Tam Gavenas ’25 explored the complex dynamic between Black scholar-athletes and the American college system.
As part of this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. “Day On,” Tam Gavenas ’25 delivered his Community and Multicultural Development (CaMD) Scholar presentation, titled “A History of Trade-Offs: The Black Scholar-Athlete in U.S. Colleges, 1968-2023.” As a runner who has set many of Andover’s school records in cross country and track, Gavenas explored the journeys of other Black scholar-athletes and shared his experience as a student, film-maker, English-lover, and Black athlete.
On January 15 in Kemper Auditorium, Gavenas delved into the stories of Black collegiate student-athletes, like Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens and Bob Beamon, and examined their battles against racism and discrimination. He began his presentation by posing questions to the audience.
“First, I want you to think about the trade-offs you’ve had to make to achieve a goal. It can be sleep versus study, studying versus partying, or prioritizing one subject or another. Then, I want you to think about the trade-offs you’ll be willing to make if you were the first in your family to get a college education. What trade-offs would you be willing to make if, like Tommie Smith, Jesse Owens, or Bob Beamon, you had the chance to be a legend? To be the best in the world at what you did?” asked Gavenas in his presentation.
Patrick Rielly, Instructor in English and Head Coach of Andover Cross Country, served as Gavenas’ advisor for his research. While introducing Gavenas’ presentation, Rielly shared his admiration for Gavenas’ energy and love of the community.
“I feel confident in saying everyone knows Tam, or at least everyone thinks they do… As I got to know Tam more, I realized he is one of those rare people that leads with joy. If you spend any time with him you smile more and you dream bigger… He cares about people genuinely and knows that the small moments of connection spread across campus and across the day are always worthwhile. These moments make the community strong, vibrant and joyful, and that’s why everyone knows Tam,” said Rielly.
A portion of Gavenas’ presentation included a screening of his own documentary, which detailed the lives of Black student-athletes at various U.S. colleges. According to Rielly, Gavenas’ documentary exposed the increasingly negative stereotypes that persist as Black student-athletes perform at a higher level.
“Tam’s done something unique to the history of the CaMD Scholars program. He’s adapted his written work into a documentary essay that we’ll get a chance to see tonight… Tam’s presentation sheds important light. Athletes can be leaders, both on the athletic playing field and in the classroom. They can be leaders on campus and, as Tam showed, we’re all multidimensional. We’re not one thing or the other thing, we’re human beings, and showing athletes as scholars is very important,” said Rielly.
Mario Calvo ’24, one of Gavenas’ teammates in cross country and track, underscored how Gavenas’ research brought the stories of athletes who faced discrimination into the spotlight.
“I’ve been running track and it’s something I’ve taken up. The way Tam put it, you’re not alone as a track runner. The classes you take here are the best at the best school in the country. With the time commitment that track has, just the fact you can be a scholar like Tam, a successful student, it’s admirable. Not only were these athletes in his presentation denied that admiration for their hard work and accolades on the track, in the context of racial discrimination it shows how these stories aren’t talked about enough. I’m really glad Tam did such a great job to have these stories talked about,” said Calvo.
As a Black scholar-athlete himself, Gavenas discussed his motivation behind applying to become a CaMD scholar with the hope of raising awareness. As someone with many talents and interests, Gavenas emphasized the notion that no athlete or student should be contained by a singular passion.
“We, as Black track athletes, we’re not just that, we’re not just track. We’re students, we’re scholars, we need to be shown for that, we need to be represented in a different way. We can’t just be that person that just runs. We need to be that person who’s good at film-making, who’s good at documentaries, who’s good at essays, who loves English, who loves History, who loves all these different subjects. So you can’t just put us in one category… I wanted to represent this community and the things we had to go through as track athletes and as Black students,” said Gavenas.
