Study Calls for More L.A. Sports Diversity : Non-playing jobs: Southland teams hire more minorities than the national average, but numbers remain far below population percentage.

Although more racially diverse than their counterparts nationally, professional and college sports organizations in the Los Angeles area are dominated by whites in non-playing roles, according to a study conducted by the Amateur Athletic Foundation.

African-Americans, Latinos and Asian-Americans compose 53% of Greater Los Angeles’ population but only 26.7% of the administrative, coaching and support staffs of the seven professional teams and three college athletic departments surveyed.

“These findings strongly suggest that Los Angeles sports organizations, at least until the very recent past, have had hiring practices that, consciously or unconsciously, gave preference to whites in non-athlete positions, while providing limited opportunity to other racial groups,” the report by the AAF concluded.

The foundation found this to be particularly true at management’s upper levels.

“The higher in an organization one was employed, the more likely . . . it was he or she would be white,” the report said. “In almost every case, racial diversity was least likely to exist at the upper echelons and most likely at the lower levels.”

The AAF, a nonprofit organization endowed with Southern California’s share of the surplus from L.A.’s 1984 Olympic Games, examined the seven professional teams and three athletic departments--Loyola Marymount, UCLA and USC--during the 1990-91 seasons. All except the Angels and the Raiders provided information.

At the time, owners of all seven professional teams and the athletic directors at the three universities were white. USC made an African-American, Mike Garrett, its athletic director Friday.

Among the pro teams, the only non-white chief executive officer was the Clippers’ general manager, African-American Elgin Baylor, and 43 of 50 senior executive positions were held by whites. The only non-white head coach was the Raiders’ Art Shell, an African-American. At the three universities, 18 of the 23 associate or assistant athletic directors and 43 of the 50 head coaches were white.

Los Angeles’ pro sports organizations fare well when compared to others in the United States and Canada.

While 83% of the front-office personnel for L.A. area professional teams surveyed by the AAF was white, the Center for the Study of Sport in Society reported in 1991 that the figures for whites in front offices were 91% in the NBA, 92% in the NFL and 96% in major league baseball. No NHL figures were available.

Loyola Marymount, UCLA and USC compared favorably to other U.S. universities, according to statistics compiled in 1990-91 by the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee.

The AAF also surveyed the athletic departments of 47 high schools in the L.A. Unified School District, finding them more racially diverse than the Los Angeles area professional and university sports organizations.

“It is clear . . . that there is a significant talent pool of African-Americans, Latinos and Asian-Americans developing . . . in the Los Angeles area,” the AAF report said. “For Los Angeles sports organizations, this phenomenon creates both an opportunity and a responsibility--an opportunity to draw upon the widest possible range of talent and a responsibility to ensure that a long history of racial discrimination is reversed at last.”

Southland Breakdown

PRO SPORTS A look at the racial makeup of the front office and on-field staffs of seven professional teams in Los Angeles (Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Raiders, Rams, Dodgers, Angels):

* Staff: 508

* White: 360 (71%)

* Black: 47 (9%)

* Latino/Asian-American: 101 (20%)

COLLEGE SPORTS A look at the racial makeup of the total front office and on-field staffs of three major college athletic programs in the Los Angeles area (USC, UCLA, Loyola Marymount):

* Staff: 261

* White: 204 (78%)

* Black: 33 (13%)

* Latino/Asian-American: 24 (9%)