I Never Had It Made: The Integration of African Americans into College Sports

Sports have been a major part of American culture since the settles first came to this land. From the first sports like bowling and races to the newer ones like basketball and football, sports has always been in this country to bring people together and to help them relax. With this being said, it must be noted that sports have not always been inclusive of all people groups. For instance women have not always had the same opportunities to play sports that men have until the passing of Title IX. Another group that has not always received equal treatment in sports is African Americans.

They had great difficulty receiving the chance to play in professional sports, but they had an even harder time getting the chance in at the collegiate level. Different African American men had to display courage and determination both on and off the field (or court) for them to obtain equal rights in the sporting world.

One of the first sports that African Americans were able to play was football. There is no precise record as to who is was the first African American college football player, but most researchers think that is was two teammates. William Jackson and William Lewis are these teammates who played for Amherst in the late 1880’s. Other African American stars of college football were George Jewett from the University of Michigan, George Flippin of Nebraska, Fritz Pollard. Pollard was also the first African American to play in the most famous bowl game, the Rose Bowl. Though these players were able to play at the collegiate level, they did not have it very easy. Jack Trice was the first African American player to play for the Iowa State Cyclones in 1923. In a game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Trice was tackled by a large number of defensive players. These players were definitely not seeking to tackle him as he would leave the game on a stretcher with a broken collar bowl. Trice died soon after the game with internal bleeding due to a ruptured lung. Another horrific story includes Johnny Bright who played for Drake. Bright was one of the best offensive players in the nation, in fact, he led the nation in offense in 1949 and 1950. Bright was on track to do this for the third consecutive time when a defender from Oklahoma A&M gave him a vicious hit. This hit was to the face (in the days before facemasks) and fracture Bright’s jaw. Even though there was a great deal of skill among African American college football players, there were none selected to be on the list of All-Americans from 1918 to 1937. As part of the “Gentlemen’s Agreement” teams from the North that had African American players would not let them play in games against teams from the southern states. After more and more African American players began playing, the South decided to only play amongst them for a period of time. One major event that led to the integration of African Americans into college football was on October 11, 1947. Harvard lineman Chester Peirce began the first African American to play (in any sport) in a former confederate state when the Harvard Crimson played the Virginia Cavaliers. Two months after this event, two African American players from Penn State University went with their team to play Southern Methodist University in the annual Cotton Bowl. (Pennington)

The Southwest Conference (SWC) was one of the very last to allow African Americans to play sports at their universities. They saw other schools as “lesser” when they attempted to recruit African American players. The first team in the SWC to allow an African American player onto its team was the University of Houston. Running back Warren McVea was a very talented recruit from Brackenridge High School in San Antonio. While at Houston, McVea had a very interesting career. In his first season with Houston, the university was charged with violating recruiting policies because McVea received a car and money among other things. The university was placed on probation for four years. McVea was the first African American football player to play in the home stadiums of Texas A&M, Miami (FL), Tennessee, Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Mississippi State. In most of these stadiums, confederate flags were waved as the bands played “Dixie” (Pennington).

Head coach Hugh “Duffy” Daugherty of the Michigan State Spartans became very famous for his recruiting of African American players. Most of these players were from the South and were not being recruited by states in that area. In 1965 Michigan State University (MSU) became the first team in the history of Division I football to field more African American starters than white starters. Segregation in sports became very heated as the Black Power movement saw African American athletes protest at predominately white campuses across the nation. African American football players at MSU demanded that there be African American coaches in all sports at the university as well as cheerleaders and academic advisors. This demand eventually led to the boycott of practice by twenty-four African American football players. This boycott would be short but would lead to compromises between these players and administrators at the university (Smith, 2007).

The most prestigious award in college football is the Heisman Trophy. From 1935 to 1960 every player that won the coveted award was white. In 1961, running back Ernie Davis of Syracuse University became the first African American player to win the Heisman. Now, just less than half of the recipients of this award have been of African American descent (Smith, 2007). The days of African Americans unfairly not being placed on the annual All-American lists are over as large amounts are on the list every year. These players are not restricted to play against teams from certain states. With the integration of African American players into college football, the sport has been changed for the better.

Football is not the only college sport that went through changes with the integration of African Americans. Basketball began to diversify shortly after football did. By 1915, there were many smaller colleges that had predominately colored players. Some of the colleges include: Hampton University, Lincoln University, and Wilberforce University. In the following year, the all-Black Central Interscholastic Athletic Association was formed. Over the next 15 years, three more all-Black sports conferences would form. Some of the first African American players to star at major colleges were Paul Robeson at Rutgers University, Wilbur Woods at Nebraska, and Charles Drew at Amherst College. There was a large amount of integration to major conferences in the 1960’s. The first African American player to play for Texas Christian University (TCU) was James Cash. Perry Wallace was the first African American basketball player to be recruited in the Southeast Conference (SEC), and Billy Jones followed in his footsteps, becoming the first African American in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Many schools saw great success after recruiting African Americans. One such case is that of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) who won ten national titles from 1964-1975. The Bruins were led by one of their first African American recruits, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, for many years. Not only has college basketball opened its doors to African American players, it has also welcomed in many colored coaches. There are over 50 African American coaches out of more than 300 Division I schools (African American Registry).

Perhaps one of the most memorable games in all of sports was the 1965 Men’s NCAA National Championship in basketball. The matchup was between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Texas Western Miners (now known as University of Texas at El Paso). The Miners were perhaps the biggest underdogs in the history of the championship. Texas Western was led by future hall of fame coach, Don Haskins. They were matched up against one of the great college basketball minds, Adolf Rupp. This game isn’t just know because the Miners would end up pulling off one of the biggest upsets in sports, it would also be known because it was the first time that a team started five African American players and played against a team with all white players (African American Registry). In the 2006 movie “Glory Road” Haskins is portrayed as a brave man that decided to play five African American players, but in all reality, Haskins would have played any combination of players no matter what their race. He was determined to win the game and that was it (Knight, 2008). Only a few years later, Adolf Rupp, who was previously very against African American players in college basketball, recruited the first player of African descent to play for University of Kentucky. This game would have a huge impact on not only basketball and other sports; it also had a big impact on racial segregation as a whole. Because of this game, it is no longer eerie to see a team start five African American players (African American Registry).

Just as the great Jackie Robinson said, African Americans have never had it made in this country. Sports is another area of life that where they were discriminated against. It was up to some very strong willed people to bring equality in college sports. Some of these individuals include: Jack Trice, Warren McVea, Hugh “Duffy” Daugherty, and Don Haskins. These men did whatever it took to make it so that anyone can play sports while in college.

References

African American Registry. (n.d.). College basketball holds a rich african american history.

Retrieved from http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/college-basketball-holds-rich-african-american-history

Knight, B. (2008, 9 22). Don haskins. Time International, (37)

Pennington, R. (n.d.). Racial integration of college football. Retrieved from http://richardpennington.com/index.php/publications/entry/racial-integraton-of-college-football-in-texasracial-integraton-of-college

Smith, E. (2007). Race, sport, and the American dream. (p. 222). Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press.

Smith, J. M. (2007). Breaking the plane": Integration and black protest in michigan state university football during the 1960s. Michigan Historical Review,33(2), 101-129.