Richard Walden (athleterep@aol.com), an attorney and partner in the law firm of Burris, Schoenberg & Walden, LLP, was interviewed in February 2018 by David D. Dodge (david@sprtsoc.com), CEO, Sports Officiating Consulting, LLC in Carlsbad, California.

DD: What led you to collaborate with others in writing the book, Sport, Ethics and Leadership?

RW: Two things. First, I attend many sports events (in some years nearly 200) and also participate in recreational sports. I see many examples of poor sportsmanship and coarse behavior by fans and participants, and often wonder why people act that way and why other fans, athletes, and management don’t do more to curb that bad behavior. So the questions of what is an “ethical” fan or athlete and what can good leadership do to foster “ethical” behavior are on my mind when I am at sporting events.

Secondly, I’ve taught sports law at the University of San Francisco master’s program in sports management since about 2001. In teaching that course, I realized that we’d often touch on the philosophical and ethical components of issues, not just the legal. I spoke with the dean about creating a sports ethics course. While preparing the proposal for that course, I recalled actual things I’d seen at events over the years to use as examples for the course. I also began looking for a suitable textbook and did not find one to my liking, so I mentioned to the dean that perhaps one byproduct of the course would be that I’d write my own textbook.

At some point, I realized that I did not have time to pursue the course or the book any further and shelved the project. A year or two later, the dean was talking to another sports lawyer and professor (Ron Katz), who mentioned that he was interested in writing a book on sports ethics. The dean remembered my interest in the subject and put us in touch.