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EVERYONE’S ALL-AMERICANS: RACE, MEN’S COLLEGE ATHLETICS, AND THE IDEAL OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Gregory John Kaliss A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History. Chapel Hill 2008 Approved by Advisor: John F. Kasson Reader: W. Fitzhugh Brundage Reader: William Chafe Reader: Peter Filene Reader: Tim Marr © 2008 Gregory John Kaliss ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT GREGORY JOHN KALISS: Everyone’s All-Americans: Race, Men’s College Athletics, and the Ideal of Equal Opportunity (Under the direction of Professor John F. Kasson) Reactions to the integration of college sports provide a unique perspective on shifting attitudes toward race, manliness, equality, and the quest for civil rights. As previously-white institutions of higher learning gradually (and grudgingly) opened their playing fields to African-American athletes in men’s basketball and football, black and white spectators interpreted mixed-race team sports in often contradictory ways. This dissertation analyzes the public discourse that surrounded five black male pioneer athletes at predominantly white schools. It reveals the anxieties, hopes, frustrations, and triumphs of ordinary Americans on both sides of the color line as they encountered new public representations of black masculinity, negotiated the changing terms of racial identity, and reconsidered the American ideal of equal opportunity. Although often relegated to the realms of entertainment and leisure, college sports were central to discussions of fairness and equality in American life, as observers consistently employed sports metaphors, such as the “level playing field,” to discuss the ideal of equal opportunity. Just as countless Americans debated, and continue to debate, policies such as affirmative action, differing expectations of sports as a model for society revealed the tensions that underlay the significant changes in the nation’s racial politics. The range of these diverse reactions can be seen in the project’s five case studies: Paul Robeson at iii Rutgers College, 1915-19; the 1939 University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) football team; Wilt Chamberlain at the University of Kansas, 1955-58; Charlie Scott at the University of North Carolina (UNC), 1966-70; and the integration of football at the University of Alabama, 1969-73. iv To Leigh, with thanks and love. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing this dissertation required the support of countless individuals and institutions. The following funding made the completion of this project possible: the Mowry Dissertation Fellowship for research from the University of North Carolina History Department; the Off-Campus Dissertation Research Fellowship from UNC’s Graduate School; Haynes Research Stipends from the Historical Society of Southern California; and summer research funding and the McColl Dissertation Year fellowship from the Center for the Study of the American South. Many librarians and archivists also aided me in my research. I am very grateful for the help of individuals at: the North Carolina Collection and the Southern Historical Collection at UNC; the UCLA University Archives at the Charles E. Young Research Library; the University of Kansas Archives in Spencer Research Library; the William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library and the Paul S. Bryant Museum at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa; and the University Archives in the Archibald S. Alexander Library at Rutgers University. I found the librarians and archivists at all of these institutions to be friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful, and I thank them for their efforts. Many professors at UNC and other schools offered their knowledge and aid. My dissertation committee’s support was essential: professors W. Fitzhugh Brundage, William Chafe, Peter Filene, and Tim Marr offered valuable feedback that helped me shape this project. Professor Robert Allen encouraged my pursuit of this topic in its earliest phases in his American Studies graduate seminar. UNC professors Jerma vi Jackson and Chad Bryant also contributed insightful observations in response to paper presentations at UNC’s History Department Research Colloquiums, and I am very grateful for their help. Panels at the North Carolina State University Graduate History Conference, the Tell About the South Lecture Series at the Center for the Study of the American South, and the Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture / American Culture Association Conference helped fine-tune key portions of this project. In addition, the readers at the Journal of Sport History offered helpful suggestions for my Charlie Scott chapter. Professor Lewis Erenberg graciously read a draft of my chapter on the 1939 UCLA football team and sharpened my critical analysis in the process. Finally, my advisor and committee chair John Kasson encouraged me to abandon my Master’s thesis topic and press ahead with an entirely new project for my dissertation, advice that has been essential to my sanity and whatever academic success I have attained. John has also been my sharpest critic, helping me draw broader inferences from the material at hand, and providing countless helpful suggestions along the way. He has also been a good friend, commiserating in times of distress and offering encouragement and support throughout. My peers in graduate school have also been essential to the completion of this project. The collegial nature of the UNC History Department is one of its defining, and most appealing, characteristics, and all share in building that atmosphere of respect and support. My writing group members have been particularly helpful: Bethany Keenan, Pam Lach, Blake Slonecker, and Maren Wood all dutifully read drafts of chapters and offered thoughtful and thorough commentary that improved my writing considerably. David Sehat also read portions of this dissertation and gave me valuable feedback; he has also been vital in navigating the minefield of the academic profession. Lars Jarrko also vii read two chapters and provided intriguing critiques from his perspective as a sociologist. My colleague Patrick O’Neil deserves special mention. Patrick has probably read more drafts of this work than any other person, and without his careful editing and insightful commentary, I would have been at a loss. More importantly, he has also been a great friend these last six years. Finally, I must also thank my family, who made this experience possible in many ways. My parents, Edward and Mildred Kaliss, in addition to providing financial and emotional support, encouraged an interest in scholarship at a young age and modeled the dedication required to be excellent teachers. I follow proudly in their footsteps. My mother-in-law Patti Butler and her husband Paul made the long, slow road of graduate school bearable with their good spirit and generosity. They also refrained from killing me for taking their daughter hundreds of miles farther away from home. Our cats TC and cookie puss aided in their own way, providing amusing diversions and constant companionship. Finally, I owe the most thanks to my wife Leigh, to whom I dedicate this project. Agreeing to move from a comfortable situation in Boston to Chapel Hill so that I could follow my dream of becoming a professor, she responded to the financial deprivations and long struggle of graduate school with as much generosity of spirit and loving support as one could possibly imagine. Along the way, she even earned her own Master’s degree, while working full-time to pay the bills. She is my hero in more ways than one, and I thank her, with love, for everything. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………..x Introduction—College Sports and the “Level Playing Field”….…………………………1 Chapter 1 – An Athlete in a Time of War: Paul Robeson and the Meanings of Race, Equality, and Manliness.……………….………………………………………19 Chapter 2 – The Talk of the Season: Race, Democracy, and the 1939 UCLA Football Team……………………………………………………………………………86 Chapter 3 – A Tall Order: Wilt Chamberlain, Race Relations, and the Politics of Black Masculinity in the Heartland, 1955-1958………………………………..……160 Chapter 4 – Un-Civil Discourse: Charlie Scott, the Integration of College Basketball, and the “Progressive Mystique”……………………………………….…...241 Chapter 5 – “To End the Racist and Discriminatory Practices”: Alabama Football and the Struggle to Integrate, 1969-1973……………………………………..295 Conclusion – College Sports as Model and Metaphor……………………………….…367 Bibliography....................................................................................................................373 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1. Paul Robeson, in his practice attire for the Rutgers team...............................31 Figure 1.2. Photograph of Fritz Pollard and Paul Robeson..............................................49 Figure 1.3. Photo spread of the Rutgers football team in the New York Tribune...............................................................................................................................76 Figure 2.1. California Eagle photograph of UCLA’s four black players.......................117 Figure 2.2. Thumbnail images of Granny Lansdell and Kenny Washington from the Los Angeles Examiner.......................................................................................140 Figure 2.3. Game photograph from the Los Angeles Examiner......................................146 Figure 3.1. Photograph of Wilt Chamberlain