Aaa, brings back to me my experience at Bloom Township HS over 50 years ago. Just about all the black kids were really great at most sports . . . until it came to swimming. Then it was time for everybody else to shine, since they mostly sank.
That was the point Camperis was trying to make but once he hit the third rail of ethnic differences, he had to pay and he did, good bye Al.
That was exactly my experience. I used to line up against one of the best defensive tackles in the Metro NY Area. He used to kill me, well, he would knock me down not hurt me. Later we would sometimes match up during water polo. I made sure I stayed at the deep end as he could not swim well. We used to laugh about it because he would say you will not have that smirk on your face if we get down the shallow end! He towered over me a good six inches so there was no chance I would consider doing that!