INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely afreet reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Com pany 300 North Z eeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 0130489 Desegregating the Holy Day: Football, blacks and the Southeastern Conference Hughes, Raymond, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1991 UMI 300N. ZeebRd. Ann Aitoor, MI 48106 DESEGREGATING THE HOLY DAY: FOOTBALL, BLACKS AND THE SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Raymond Hughes, M.S. ***** The Ohio State University 1991 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Melvin Adelman T»e(Un c£ djJ) Nancy Wardwell Adviser School of Health, Physical Seymour Kleinman Education and Recreation Copyright by Raymond Hughes 1991 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express his sincere gratitude to his adviser, Dr. Melvin L. Adelman. Clearly, without his guidance, assistance, constant encouragement and patience, this endeavor could not have been plausible. To Dr. Seymour Kleinman and Dr. Nancy Wardwell, members of my committee, my warmest appreciation. The writer is extremely grateful to colleagues, friends, and a multiplicity of personalities who contributed in any way toward the successful completion of this study. Special recognition is noted for the athletic associations of the University of Georgia and Georgia Institute of Technology for their cooperation in providing me with numerous articles, documents, and general information. Sincere thanks to my typist, Dorrie Wells and to Dr. Ora Cooks for her patience in reading my materials. Finally, and most importantly, the institutional support provided by Clark Atlanta University is invaluable and greatly appreciated. ii VITA July 21, 1938 ............. Born - Danville, Virginia 1962 .................... B.S., Clark College, Atlanta, Georgia 1962-1963 ................ Junior High School Teacher Atlanta City, New Jersey 1963-1965 ................ United States Armed Forces Berlin, Germany 1970-1971 ................ M.S., Syracuse University Syracuse, New York 1971 - Present ........... Assistant Professor of Health and Physical Education, Director of Intramural Sports and Recreational Activities, Clark Atlanta University FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation Studies in: Sport History, Dr. Melvin L. Adelman, Sport Philosophy, Dr. Seymour Kleinman, Recreation, Dr. Nancy Wardwell, and Black Studies, Dr. Sue Jewell TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT........ ii VITA .............................................. iii CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION ............................ 1 CHAPTER I NOTES .......................... 7 II. FOOTBALL AMONG THE MAGNOLIAS AND MOCKINGBIRDS . 8 A. THE GAME COME S O U T H ................... 8 B. A CONFERENCE IS F O U N D E D ............... 12 C. FOOTBALL WITH A SOUTHERN A C C E N T ........ 14 D. THE WAY IT W A S ........................ 26 E. THE ROLE OF BLACK COLLEGES ....... 28 CHAPTER II N O T E S ............................ 41 III. DESEGREGATING THE HOLY DA Y .................. 46 A. SATURDAY IS THE HOLY D A Y ................ 46 B. DIXIE AND FRENZY...................... 55 C. BREACHING THE CUSTOM................... 58 D. A LANDMARK B O W L ...................... 63 E. THE DOOR IS OPEN, BUT NOT W I D E ........ 75 CHAPTER III N O T E S ........................ 83 IV. BLACK ATHLETIC SUCCESS .................... 90 A. ROLL TIDE ROLL ........................ 90 B. MELDING TRADITION AT OLE M I S S ............ 104 C. COME ON DOWN.. .TELL US OF YOUR TIME .... 114 CHAPTER IV NOTES .............................139 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) CHAPTER PAGE V. FOOTBALL RAISES THE NATURAL ART OF GETTING-TO-KNOW ......................... 149 A. THE OLE MISS NETWORK...................... 149 B. NOTHING UNUSUAL, EXCEPT S I Z E ...............166 C. HERSCHEL WALKER MADE A GOOD BLACK HERO . 169 CHAPTER V N O T E S .............................188 VI. 1ST. DOWN AND YEARS TO G O .................... 197 A. CIVIL RIGHTS: LONG ON TIME, SHORT ON PROGRESS.............................. 197 B. THE IRRECONCILABLE ADVERSARIES: HUNGER VS H E R E D I T Y ........................... 201 C. LONG AS THEY PLAY GOOD S A R D Y ............... 206 D. EPILOGUE.................................224 CHAPTER VI NOTES ............................ 227 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................... 245 V CHAPTER I - * INTRODUCTION Over the past two decades a growing number of historians have examined the sporting experiences of black Americans from plantation days to the present. While a comprehensive overview has yet to be constructed, their research has begun to richly detail black participation in sport, especially during the twentieth-century, and to link its meaning and significance to the broader social and racial climate. The scholarship has focused on a variety of divergent themes, such as prominent black sporting figures, the Negro baseball leagues and one study has investigated the meaning and development of athletics amongst the black community of Pittsburgh. Given the tremendous increase in the number and visibility of black athletes in both professional and collegiate sport since World War II, it is hardly surprising that much of the historical literature on black involvement in sport has centered around the issue of the integration of athletics. Such works have dissected how blacks, and some white supporters, confronted racist America on the playing field, the tensions they produced and the multiple meanings they generated. In explicating the turmoil and triumphs of the black athlete, historians have 1 2 indicated how the experiences of the black athlete has remained embedded within the context of the white power structure and the ongoing, albeit shifting, nature of racist attitudes and practices.1 This study examines the desegregation of college football in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) on two interrelated and interconnected levels. On one level, it explores how the Civil rights Movement coalesced with white southerners deep commitment to the gridiron game to produce the integration of the respective SEC football teams during the late 1960s and early 1970s. On another level it examines the experiences of the black football players that arrived at these still predominantly white institutions and how they were, and continued to be, shaped by institutional racism and the prevalent attitude of white southerners towards blacks. The work looks at the problems created by the emergence of black athletes and the difficulties they confronted; the interactions between white and black teammates; the consequences of and multi-layered meanings black extrapolated from their involvement in SEC football; and the educational crisis the black athlete continues to face. Football came to the South later than it did to its northern counterparts, but when it arrived among the magnolias and the mockingbirds its produced an ambiance and intensity all its own. Among southerners football was more 3 than a game, it was a religious expression and a way of life, as well as a means to articulate and confront the ignominious defeat they had suffered during the Civil War. During the first half of the twentieth century, southerners could fight their gridiron battles within the context of their segregationist practices. However, subsequently pressure from the Civil Rights Movement and from the significant expansion in the number of talented black athletes playing on collegiate football teams at northern institutions began to chip away at the white only athletic programs at SEC and other southern universities. SEC institutions initially resisted making any effort to recruit and compete against blacks. But by the middle of the 1960s shifts in the social and racial climate combined with a virulent "win-at-all-cost" mentality, which demanded the presence of talented black athletes to remain nationally competitive in collegiate football, led to the breakdown of the segregationist sports practices at SEC institutions. The arrival of Greg Page, a black defensive end, on the campus of the University of Kentucky in the Fall of 1967 signaled