, teacher, and director of Global Education at Saint Louis University High School in Missouri, Chura took a group of students to the Kino Border Initiative in Nogales, Mexico to work with deportees and migrants.

ESPN Senior Writer Michael Fletcher joins On The Ball to discuss his recent article on legendary sports sociologist Dr. Harry Edwards. Fletcher calls Edwards, 82, “arguably the strongest advocate for Black athletes in history.” Battling cancer, “Edwards is clear-eyed about his illness, as well as the challenges that he will one day leave behind,” Fletcher writes. “After all of his work to promote diversity, he is witnessing the federal government vilify and undermine those types of efforts. Yet, he is not discouraged. He says he believes setbacks are inevitable and can be rendered temporary by continued activism.

‘There are no final victories,’ Edwards said. ‘There's just struggle. The only two things that survive are the struggle and the people, and they are perpetual.’”