TAMPA, Fla. - Tony Dungy is a man on a mission.
He wants to talk about diversity. He wants to talk about the lack of it in the NFL head coaching ranks.
When fired Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the league alleging racism in the hiring practices, Dungy said it shined a spotlight on a problem that’s been festering for a while.
“We know we’ve got something wrong,” he said. “We’ve got to come up with ways to make it better.”
For Dungy, the issue is simple. It’s about opportunity. It’s about fairness. And ultimately, it’s about Wilbur - Wilbur Dungy, his father. A man’s whose voice he hears inside his head.
“All the time,” Dungy said.
As Coach Dungy rose through the ranks of the NFL, eventually reaching the top of the mountain as the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl, he leaned on the lessons his father taught him.
“I would complain about things. I would say this isn’t right. This isn’t fair,” Dungy said. “And my dad would listen and he’d say, 'OK, now what are you going to do about it. And is your solution going to help make things better.'”
A trip to the White House to celebrate his Colts Super Bowl victory provided this Hall of Famer with a full circle moment.
“I’ll never forget President Bush inviting us to the White House and I’m in the first seat in the first bus going to the White House when my dad couldn’t ride the bus a generation earlier,” he said.
Wanna know where Coach Dungy’s humble nature comes from, look no further than his father. A doctor of education who fought for his country with the Tuskegee Airmen, but never boasted about his impressive resume.
“He didn’t talk a lot about being an Airmen,” Dungy said. “He didn’t talk about the sacrifices those guys made to fight for our country. He talked about doing it so that people could have the freedom to express themselves.”
Dungy learned through his studies in school all about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps.
“They had the determination and they had the pride in our country that they were going to fight even if they don’t want us to fight,” he said. “That type of attitude I think is what my dad’s generation is all about. And a little bit of that rubbed off on me.”
Throughout his NFL career, Coach Dungy’s made history. And it’s because of his dad’s incredible history that he’s been able to accomplish so many firsts. And that history is something Dungy hopes future generations continue to learn.
“We have to learn all of American History,” he said. “We have to learn the part that’s not enticing, it’s not fun, it’s maybe not what we’re proud of.
“We still have to learn, talk about it, learn from it and grow from it. This is what happened, how can we learn from it, how can we grow, how can we make things better.”