May 13, 2010 8:50:41 AM

Data from the most recent NCAA Student-Athlete Race/Ethnicity Report show that whites compose more than three-fourths of participants in all sports (including emerging and other nonchampionship sports) but that Blacks compose a larger percentage of the remainder today than a decade ago.

Participation from white student-athletes has hovered between 77 and 79 percent since the 1999-2000 reporting year, while the percentage of black student-athletes has increased steadily over that time – from 16.3 percent to 18.4 percent for males, and from 9.4 percent to 11.4 percent for females. That participation, though, remains concentrated in football, basketball and track.

That concentration is highest in basketball, where Blacks made up 44.9 percent of the student-athlete population in the men's game in 2008-09, the ninth straight year the percentage exceeded 40. In women's basketball in 2008-09, a record 32.5 percent of the players were black. Percentages for white players in basketball in 2008-09 were 48 for men and 59.9 for women.

In football, black student-athletes accounted for almost 34 percent of the players in 2008-09. That's well above the percentage in 1999-2000 (28.1 percent) but fairly steady over the last four years. Whites, meanwhile, have gone from 63.1 percent in 1999-2000 to 58.8 percent in 2008-09.

Black participants slightly outnumbered whites in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision by 47 percent compared to 44.8.

Black male and female student-athletes accounted for about 21 percent of the population in track, which has been the case for the past nine years.

The only other NCAA championship sports in which black student-athletes accounted for at least 10 percent of the participants in 2008-09 were women's bowling (46 percent) and women's volleyball (10 percent).

Other highlights:

• As with the previous years, in 2008-09 the highest percentage of overall male and female student-athletes were white (71.4 and 77.8 percent respectively) with the next highest percentage of student-athletes being black (18.4 percent for male student-athletes and 11.4 percent for female student-athletes).
• The percentage of male and female nonresident aliens (international student-athletes) has increased from 1999-2000 to 2008-09 (from 1.8 to 4.0 percent and 1.5 to 4.4 percent of the total male and female student-athlete populations, respectively).
• The percentage of black male basketball student-athletes in Division I has increased from 55.0 in 1999-2000 to 60.4 percent in 2008-09. Over the same time, the percentage of Division I black female basketball student-athletes has increased from 35.7 to 51.5 percent.
• In 2008-09, the highest percentage of Division I male basketball student-athletes was black (60.4 percent). For the third year in a row, the highest percentage of Division I female basketball student-athletes was also black (51.5 percent).
• The highest percentage of football student-athletes in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision was white (46.3 percent) in 2008-09, followed closely by Blacks (45.6 percent). The percentage of black football student-athletes in the FBS has steadily increased from 40.3 percent in 1999-2000 to the current level in 2008-09.
• In Division II, the highest percentage of male basketball student-athletes in 2008-09 were black (53.6 percent), while the highest percentage of female basketball student-athletes were white (54.0 percent). The highest percentage of football student-athletes in Division II were white (50.6 percent), followed by Blacks (42.6 percent). The percentage of black football student-athletes in Division II has steadily increased from 31.9 percent in 1999-00 to the current level in 2008-09.
• In Division III, the highest percentage of male (65.6 percent) and female (78.0 percent) basketball student-athletes were white. The highest percentage of football student-athletes in Division III were white (78.4 percent), followed by Blacks (14.8 percent). The percentage of black football student-athletes in Division III has steadily increased from 11.0 percent in 1999-00 to the current level in 2008-09.