I am sitting here on Wildcard Weekend and I can’t help think of Mark Chmura. A three-time Pro Bowl tight end who won a SuperBowl with the Packers, he has been relegated to a shadowy dark corner of Green Bay history, and I can’t help but wonder if the color of his skin played a role.
Chmura was with the packers from 1993 to 1999 and was one of the players who helped propel the francise to it’s current level of prominence. He was named to the Pro Bowl three times, amassed 2,253 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns, and ranks third in receptions for a Packer tight end, despite playing several fewer seasons than those above and below him.
Waived because of a neck injury, Chmura left Green Bay in 2000 after a teenage girl accused Chmura of raping her in the bathroom of a house where an after-prom party was going on. He was found innocent in 2001 after several of the teenage partygoers testified against the accuser’s version of events. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel covered the trial in depth and has left many of their articles posted online.
Now Chmura is all but banished from football, only now able to host a call-in show on an ESPN affiliate in Madison.
Chmura was given a raw deal by a the football community, a community who has given a free pass to many black athletes.
- Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis plead guilty to obstruction of justice after his involvement in a double murder-by-stabbing in Atlanta in 2000. He is now more popular than he was before the incident, is a spokesman for several companies, and has been featured in NFL promos. He is also one of 32 finalists for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, which recognizes charitable activities of NFL players.
- Lewis’ teammate, Raven running back Jamal Lewis, plead guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in 2004. He missed two games and was fined $700,000. His contract for this year alone was more than $3 million.
Chmura was a white game-breaking tight end who lived in Wisconsin and was a community role model. So much was expected of Chmura because of his place in the community, and those expectations were so much that apparently the fabricated allegations of teenage girl were enough to destroy his public life.
Ray Lewis and Jamal Lewis are both African-American football players. Was less expected of them because of their skin color? Both men pleaded guilty to serious charges, while Chmura was found innocent, and both men got off much, much easier. The question is, Why?
Article comments
1 - mrbenning
I recognize the inconsistencies of the justice system, as well as the NFL, in treating matters like this.
I have a few questions:
What sort of location was it? It said the basement of a house, but was it a private residence? If so, what was he doing at an after-prom party with high-schoolers?
Ross Verba of the Cleveland Browns is in a similar situation. Him and his roommate brought a few girls home from the bar and are now dealing with rape charges. Why would any high profile person bring strangers home from a bar?
Just to iterate, I recognize the inconsistencies in the dealing with these matters. It also sucks to have unproven allegations ruin your credibility. You've got to wonder, though, why they weren't more careful.
2 - bhw
Chmura wasn't "found innocent," as the post states. He was found not guilty. There is a difference, and it's not just semantic.
He played drinking games late at night at his neighbor's house with teenagers after their prom. He hot tubbed with them. And he was alone in the bathroom with a 17-year-old girl, who had also been a babysitter for his kids. This girl passed a polygraph given to her by the police.
As Ahnuld says, whey-ah dey-ah is smoke, deh-ay is fi-ya. Or at least there may be.
The father of the girl who hosted the party was also charged with sexual misconduct for his behavior in the hot tub. I don't know what happened in his case.
As for race, it's quite possible that Chmura got hit with both sides of a double standard. He may have been believed more readily by the jury because he was a white man than he would have been if he were black, and he was cut by his team before the trial took place, which may indicate that he was held to a higher standard than some black athletes who have been in trouble with the law.
But we'd probably have to look at how the individual organization, the Green Bay Packers, has responded to alleged criminal activity by their players, rather than looking at other teams. The teams are individually owned and each team has its own set of standards.
In any case, the problem isn't really that Chmura was treated unfairly by the Packers. The problem is that, in general, other athletes aren't fired for their off-field misconduct, as the rest of us would most likely be. We just love our sports, so we excuse a lot of crap in the name of winning.
3 - DJRadiohead
I don't think race is the issue. It's a neck issue... as in Chmura's neck. Let's face it... if Mark Chmura had still been capable of catching 90 balls and 8 TDs a year, he would have continued to work in the NFL (maybe in GB, maybe elsewhere... Dallas for instance).
In the case of Jamal Lewis, he was coming off a 2,000 yard season- extremely productive, near record setting. Ray Lewis was (and some would argue still is) the most feared defender in the NFL. Take a look at Kobe Bryant- the guy is still one of the best (although I contend he is overrated). These guys did not get off the hook because they are black. The criminal justice system incarcerates many more African-Americans than Caucasians. They got off the hook because they can still do what they do with a ball better than damn near anybody else.
4 - Ann
Very old article. I wonder how the author would feel the way things are today? Now we have every other Black athlete being arrested for any and every minor and major offence. Then we have Big Ben Rothlisberger accused of rape by more than one girl and he gets a suspension.
There has been a significant number of white athletes not charge with the crimes they've been accused of. Where is the outcry?