Sport History, Race, and the College Gridiron: a Southern California Turning Point Author(S): Lane Demas Source: Southern California Quarterly, Vol

Home , Daily Bruin, Woody Strode

Sport History, Race, and the College Gridiron: A Southern California Turning Point Author(s): Lane Demas Source: Southern California Quarterly, Vol. 89, No. 2 (Summer 2007), pp. 169-193 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Historical Society of Southern California Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41172364 . Accessed: 06/11/2013 01:14

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

University of California Press and Historical Society of Southern California are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Southern California Quarterly.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Sport History, Race, and the College Gridiron A SouthernCalifornia Turning Point EfyLane Demas

December3, 1898,the season-endingbanquet to honorHar- vard'sfootball team was a raucousaffair.1 Having completed an unbeatenseason, the squad celebrated surprise victories over sev- eralIvy League rivals, including the University of Pennsylvania and Yale. The evening'sfeatured speaker, Theodore Roosevelt, proved to be a bois- terous,energetic orator and a huge footballfan. Roosevelt, a Harvard alumand newlyelected governor of New York,received a warmovation froman audienceof influentialadministrators, students, and boosters. Yet the evening'slargest cheer came withthe introductionof assistant coachWilliam Henry Lewis. While a studentat Harvard'slaw school, the popularLewis had becomeone ofthe first African Americans to integrate 2 a college squad when he joined the team in 1892. Upon graduation, Lewiswas named an assistantcoach - also a firstfor a blackman. Lewis'popularity, eloquence, and skill as a juristhelped him join Roo- sevelt'sinner circle - a groupof old footballchums, Harvard gentlemen, and future"Rough Riders" in the Spanish-American War. While Lewis

An earlierversion of this article appeared in HistoryCompass (Vol. 5, February2007) underthe " útle,"Beyond Jackie Robinson: Racial Integration in AmericanCollege Footbaü, havingwon an awardfor graduate student essays . The authorwishes to thank the Blackwell Publishing Company .

169

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 170 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY himselfstayed home duringthe war and continuedto coach, his rela- tionshipwith the new presidentpersisted until 1907,when Roosevelt promotedhim to assistantU.S. attorneyin Boston.Under the subsequent administrationofWilliam Howard Taft, Lewis became assistant attorney generalof the UnitedStates, at thatpoint the highest-rankingfederal officeever held by an AfricanAmerican. WilliamLewis used the burgeoning game of college football to earna reputationin the pressas a "verystrong," "intelligent," and "heady" player.3This imagemade him a nice fitfor Roosevelťs posse of head- strongleaders and administrators.In a periodof renewed racial animosity,contemporary black políticos had tofind some means to forge positive publicimages if they had anyhope of advancement. And yetLewis is not thoughtof as a blacksporting hero in the sameway as JackieRobinson orJoe Louis. Unlike boxing and baseball,college football has neverbeen a subjectof serious study in termsof culture, race, and integration.Rather than examinethe nebulousstory of integrationin collegiatefootball, scholarlyattention and popularmemory have both chosen insteadto focuson clear and powerfulindividual stories of integration- the leg- endarybiographies of professional black athletes like Jack Johnson, Joe Louis,and JackieRobinson. This remainsthe case even forthe postwar era,when television exposure launched a boomin thepopularity of collegefootball and madesome student athletes household names alongside professionalboxers and baseball players.Scholars have exploredthe processby which black sports celebrities were appropriated in a number ofdebates, including the biological nature of blacks and AfricanAmeri- can physicalprowess, dissension over the emphasisplaced by the black communityon achievementin sports and entertainment, and the debates surroundingthe role of black athletesas communityleaders or racial "spokesmen."4Yet theseissues emerged out of a growingAfrican Ameri- can presencein selectprofessional sports at theturn of the twentieth century,particularly boxing and Negro League baseball, not amateur college athletics.Many later observers found them particularly difficult to apply in therealm of collegiate football. Indeed,there never was a single"color line" or integratingfigure in collegefootball, but rathera tediouslyslow and arduousprocess - one thatspanned nearly eighty years and countlessplayers. While William Lewishad played successfully for both Amherst and Harvard in the1890s, blackfootball players sparked very different reactions throughout the rest

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPORT HISTORY,RACE, AND THE COLLEGE GRIDIRON 171 of the country.In 1897,the New YorkTimes announced the "firstfoot- ball gameever played by negroes in Tennessee."5The resultwas a fight betweenthe playersand a groupof "drunkenwhite men," leaving one playerdead and six seriouslyinjured. Only a fewdozen African Ameri- can studentsplayed on majorcollege squads for the next forty years, while zerocompeted for southern universities before World War II.6However, an importantexception is the ucla footballteam of 1939-41. Five AfricanAmerican players (including Jackie Robinson) won thesupport of nationalsports writers, the ucla studentbody, and the university administration- even withthe prospectof playingsegregated teams.7 Three ucla players- Kenneth Washington,Woodrow Strode, and JackieRobinson - held prominentstarting positions, each playingboth offenseand defense.Washington, who graduatedin 1940 aftercon- tributingto the team'smost successful season ever, was regardedas the bestfootball player in ucla's history.Jackie Robinson played two seasons at ucla, transferringin 1939 from Pasadena City College and excelling in foursports - football,basketball, baseball, and track.Although he left in 1941 withoutgraduating, Robinson's short career at ucla is perhaps the mostimpressive in collegiateathletic history. Woody Strode was a powerfulstarting end forthe Bruinfootball squad and also earnedcon- siderablesuccess throwing the shotput. Later in life,his athleticframe andgood looks helped land him movie roles throughout the '60s and '70s. Washington,Robinson, and Strode,often nicknamed the "Sepia Trio" bythe mainstream media, formed the core of the team. Washington and Strodealso wenton to becomethe first African American football play- ersto join theNational Football League, while Robinson's first season as a BrooklynDodger has joined the Montgomerybus boycott,Broten v. Торекпуand theMarch on Washingtonas a seminalevent in thehistory of Americancivil rights.Although not a consistentstarter, African Americanend Ray Bartlettalso made significantcontributions to the ucla squad,while black teammate Johnny Wynne played sparingly as a lineman.Yet theseucla athletesgarnered support not so muchas indi- vidualrace heroes(as Robinsonwould in 1947) but ratheras a "black team,"a groupof young men who oftenendured derogatory references, taunts,and policebrutality. While ucla wasnot thefirst major team to allowAfrican American participants,it was thefirst to featurea groupof black players in starting positions.Rarely was a prominentteam with a nationalfollowing even

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 172 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY willingto accepta loneblack player. Many of the celebrated teams of the periodwere clear segregationistpowerhouses - the Universityof Ten- nessee,the Universityof Alabama,Duke University,and others- yet even northernfootball shrines like Notre Dame remainedall white.On theWest Coast,the king of football was undoubtedlythe University of SouthernCalifornia, a schoolthat had not featureda blackplayer since the 1920s. In 1922,the American Physical Education Review published an article entitled"Racial Traitsin Athletics."The author,Elmer D. Mitchell, articulatedboth the scientificand popularsentiment prevalent in the 1920sand 1930sregarding black student athletes. According to Mitchell, "a coloredyouth who remainsin schooluntil the age of interscholastic competitionis usuallyof the bright industrious type, and thesame quali- tiesshow when he participatesin athleticgames."8 When blackstudents competedon predominatelywhite teams, they were praised only insofar as theyfollowed the directions and leadershipof their white teammates. Whitestudents were often given free reign over initiating "inferior" players,including lower-classmen and blacks.Again, Mitchellpraised the blackathlete who tooksuch racist criticism from his fellowcollege students:

The negromingles easily with white participants, accepting an inferiorsta- tusand beingcontent with it. I have oftenseen a gay-spiritedcrowd of college playersplay pranks upon a coloredteammate . . . and in all cases the spiritof reception was a good-humoredone. The negro,as a fellowplayer withwhite men, is quietand unassertive;even though he maybe thestar of theteam he doesnot assumeopenly to lead.9 Northernteams with one or two black playersin the 1920sand 1930s drewpraise for "mingling" the races,all withina racialhierarchy com- pletelyseparate from skill, experience, or the game itself.However, Mitchellominously noted the danger of teams featuring more than a few blackstudents:

I have seen cases thoughwhere such a starplayer, if allowedauthority, quicklyassumed an air ofbravado. . . . [W]henthe negroplays on a team composedof members of his ownrace ... he is an inferiorathlete, because manythings crop out to handicaphis naturalskill. One ofthese is theten- dencyto be theatricalor to play to thegrandstand The greatprizefighter, JackJohnson, always jested and carriedon reparteewhile he wasfighting.10

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPORT HISTORY, RACE, AND THE COLLEGE GRIDIRON 173

In termsof popular"black teams," Mitchell could onlyrefer to the barnstorming,amusement-oriented baseball teams made popular by the Negroleagues. However, by the late 1930sfootball fans would face the prospectof major college teams featuring large numbers of black students. This wouldbe drivenspecifically by ucla's successon theeve ofWorld WarIL Untilthe war, however, northern schools that allowed black play- ersto participateexpected them to functionunder the very racial hierarchy that Mitchell praised in the AmericanPhysical Education Review. By 1939,one black newspapercounted only thirty-eight black playerson majorwhite teams throughout the country.11Most of thesewere lone individualswho rarely saw playing time. Moreover, because they were not viewedas integralto theirteam's success, coaches and administrators couldbench their black players without stirring much animosity, a useful tool whenevera northernsquad faced a southernschool with strict seg- regationpolicies. FromWilliam Lewis - who integratedHarvard football in 1892- to the integrationof the University of Mississippi, Louisiana State Univer- sity,and Universityof Georgia football programs in 1972,the menwho integratedcollege football acted as a "collective"Jackie Robinson. This wasa movementtowards integration that more closely resembles the real- ityof the postwar struggle for civil rights - grassroots, populist agitation at the local level, particularlyin the public sphere (transportation, leisure,education, etc.). Nevertheless,while the geo-politicalebb and flowof college integration offers a betterparallel to thebroader struggle over AfricanAmerican civil rights,sports history still emphasizes the larger-than-lifepersona of the professional "race hero." This is whyath- leteslike William Henry Lewis remain largely unknown in popularmemory,while professionalpersonalities like Lewis' contemporary,Jack Johnson,remain fully ingrained. Nevertheless,despite their value and power,the popularityof these individuals- JackieRobinson, Joe Louis, Jack Johnson - and theirstories point to a fundamentalundercurrent that continuesto influenceour understandingof the civil rightsmovement. Namely, it is a desireto reduceor simplifya historythat revolves around individual champions breakingbinary racial "lines" or "barriers."Furthermore, this attempt to ingrainsuch a formulain popularmemory is ongoingeven in thetwenty- firstcentury. For example, in his studyof golfer Tiger Woods, Henry Yu

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 174 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY examines how Woods' popularityexemplifies importantchanges in American notions of race. In particular,Yu focuseson the obsession to define Woods' racial background- a mixture of Caucasian, African American,and SoutheastAsian ancestrythat Woods himselfhas dubbed "Cablasian." Yu arguesthat "contemporarydescriptions of culturaldif- ferenceretain many of the problemsof older languages of race."12 Accord- ingly,soon afterhis arrivalin the professionalranks the popular press began to classifyWoods only as "black" or "AfricanAmerican." In reality,Woods' lifeand racial attributescharacterize the shiftingmigrations of the twentiethcentury and the complex displacementof race and cul- turefrom specific geographic locales. His fatherwas an AfricanAmeri- can gì who servedin the Pacific,his mothera woman ofmixed Southeast Asian lineage. However, Yu aptlystates that Tiger's image is best mar- keted towarda global audience that still imagines"the end of race-based conflictin the United States as an act of individualredemption, blinding Americans to the structuralbases of racial hierarchy."13Thus, Woods' "Cablasian" heritagehas been "blackened" by the mainstreampress and the golfingstar placed comfortablywithin the pantheon of twentieth- centuryAfrican American race heroes. This is whybiographical portraits of "individualredemption" and the breaking of binary racial barriershave dominated scholarlyattention devoted to the sportingworld. As a result,historians have focusedmuch more on professionaland individualizedathletics instead of amateur, team-orientedsports. This line of analysisyields the canon of "race hero" biographies- JackJohnson, Joe Louis, JackieRobinson, and Muhammad Ali - even John L. Sullivan and Rocky Marciano have been treated largelyas race (or ethnic) figures.14All ofthese scholarlytreatments have laid an invaluable foundation,yet theycan also obscure the more complex historyof racial integrationin all facetsof American society,not just entertainmentor leisure. In manyways, this historical-biographical approach to the historyof sportand race mimicsthe mainstreamhistoriography of the civil rights movement. In his multi-volume biographyof Martin Luther King Jr., Taylor Branch grappleswith these veryissues. As opposed to socioeco- nomic conditions or grass-rootspopulism, Branch chooses to focus on King's leadershipand individualwill as the human agencyresponsible for the course of the movement,claiming that "King's life is the best and

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPORT HISTORY,RACE, AND THE COLLEGE GRIDIRON 175 mostimportant metaphor for American history in thewatershed postwar years."15However, Branch is also adamantthat a biographyof King as individualhero is not enoughto capturethe movement'sprogress or appeal "Butto focusupon the historical King," writes Branch, "as gener- allyestablished by his impacton whitesociety . . . makesfor unstable history and collapsible myth."16To what extent King shaped the movement- or themovement shaped King - is a difficultquestion, and Branchhas devotedthree volumes to answeringit. Even thevery layout of theNational Civil RightsMuseum in Memphis,Tennessee, hints at thistension in civil rightshistoriography. While presentingwonderful exhibitson the courageof countless people, the finaldisplay is a shrine to Kinglocated in thevery motel bedroom outside which he wasgunned downin 1968. Yet perhapsKing's story is noteven the best parallel to thebiograph- ical portraitsof athleteslike Robinson, Louis, and Johnson.Rosa Parks invariablycomes to mindwhen defining this question of a single,pro- gressivefigure or lone integratingmoment as definingthe movement. Here,too, the parallels are striking. Branch reveals the painstaking effort withwhich the Parksepisode was employedas a symbol.Local activists pickedup on the Parkscase preciselybecause her imageseemed impec- cable. Like Robinson'sstint as a Dodger,the commitmentto Parksand hercase was an experimentthat hinged on herability to fulfillher role and "makea good impressionon whitejudges."17 According to JoAnn Robinson,Parks was "respectedin all black circles... a medium-sized, culturedmulatto woman; a civicand religiousworker; quiet, unassuming, and pleasantin mannerand appearance;dignified and reserved;of high moralsand a strongcharacter."18 Although scholars have emphasizedthe movement'spopulism, many still find that the personality-drivenchar- acterizationsof the "Kingyears" or the "Parksepisode" are too powerful to leave behind. How can thestudy of popular sport inform these analyses of the civil rightsmovement? If it remainscommitted to the studyof transcendent professionalathletes - whomerely symbolized broader shifts in America's raciallandscape - sporthistory will fail. There is littlebenefit to think- ingof the late 1930sas the"era of Joe Louis" instead of the era ofa "culturalfront," as Michael Denninghas so eloquentlywritten.19 Instead, sporthistory is in need of the kind of enrichmentthat scholarshave

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 176 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY broughtto thestudy of movies, music, and literature.Brian Ward's examinationof postwar music is an excellentexample. In Just My Soul Respond* ing.Ward outlinesthe starkdifference between the black musicof the 1960sand the "sweet,biracial pop" of the late 1950s.Ward arguesthat neithergenre was a more"authentic" expression of popularblack consciousness,even thoughwhites were much more likely to embracethe likesof Sam Cooke,while soul artists increasingly employed rhetoric that emphasizedblack separatism.Rather than a questionof authenticity, Ward insteadsees the era of biracialmusic as emblematicof a positive hope forsocial integration,a moment of optimismin musicthat paral- leledpublic sentiment in the aftermathof the Brown v. Boardof Educa- tiondecision. According to Ward, the failure of this broader hope allowed foran eraof interracial pop musicto fadewith it.20 These same kindsof questionsneed to be appliedin the realmof sports.Is theresuch a thingas a more"authentic" black athlete? Randy Roberts,Gail Bederman,and othersmay point to Jack Johnson. Through hisconstant manipulation of the press, Johnson was the first professional blackathlete to consistentlytranscend his sportand influencethe larger discourseof race in America.Reaction to Johnsonfrom both the boxing worldand theAmerican public revealed that influential athletes would be subjectto thesame scrutiny as AfricanAmerican community leaders. However,critics by and largereserved such judgmentsfor Johnson's behavioroutside the ring, not in it.Although Bederman has emphasized Johnson'spublic persona in the ring- and thereare numerousstories, suchas thefighter's penchant for wrapping his penisin gauzeto makeit appearlarger to audiences- in reality,Johnson was discredited as a racial spokesmanbecause of perceptions surrounding his "private"life.21 How- ever,that rubric would posit Joe Louis' success in constructingan image thatpacified white America as a formof inauthenticity. Certainly no one is preparedto criticizeLouis for his demeanor or question his "authenticity"as an AfricanAmerican. Johnson enflamed white sentiment and embodiedwhite anxiety surrounding the social and economictransfor- mationsof the 1920s.Yet Johnson, too, was self-consciously constructing an imagefor the publicjust like Joe Louis, meaning his personacannot be characterizedas more"authentic" than Louis'. Perhaps the success of Louis representsa similarmoment of biracialhope fueledby postwar patrioticsentiment. The studyof culture invariably brings up notionsof authenticity,and yetsport history has virtuallyignored the topic.The

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPORT HISTORY,RACE, AND THE COLLEGE GRIDIRON 177 problemwith applying these (and other)questions to thesporting world is not thatsports have laggedin popularityto othercultural expressions. Nor is it truethat sporting fans have historicallyenjoyed their hobby in a vacuumdevoid of meaning. The probleminstead is ourown knowledge ofsports - namely,its lack of depth and limitedscope. This is whyan understandingof athleteslike William Henry Lewis and the integrationof college football represent an importantdeparture fromthe historythat has triumphantlycelebrated men like Johnson, Louis,and Robinson.In theory,college football was an amateursport - one thatfeatured student athletes as youngas eighteen,participating in a sportthat lacked the kindof imagingnecessary in constructing"race heroes."Even as itspopularity soared with the adventof television, vic- toryon thegridiron most often brought prestige to institutionsand mas- cots,not individualathletes. College footballremained dominated by anonymousstudents, and a majorityof players never received recognition outsidetheir campus newspapers. Many Americansundoubtedly know thatJackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's racial barrier in 1947. Fewrealize, however, that Robinson had earlierappeared in collegefootball gamesat ucla and playedin frontof bi-racial crowds that exceeded 100,000- twiceas manyspectators as in mostcontemporary baseball sta- diums.22In addition,the contestsdrew large support from the African Americancommunity in Los Angeles- a communitythat had littleto do withucla. "Ifwe drew100,000 people to theColiseum," recalled Woody Strode,"40,000 of them would be black;that was justabout every black personin the cityof Los Angeles."23Black newspapersin the citywere the firstto foreseethe importanceof collegiateintegration at ucla beyondthe region.The CaliforniaEagle emphasizedcoverage of black athletesin Westwood,clearly supporting the Bruinsthroughout the period. Blackcollege football players made headlines throughout the twentieth century,especially after World War II. A few were well known aroundthe country, but most were not. Some spokeout against racism - fromthe team,on campus,or in the broadercommunity. Many were praisedin theblack press as symbolsof positive change, while others were chastisedfor not adequately representing the black community. And yet, whenit comes to athletesas popularracial spokesmen, scholars still insist "therewas no JackieRobinson in football."24Perhaps, but nevertheless thereare a numberof intriguingcase studiesthat exemplify how public

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 178 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY reactionover collegefootball integration affected the mainstreamdis- courseof race, especially in postwarAmerica. As a uniqueform of cul- turaiexpression, the studyof popular sport offers rich historical insight. It has a fictionalcomponent - like the novel or movie- a presentation offeredto a consumingaudience and designedwith prescribed messages or meanings.Yet a sportingevent is no movie,and itsparticipants are morethan mere characters. There is also a quitehuman and uncertain aspectof sport that distinguishes itfrom other forms. This opportunity for impromptu- or even unintended- individualexpression is whatdistin- guishessport from movies, books, or plays.

The Black Bruins, 1938-1941 JackieRobinson's team is a logicalplace to start.From 1938 to 1941, a groupof black students made ucla's squad the mostracially integrated collegeteam Americans had everseen. Five African Americans - Robin- son, Woody Strode,Kenny Washington,Ray Bartlett,and Johnny Wynne- playedon the Bruinteam, and theircollective impact led to disparatereactions on the campusitself, among mainstream media out- letsand African American sportswriters, and within the Jim Crow South. ucla's on-fieldsuccess garnered high national rankings and publicity, whiletheir popularity within the AfricanAmerican community made themBlack America's most celebrated team.25 Yet,both critics and fansstruggled to fitthe Bruinteam within the prevailing"race hero" framework popularized by athleteslike Joe Louis andJack Johnson. At theheight of Louis' prime, many blacks were hesi- tantabout having young college football players act as spokesmenfor the broadercivil rights movement. In addition,before 1940 most integrated teamsagreed to have theirblack players sit out whenplaying segregated opponents.The Bruin's"black team" forced college football to rethink thismethod that had previouslyallowed segregated teams to playinte- gratedschools throughout the country, especially in theDeep South.The storyof the Bruins- juxtaposedwith the riseof Joe Louis in the late 1930s- helpsdelineate the broader context of integration directly before WorldWar II. Some Americanshad alreadybegun comparing racial pol- iticsat homewith perceived injustice abroad, and manyblacks considered the war an opportunityfor a "double victory"over totalitarian aggressionin foreignlands and racismin Americansociety.

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPORT HISTORY, RACE, AND THE COLLEGE GRIDIRON 179

KennyWashington All photoscourtesy of Associated Students, UCLA.

Forthe black community, the "double victory" strategy helped solid- ifyJoe Louis' popularity, yet it also createdthe tense environment of crit- icismand tensionthat surfaced over the expectationsplaced on black collegeathletes. By the 1940s,black sportswritersbegan to realizethat studentathletes who were integrating important football programs would have to facethe same scrutiny as professionalslike Louis. Indeed, the tri- als ofindividual black football players sometimes met with outright crit-

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Jackie Robinson

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPORT HISTORY,RACE, AND THE COLLEGE GRIDIRON 181 icismfrom those in the black press,"do colored athletes help cause of jim crow at big white universities?" askedone Neu; YorkAmsterdam News headline.26 According to sportswriterNeil Dodson, the answerwas clear."White coaches have a subtleform of convincing coloredplayers to stayon the bench,"Dodson wrote."Negro athletes, caughtbetween their desire to play and theknowledge that they are being discriminatedagainst, usually succumb to thefirst." Dodson wenton to actuallycriticize "the averageyoung athlete" who "brushesaside or refusesto facethe fact that accepting discrimination is puttingit a step ahead,entrenching it deeper."27 Accordingto WoodyStrode, by 1936ucla was "lookingto compete in athleticson a nationallevel" and willingto give AfricanAmerican athletesits fullsupport.28 Within four years, the Bruinswere not only nationalcontenders on thefield but also majorfodder for a growingpub- lic dialoguesurrounding the roleof race in Americansport and society. However,on the campusitself the playersenjoyed widespread acceptance.The AssociatedStudents of ucla (asucla), precursorto theath- leticdepartment, routinely offered players loans and financialsupport, includingRobinson and Washington.29Yet thegreatest example of insti- tutionalsupport came in the wake of Robinson'sarrest in Octoberof 1938.While cruising with teammate Ray Bartlett after a softballgame in BrooksidePark, Robinson became involvedin an altercationafter a white motorist"said somethingabout niggers"at an intersection.30 Bartlettinitially confronted the man, and soon police arrivedto find "between40 and 50 membersof the Negro race," all ofwhom quickly dis- persedwith the exception of Robinson.31 Charged with hindering traffic andresisting arrest, Robinson immediately received quick help from pow- erfulBruin loyalistsand head coach Babe Horrell.The university refundedRobinson his courtcosts and fines,hired a "prominentsports attorney,"and requestedto thejudge that "the Negro football player be notdisturbed during the football season."32 Nevertheless,despite such institutional support the players remained amongthe few African American students at ucla, a schoolthat drew its studentbody from around the country. Even as moston campusseemed to embracethe team,Strode recalled that his firstintroduction to the "Southernmentality" occurred while on thefreshman squad in 1936.He and Washingtonheard that "there are some players on thevarsity saying

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 182 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAQUARTERLY theydon't want to playwith any niggers,"33 After one particularlybrutal confrontationon the scrimmagefield, a linemannicknamed "Slats" - a "blond-haired,blue-eyed farm boy fromOklahoma" - called Strodea "blackson ofa bitch."Recalled Strode, "The bulldogcame out ofme- I climbedon topof Slats and startedpunching. The coachesstood around and watchedfor a littlewhile. Finally they said, 'That's enough, Woody!' and theycame and pulledme off."34 Even whenlauding the AfricanAmerican athletes, student sports- writersusually praised the black players with racially tinged terminology thatemphasized the differences between the black students and therest of the campus. Along with nicknameslike "KingfishKenny" and "JackrabbitJackie," students routinely invoked such cringe-worthy allu- sionsas "sideline-steppingsepia" and "duskyflash."35 Such terminology was hardlyunique to the DailyBruin, as manyof the mostprogressive sportswritersand publicationsnationwide continued characterizing ath- leteswith racial nicknames and descriptions. Perhaps a biggerslight came fromthe black players' own teammates - forRobinson, Washington, and Strodemysteriously were never named as team captains,a distinction votedon bythe entire team. Despite these shortcomings,African American players at ucla enjoyedan unprecedentedcollege experience that was simplyunavail- able at otherwhite universities. "We wereout there knocking down people likewe thoughtwe werewhite," wrote Strode.36 While otherblack athleteshad infiltratedmajor white teams around the country, they rou- tinelysuccumbed to the unwrittenrule that they were not to faceJim Crowteams from the South.As membersof largeand powerfulcollege squads,the fewblack individualswho participatedin footballfelt pres- sureto "takeone forthe team"and remainon the sidelinesrather than stirup controversy.However, black sportswriterssoon recognizedthat such a propositionwould not workwith ucla. "We have yet to find anothersingle coach in the historyof football that has had the gutsto playthree of our race at one timeand have fiveon thesquad," Fay Young wrotein theChicago Defender, adding, "The threecontinued to startin thegame even againstsouthern teams."37 Duringthe 1939season, the Bruins were heavy underdogs versus the previousyear's number-one team in thenation, Texas ChristianUniver- sity.The Bruinsdefeated the all-white Horned Frogs squad and racedto

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Woonv Strope

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 184 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY an unbeaten 6-0-3 record.As the ninth-rankedteam in the country,the Bruins also had a legitimatechance to win their conferencechampi- onship and secure an invitationto the prestigiousRose Bowl. However, sportswritersaround the nation realizedthat a ucla Rose Bowl bid would almostcertainly match the team againstthe nation's number-one-ranked team, the Universityof Tennessee Volunteers.As an institution,Ten- nessee was unabashedlycommitted to segregationat all levels- fromthe coaching staffand athletic departmentto the universityadministration and state legislature.Some sportswriterswere not convinced that Ten- nessee would even be willingto participatein an integratedRose Bowl, nor wereTennessee officials,coaches, and players.When Allison Danzig ofthe New YorkTimes asked Tennessee coach Bob "Major" Neyland what stand the Volunteerswould take ifucla were the host team, the coach "side-steppedthe issue by turningaside to speak to friends."38 In December 1939,observers around the nation anxiouslyawaited the resultsof ucla's last game versususe, a victoryall but assuringthem a spot in the Rose Bowl. Accordingto Danzig, as Coach Neyland gathered with a host of other writersand administratorsat the FarragutHotel in Knoxville, "shoutswent up" whenevernews came that the use Trojans were moving the ball against the Bruin defense. "It was evident that everybodyin the room was pullingfor Southern Cal to win or get a tie," wrote Bob Wilson in the KnoxvilleNews*Sentinel39 Despite this overtly racistreaction to black playersfrom a southerncoach and institution,the factremained that the AfricanAmerican Bruinswere poised to unleash one of the largestracial scandals college sportfans had ever witnessed. But dreamsof what one black sportswritercalled "a 1939 'Civil War'" were shatteredwhen the Bruinscould only mustera 0-0 tie with use, to thisday one of the mostcelebrated contests in the rivalry'slong history.40 As a result,an all-white use squad was invited to play Tennessee in Pasadena. This delayedthe impendingcrisis, but onlyuntil lucrative television contractsafter World War II would again forcesome segregated schools to consideraccepting prestigious bowl bids withoutregards to the opponent.Nevertheless, ucla's AfricanAmerican players had nearlycre- ated a nationalconfrontation over race thatcould have challengedRobin- son's Dodger debut seven yearslater. It was a confrontationthat many would have fearedand otherswould have cherished.Either way, by both cheeringand jeeringthe Bruinsthroughout 1938-194 1, Americanswere participatingin a culturalspectacle thatheld deeper meaningsfor all.

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPORT HISTORY,RACE, AND THE COLLEGE GRIDIRON 185

The Bright Incident, 1951 AfterWorld War II, anotherexample of integrationin collegefootball made headlinesbeyond the nation'ssports pages. In 1951, Oklahoma State (a&m) Universitywas seekingmembership in theBig Seven Con- ference,one ofthe most prominent and successfulconferences in college football.Students and administratorsat severalBig Seven schools- includingKansas and Nebraska- resistedbecause of a&m's segregation- istpolicies. The warhad severelydisrupted America's social fabric,and in certainregions of the country African Americans had takenadvantage to advancethe cause of civil rights. When Jackie Robinson integrated the Dodgersin 1947,it exemplifiedthe transformationsbeginning to take place in the urbanNorth. Meanwhile, however, the South remained largelyimmune to thesechanges, and manysouthern states used the war to reinforceracial dominance. In citieslike Birminghamand Atlanta, blacktroops returning from abroad were still greeted with segregated public facilitiesand intensifiedefforts to maintainracial hierarchies in the midstof heightened criticism from the North.While programslike the Universityof Alabama and the Universityof Georgia tightenedthe bondsof segregation and continuedto fieldall-white football teams, vir- tuallyevery school in theNorth was incorporating black student athletes by the mid 1950s.While theseteams were usually able to stayin their respectiveregions and refuse to schedule opponents from across the country,conferences like the Big Seven and the MissouriValley became hotspotsfor disagreements over integration. Since theera of partisan war- farein "bleedingKansas," the Midwest and upperSouth had actedas bat- tlegroundsin thewar to defineAmerican racial policy. As thepopularity offootball progressed in the 1950s,these regions suddenly became highly influentialto the game- with schools fromKansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraskabeginning to drawas muchattention as powerhouseteams in theDeep South.41 Whilepostwar American society offered blacks a complexmixture of unprecedentedopportunity and new barriers,certain issues dominated civil rightsdiscourse. By 1950,national attention was firmlydrawn to publiceducation in theSouth, where states like Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabamacontinued to aggressivelypursue segregation. However, institu- tionsof highereducation in the Midwest- like Oklahomaa&m Col- lege- also foundthemselves in the midstof turmoilregarding the prospectof integration.Just as ucla's footballteam had madenational

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 186 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY

headlines over the prospectof integratingthe Rose Bowl in 1939, the growthof powerfulathletic conferencesin the Midwest afterthe war introducedracial discord in that region to many observersfor the first time.Large universities in the South had traditionallyfielded many of the mostcommitted, successful athletic programs in the country- all ofthem staunchlysegregated. Meanwhile, universitiesin the Midwestwere seek- ing to capitalize on everythingathletic prestigehad to offer,and fill a growingvoid leftby many northernschools that had alreadybegun to deemphasizetheir athletic programs.Unfortunately, the nation's attention was not drawn to Midwest footballbecause of a successfullyinte- gratedBig Seven team. Instead,the countrywitnessed what the New York Timeslater called "one of the ugliestracial incidentsin college sportshis- tory,"an episode that took place in the smallerMissouri Valley Confer- ence, specificallyat oamc.42 JohnnyBright - a starAfrican American halfbackat Drake Univer- sityand arguablythe nation's best player- was severelyinjured on the firstplay of the game when an a&m opponent viciouslyattacked him. With a shatteredjaw and multiplefacial injuries,Brighťs college football careerended withthis wanton act ofviolence. Administratorsat Drake- and fromschools around the country- called on the Missouri Valley Conferenceto punish a&m and its coaches forencouraging the deliber- ate injuryof itsstar player. Almost immediately,the issueof race became deeplyembedded in the controversy.Accusations fromplayers, coaches, and fans swirledin the national pressthat Oklahoma a&m had deliber- atelytried to intimidateblack athletesin the mvc and perhapsthe larger Big Seven. Drake threatenedto leave the conferenceif sanctions were not imposedon a&m, while studentsat schools throughoutthe Midwest debated the role of race in the attack. In the black press,anger that had circulated over the refusalto recognize Brighťs accomplishmentsnow turnedto outrageover the failureto punish what manyconcluded was a deliberateact of racial violence, thinlyveiled under the auspices of the game. Eventually,Drake and BradleyUniversity severed ties with oamc and the Missouri Valley Conference, and Bright left the countryto become a starin the Canadian Football League. Shortlythereafter, oamc became Oklahoma State University,now one of the most prominent footballprograms in the region. The debate over the physicalityof football- which had circulatedin the sportever since Theodore Roosevelt and Congresshad firstacted to

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPORT HISTORY,RACE, AND THE COLLEGE GRIDIRON 187 limitits brutality - now tangledwith the debate over racial integration- As themainstream press ran pictures of the attack on JohnnyBright, cer- tainauthors invoked race immediatelywhile others refused to acknowl- edgethe role of racial tension. While the Brightattack may have fallen in line withcertain rules and racialpolicies still prevalent in theSouth, itwas certainly a blatantaffront to therules of the game- The diversityof responsesto the incidentilluminates how manysports fans in the Mid- west and aroundthe countrywere transformingtheir views of race throughthe lens of a collegefootball game, instead of merely in response to the carefullygroomed personas of professional athletes like Joe Louis or baseball'sJackie Robinson. National attention was drawnto Stillwa- ter,Oklahoma, in late 1951 overthe treatment of a singleAfrican Amer- ican playeron an opposingteam, yet reaction to the incidentcan help scholarsunderstand how thedynamics of race in an isolated,almost for- gottenregion could influence national debate on thecusp of the postwar civilrights movement.

The Sugar Bowl Controversy, 1955 In 1954, the issueof integratingAmerica's public schoolshad finally reachedthe SupremeCourt. While the landmarkBrown decision offi- ciallycodified integrated education in Americanlaw, it also sparkeda legislativebacklash in a numberof southern states. In theworld of sport, integrationhad also progressedsince the periodof uncertaintycharac- terizedby the reaction to theblack Bruins at ucla. JoeLouis had ended his careeras perhapsthe biggeststar in the sportingworld (white or black),while Jackie Robinson had emergeda nationalhero in 1947-On the gridiron,the National FootballLeague and mostnorthern schools had openedtheir athletic facilities to blacksat unprecedentedlevels.43 However,at southerninstitutions like GeorgiaTech University,the school'sdesire to reapthe rewards for national success in football- tele- visiondollars, recognition, etc. - clashedwith the state legislature's reac- tionto Brownv. Boardof Education and thespecter of forced integration. The issuecame to a head in 1955,when a successfulTech footballteam was invitedto New Orleansto participatein theprestigious Sugar Bowl. Footballfans, including Governor Marvin Griffin,remained ecstatic untilit became apparent that the Tech squadwould have toface the Uni- versityof Pittsburgh, a team "integrated" with one lone AfricanAmeri- can player.The governorand state legislatureheld eleventh-hour

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 188 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY negotiationsand forbadethe team from playing, whereupon hundreds of whitestudents on theGeorgia Tech campusburned the governor in effigy and protestedthe potential forfeiture. Forsuch a passionatecontroversy to explodeover the participation of a lone black playerin the 1955 SugarBowl revealsmuch. It certainly exemplifieshow strictsegregationist ideology still permeatedcertain regionsof the country. It also enrichesour understanding of the legislativebacklash in theSouth to theBrown decision and how thatreaction trickledinto the realm of popular culture. At thesame time, the reaction ofTech's administrators and student body reveals how the greater rewards awaitingsuccessful college football programs could generate a willingness to fightsegregation in exchangefor winning football teams. The stark reactionof someTech footballfans - on and offcampus - is a striking juxtapositionto the 1962 riotover James Meredith's admission to the Universityof Mississippl.While southerninstitutions of highereduca- tionlargely enjoyed the support of white citizens and students, the importanceof participating in a prestigiousbowl game seemed to trump,if only briefly,the clear code ofsegregation at GeorgiaTech, sevenyears before theviolence at Oxford,Miss,44

The "Black Fourteen," 1969 Otherexamples of integration in collegefootball reveal insights into the heightenedperiod of radicalismemerging out of the civil rightsmove- mentin themid 1960s.While riots,marches, and publicconfrontations overrace beganto mergewith growing disillusionment over American foreignpolicy, college campuses became seedbeds for the Black Power movementand increasinglymilitant Black Nationalistorganizations. ManyAmericans bore witness to thisperiod of heightened black protest throughthe lensof athletics, most notably the BlackPanther protest at the 1968 Olympics,45At San JoseState University,radical sociologist HarryEdwards specifically encouraged black collegiateathletes to use theirplatform in the popularpress for the purposeof protest,46In the worldof football, however, the concept of protest was virtually non-exis- tentand vehementlypunished. With the exceptionof the occasional lengthybeard or "Afro"haircut worn in defianceof team rules,most majorfootball programs in the late 1960ssuccessfully clamped down on athletes'self expression.

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPORT HISTORY, RACE, AND THE COLLEGE GRIDIRON 189

This makesthe controversy over the University of Wyoming's "Black Fourteen"even moreintriguing. By 1969,major college teams (with the exceptionof a fewholdouts, like the University of Mississippi) had inte- gratedtheir football programs. Indeed, the floodgates had openedaround the countryand collegefootball was quicklybecoming a sportthat pre- dominantlyfeatured black players. On theUniversity of Wyoming campus in Laramie,the racialmakeup of the footballsquad mimickedmost teamsacross the country, and yetthe fourteen African American players werevirtually the only black students enrolled in theentire school. The "protest"conceived by the fourteenWyoming students seems anything butrevolutionary when juxtaposed with the concept of black radicalism thatdominates popular memory and scholarlyhistories. The blackplay- ers asked the coach forpermission to wear armbandsduring a game againstBrigham Young University, a rather conservative protest against the MormonChurch's policy of excludingblacks from the priesthood. (Indeed,at leastone ofthe black players apparently considered himself a practicingMormon.) Yet thereaction of the coach andWyoming administrators- to arbitrarilyexpel the athletes from the team without recourse to appeal- revealsjust how largethe specterof black protest loomed in theminds of many.47 As nationalmedia outlets converged on Laramieto coverthe story and its conclusion,counter-protests in supportof the head coach and governorincreased the tension. The playerswere accused of organizing at the requestof a new Black StudentAlliance (bsa) chapteron campus, andlocal papers propagated the myth that caravans of Black Panthers and otherprotesters were on theway from California to protestat theupcom- ing game versusBrigham Young. Last-minutemeetings between state lawmakers,the players, head coach, and governorfailed to reacha conclusion.As theblack athletes were forced to watchtheir team from the grandstandsfor the remainder of the season, National Guard troops were stationedbelow the stands and the townlargely rallied in supportof the coach'sdecision.48 This storyof protestin the heartlandis valuablein helpingunder- standthe evolutionof and resistanceto the civil rightsmovement and theworking of "black radicalism" in ruralAmerica. Such a mildprotest on the partof the athletes- juxtaposedwith the overblownand popu- larlysupported reaction - illuminateshow racial integration on a football

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 190 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY team by 1970 could stillreinforce many of the barriersit was meant to dis- solve. As the racial majorityon the school's nationallyranked football team,Wyoming's black studentsgenerated much of the school's successful image and financial success. Yet in the same year that Laramie was votingto expand the footballstadium so it could fitnearly 80 percentof the town's inhabitants,residents were not willingto accept even a hint of militancyon behalfof racial equity,even with the national spotlight upon them.Local fansanc media overwhelminglysupported the decision to expel the students,evei 1 as the once-unbeatenfootball squad went on to lose everygame duringthe restof the 1969 season.49 Each ofthese cases - ucla, Oklahoma a&m, GeorgiaTech University, and theUniversity of Wyoming - drewparticularly large amounts of attention nationwide.They are fourof the largestpostwar conflicts over integration in college football that transcended the realm of sport and entertainment.Using these (and other) examples,college footballitself can be an analytictool forexamining issues of race in the Americantwen- tiethcentury and revealingthe complex undercurrentsregarding Amer- ica's commitmentto racial equality,instead of the traditionalimage of popularindividual athletes breaking down the barriersof racism at the pro- fessionallevel. An examinationof the diversepublic reactionsto inte- gratedfootball reveals how AfricanAmericans, cultural critics, mainstream sportswriters,and southerninstitutions all symbolicallyappropriated these teams in vastlydifferent ways, attempting to comprehendthe geopolitics of college athletics,and anonymousstudent athletes, within the tradi- tional binaryframeworks of "race figures,""color lines," and JimCrow segregation. At ucla, studentpublications celebrated the successof Kenny Wash- ingtonthroughout his careerand helped make him one of the mostpop- ular students on campus. Upon his final game versus use in 1939, Washington received an extended standing ovation fromthe student body. The 1938 Bruinyearbook hailed Washingtonas "our hero,"while studentsportswriters concurred with opposing coaches that he was the best athlete in ucla's history,his abilities surpassingeven the mythical talent of Red Grange.50When JackieRobinson joined the club in 1939, the only debate among studentsportswriters was whetherRobinson and Washingtonwould be awardedthe All-American honors they deserved.51 Most important,student sportswriters at ucla recognizedthe broader significanceof the team's AfricanAmerican playersand were the firstto

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPORT HISTORY, RACE, AND THE COLLEGE GRIDIRON 191 decryprejudice towards the Bruins.Although the Daily Bruinsports departmentdid not appearto have any AfricanAmerican students on staff,its editor and columnistswere among the more progressive students on campus,especially when it came to issuesof racialprejudice. When manywriters around the country left Washington off their All- American lists,Daily Bruin columnist Milt Cohen respondedwith a plea to "pick again,boys" and correctthe slight against ucla. "It'swith a distinctsour tastein ourmouth that we readthe lists of All- American selections that are now pouringout of all sectionsof the country,"wrote Cohen. "We don'tcare what they do withany other ball playerin thenation - butwe don'tlike the way they're treating our Kenny Washington."52 In an even greaterslight, Robinson was later left off the first team of the All-Division basketballselections in 1941 despitethe fact he had led theconference in scoring.According to one student,"[T]his in itselfis no causefor protest, butthe fact that Price didn't even mentionJack on threeteams strikes a newlow in sportsmanship."53While a seniorin 1939,Washington was the focusof a fiercecampaign mounted by African American sportswriters, an attemptto getthe Bruinrunner on the AssociatedPress All- American teamand immediatelydrafted into the National Football League. Wash- ingtonwas lauded for his "level-headedness," while readers were reassured that"no amountof favorable publicity, however great, would affect the demeanorof thisyoung man."54 Unfortunately, Washington was inex- plicablyleft off the team despite finishing the season as thenation's lead- ing rusher,ucla's subsequentdecision to hireWashington as a coach reverberatedacross the country during the following year, when in New Yorkthe Amsterdam News gave the former Bruin its highest support - not becauseWashington was playingfor the Rose Bowl,but because he was "thefirst Negro in historyto coach a majorwhite eleven."55 Notes 1 Whilepopular history yields no lone integratingmoment or figure in collegeathletics, it is neverthelesstrue thatnumerous African American students increasingly helped lead the country'smost popular college footballprograms throughout the twentiethcentury. Thus, an examinationof integrated football at col' legesacross the nation represents a logical point of departure from the older scholarship of individual pro- fessionalheroes. In somecases, these same student athletes emerged from the amateurranks of college athleticsand wenton to join thepantheon of figures credited with breaking racial barriers at theprofes- sionallevel. More often, however, they retreated from the publicsphere altogether and wererarely rec- ognizedas individuals- like the rank-and-filewho marchedon the road to Selma, or the anonymous thousandswho gathered on theNational Mall in 1963.Over an eighty-yearspan, this group of unknown, under-appreciatedstudent athletes used college football to changethe racial landscape at America'suni- versitiesand reconfigurethe roleof AfricanAmericans in the publicsphere. Such pressurefell on the shouldersof young black college students, who struggled to keepup withtheir coursework and fit into cam-

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 192 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY

pussocial life - notprofessional athletes, properly groomed race heroes, or eloquent cultural critics. While thestory of Jackie Robinson's first season as a Dodgeror Joe Louis' triumphant knockouts appeal to a par- ticularhistoricization - namely, our desire to createstark racial lines in orderto see thembreak - history yieldsa muchricher story. The integrationof college football was a movementof peoples and ideasthat betterexemplifies the true struggle behind the story of African American civil rights in thetwentieth century,i "Rooseveltto go to Boston,"New YorkTimes, 26 November1898, 7; Evan J.Albright, "William HenryLewis: Brief Life of a FootballPioneer," Harvard Magazine, December 2005, 44-45. 2 Beforelaw school, Lewis and anotherAfrican American student, W. T. S. Jacksonhad actuallyplayed for two yearsat Amherst;Donald Spivey, "The BlackAthlete in Big-TimeIntercollegiate Sports, 1941-1968," Phy- Ion,44, No. 2 ( 1983): 11 7. 3 "Harvard'sEleven to Return,"New; Y rkTimes, 24 September1892. 4 John Hoberman, Darwins Athletes: How Sport has Damaged Black America and Preservedthe Myth of Race; OthelloHarris, "African- American Predominance in CollegiateSport," in Racismin College Athletics: The African-American Athlete's Experience-, David K. Wiggins,"Great Speed butLittle Stamina: The Histori- cal Debate Over Black Athletic Superiority,"in The New AmericanSport History: Recent Approaches and Perspectives. 5 "NegroesRiot at Football,"New YorkTimes, 25 November1897, 1. 6 MichaelOriard, King Football (Chapel Hill: Universityof North Carolina Press, 2001 ), 299-313;John Sayle Watterson,College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy (Baltimore: The JohnsHopkins University Press,2000), 308. 7 Lane Demas,"On theThreshold of Broad and Rich FootballPastures: Integrated College Football at ucla, 1938-194 1," in Horsehide,Pigskin, Oval Tracts and Apple Pie: Essays on Sportsand AmericanCulture, ed. JimVlasich (North Carolina: McFarland Press, 2005). 8 ElmerMitchell, "Racial Traits in Athletics,"American Physical Education Review, 27 (1922): 151. 9Ibid. 10Ibid. 11 Dan Burley,"Up Football'sGlory Road," New; York Amsterdam News, 9 December1939, 18. 12 HenryYu, "TigerWoods at the Centerof History: Looking back at the TwentiethCentury Through the Lensesof Race, Sports,and Mass Consumption,"Sports Matters: Race, Recreation, and Culture,ed. John Bloomand MichaelWillard (New York:New YorkUniversity Press, 2002), 322. 13 Yu, "TigerWoods," 322. 14 See RandyRoberts, Papa Jack: Jack Johnson and the Era ofWhite Hopes (New York:Macmillan, 1983); Chris Mead,Champion- Joe Louis, Black Hero in White America (New York:Charles Scribner's Sons, 1985); Jules Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment:Jackie Robinson and His Legacy (Oxford UniversityPress, 1997); Rus- sellSullivan, Rocky Marciano: The Rock of His Times(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2002); Michael Isenberg,John L. Sullivanand His America(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994). 15 TaylorBranch, Parting the Waters: America in theKing Years: 1954-63 (New York:Simon and Schuster, 1988),xii. 16 Ibid., xi. 17 Ibid., 130. 18 David Garrow, ed.,The MontgomeryBus Boycottand theWomen Who StartedIt: The Memoir ofJo Ann Gib- sonRobinson (Knoxville: The Universityof Tennessee Press, 1987), 43. 19 Michael Denning, The CulturalFront: The Laboringof American Culture in theTwentieth Century (New York, NY: Verso,1997). 20 Brian Ward, JustM;y Soul Responding:Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness,and Race Relations(Berkeley and Los Angeles:University of California Press, 1998). 21 Gail Bederman,Manliness and Civilization(Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press,1995), 8; Al-Tony Gilmore,Bad Nigger!:The NationalImpact of Jack Johnson (New York: PortWashington, 1975), 14; Roberts, Papa Jack,74; See also GeoffreyC. Ward, UnforgivableBlackness: The Rise and Fall ofJack John- son(New York:Alfred Knopf, 2004). 22 Paul Zimmerman,"Bruins, Troy Tie: SC, Vols in Bowl,"Los Angeles Times, 10 December1939, 1; "So. Cal- iforniaTies ucla; Will PlayTennessee In Bowl,"New; York Times, 10 December1939, 103. 23 WoodyStrode, Goal Dust:An Autobiography(Lanham, MD: MadisonBooks, 1990), 62.

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SPORT HISTORY, RACE, AND THE COLLEGE GRIDIRON 193

24Oriard,King Football, io. 25 Ibid., 9, 302, 316. 26 Neil Dodson,"Do ColoredAthletes Help Cause ofJim Crow at Big WhiteUniversities?" New YorkAms- terdamNews, 2 1 October1939, 19. 27Ibid. 28Strode, Goal Dust,26. 29 "Minutesof the asucla Boardof Control, June 1935-June 1939," 3 March1939, 84; "Minutesof the asucla Boardof Control, June 1940- June 194 1," 8 August1940, 82. 30 ArnoldRampersad, Jackie Robinson: A Biography(New York:Alfred A. Knopf,1997), 65. 31 PasadenaStar-News, 6 September1939; Cited in Rampersad,Jackie Robinson, 65. 32 PasadenaStar-News, 18 October 18 1939;Cited in Rampersad,Jackie Robinson, 66. 33 Strode,Goal Dust,64. 34 Ibid.,65. 35 "FrogsOkay," California Daily Bruin, 29 September1939, 7. 36 Strode,Goal Dust,64. 37 FayYoung, "The Stuffis Here,"Chicago Defender, 16 December1939, 26. 38 AllisonDanzig, "Tennessee Hopes to InsureRose BowlNomination by Beating Auburn Today," New York Times,9 December1939, 20. 39 Bob Wilson,"Path to Rose BowlCleared for Vols," Knoxville News-Sentinel, 6 December 1939, 1 . 40 "And Rose BowlRemains White as a New Lily,"Neu; York Amsterdam News, 16 December1939. 41Oriard, King Football, 299-300; Watterson,273-74. 42Gordon S. White,"Taking a Look Back at Drake,"New; York Times, 13 November1085, B14. 43 ThomasSmith, "Outside the Pale: The Exclusionof Blacks from the National Football League, 1934-1946," Journalof SportHistory, 15, No. 3 (Winter 1988). 44 RobertDubay, "Politics, Pigmentation, and Pigskin:The GeorgiaTech SugarBowl Controversy of 1955," AtlantaHistory, 39 (Spring1995); Charles H. Martin,"Integrating New Year'sDay: The Racial Politicsof College BowlGames in theAmerican South," Journal of Sport History, 24, No. 3 (Fall 1997) and "Racial Changeand BigTime College Footballin Georgia,"Georgia Historical Quarterly (Fall 1996); Watterson, 316-18; Oriard,King Football, 308-13. 45 Afterwinning gold and bronzein the 200-meterdash, John Carlos and TommieSmith made headlines aroundthe world by demonstrating Black Power salutes during the subsequent medal ceremony. See Amy Bass, "Whose Broad Stripesand BrightStars? Race, Nation, and Power at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics,"in SportsMatters: Race, Recreation, and Culture,ed. JohnBloom and MichaelWillard (New York:New YorkUniversity Press, 2002). 46 HarryEdwards, The Revolt of the Black Athlete (New York:The FreePress, 1969); Arnold Hano, "The Black Rebel Who 'Whitelists'The Olympics,"New; York Times, 12 May 1968,SM32. Edwardswas pivotalin encouragingCarlos and Smithin MexicoCity and evenattempted to organizea boycottof the 1968games withblack athletes nationwide. 47 AnthonyRipley, "Negro Athletes Spark Uproar at Universityof Wyoming," New; York Times, 1 November 1969,15. 48 CliffordBullock, "Fired By Conscience:The Black 14 Incidentat the Universityof Wyoming and Black Protestin the WesternAthletic Conference, 1968-1970," in Readingsin WyomingHistory, ed. Philip Roberts(Laramie, WY: SkylineWest Press, 2000). 49Watterson, 322-23, 347-48. 50 UCLA SouthernCampus 19 (1938): 215. JerryLevie, "Ken over Grange!" CaliforniaDaily Bruin,23 October 1939» 3- 51 trlohn Rothwell, "lack ■+ Robinson Registers '^ in Extension."• California f Daih ^ Bruin.f 16 Februarv10^0. ' 1. i ^ -~J ^ 52 MiltCohen, "Here's Our Angle,"California Daily Bruin, 1 December1939, 3. 53 Sam Sale, "Prejudice'Rumored' to Have PlayedMajor Role in Selections,"California Daily Bruin, 5 March I94i>3- 54J.Cullen Fentress,"Down in Front,"California Eagle, 16 November1939, 2B. 35 ChalksUp AnotherFirst," New; York Amsterdam News, 7 December1940. The articleoverlooked the case ofWilliam Henry Lewis at Harvardfive decades earlier. (See above,p. 1.)

This content downloaded from 35.8.11.3 on Wed, 6 Nov 2013 01:14:58 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions