INSTANCES WHERE THE INTEGRATED UNIVERSITY REFUSED TO BEND TO THE SEGREGATED SCHOOL'S DEMANDS
Some might suggest that by my expecting BC to have done what might, in hindsight, be viewed as the right thing, I am being naive, unrealistic, and overly harsh in bringing the Lou Montgomery story further into the light. I disagree. In the research I have been able to uncover in just a few days worth of locating easily available sources, I have found many examples of instances in which colleges and universities of all stripes , out of a variety of motivations, refused to “go along to get along”. A few of these follow:
1892 The University of Nebraska football team, including its black halfback George A. Flippin, was scheduled to play the University of Missouri at Columbia, Missouri. Despite Missouri's official policy of strict racial segregation, Nebraska officials refused to agree to keep Flippin on the bench. With each side refusing to bend, Missouri decided to forfeit the game. Flippin, incidentally, went on to receive a medical degree from the University of Illinois, and became a successful physician in Nebraska.
1903 Samuel Gordon, a young black student at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, joined the football team as a lineman. Shortly before its 1903 scheduled game with Rose Polytechnic Institute (RPI), the Wabash football manager received a telegram from RPI officials, who stated that they refused to play the game if Gordon was in uniform. Wabash College's President, hearing of the matter, ruled that if Rose maintained its racially exclusionary stance, then the game should be cancelled. Rose did, and the game was cancelled. Later that same season, Wabash was scheduled to play Depauw University of Greencastle, Indiana. Just before the Nov. 21 game was to begin. Depauw officials noticed Gordon in his game uniform, and told its football team to remain in the locker room until Wabash agreed to keep Gordon out of the game. Wabash players, coaches, and school officials were prepared to do no such thing. After over an hour of arguing back and forth, Depauw finally conceded the right of Wabash to play Gordon, and the game was played.
In virtually every Wabash game that year – the one and only year that Gordon remained at the school – some kind of race-related controversy arose. In every case the entire Wabash community remained steadfast that Gordon would play.
Another black, William Cantrell, played for Wabash the following year. Seemingly as a result of Wabash's continuing support for the inclusion of Samuel Gordon the previous year, the complaints and opposition to racially integrated college football games across the nation's heartland region were reduced markedly, the University of Missouri being among the few, and easily the most notorious holdout.
1904 In 1904, the Harvard University baseball team, on an early season swing through the District of Columbia and some adjacent upper south states, found that several schools – among them Georgetown University, the U.S. Naval Academy, and Trinity College (later renamed Duke University) refused to play them unless Harvard agreed not to play its single African American player. Harvard refused, and in response, removed all three schools from future baseball schedules.
1907 In 1907, the University of Alabama baseball team arrived, after what must have been a very long train ride, in Burlington, Vermont for a 2-game series with the University of Vermont. When Alabama learned that the Vermont team included two black players, they warned that they would not play unless Vermont agreed to bench them. To its credit, Vermont refused to do so. Alabama refused to play, thus incurring a $300 cancellation fee.
1911 Part 2 of the Archie Alexander story. After the University of Iowa agreed to Alexander's benching during the first two seasons of his Hawkeye football career, in 1911 they refused to accept the demands of the arch-segregationist University of Missouri to continue the practice at this year's game in Columbia, Missouri. In response, Iowa officials not only cancelled the game, but also permanently terminated what had been up until then an annual series. The teams did not meet again for almost 100 years, when they were matched up in a post-season bowl game.
1916 Part 2 of the Paul Robeson story. I have already noted above the details of Robeson's early season benching in Rutgers' game against Washington & Lee. Later in the same season they were scheduled to play a game in Morgantown, West Virginia against West Virginia University (WVU). Sometime before the game, the WVU coach had written to Rutgers coach George Sanford: “We've got a lot of southern boys on this team, and they don't want to play against your man Robeson”. Sanford rejected the West Virginia demand to keep Robeson out of the game, and Robeson suited up. Apparently WVU decided to try and make no more of a case than they already had, and the game went on as scheduled. Robeson played brilliantly, and the game ended in a scoreless tie. After the final whistle, every member of the Mountaineers team reportedly lined up and shook Robeson's hand.
1916 Harvard University chose to cancel a dual track meet at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland because Navy officials refused to allow Harvard's star long jumper to participate.
1923 Washington & Jefferson College (W&J) of Washington, Pennsylvania was hosting a football home game. The similarly named visitors – Washington & Lee College (W&L) – were from Lexington, Virginia. When the southerners arrived at the W&J field, they were surprised to discover the W&J black quarterback was dressed for the game. W&L had made the apparently incorrect assumption that the now traditional white Gentlemens' Agreement would prevent any such racially divisive incident from occurring. But this was not to be the case that day. W&J fully intended that the black player in question – Charles West – would play, and they refused to back down to W&L's pressure. W&L refused to play, and packed up and left, thereby forfeiting the game.
W&J President S.V. Baker maintained that his school had a longstanding and proud tradition to protect – one of never making a distinction in athletics or in any other pursuit based on race or color. He defended quarterback West as an honor to the school, both as a student and an athlete.
1929 In 1929, Georgia Tech was invited to play in the Rose Bowl against the Uni- versity of California. Cal was not inclined to pull its lone black player in deference to southern white racial sensitivities. As a result, Georgia Tech agreed to play the game on California's terms. Apparently, the prestige and profits accruing from a Rose Bowl appearance overcame Tech's Jim Crow leanings.
1931 The William Bell story, Part 2. Ohio State changes racial policy in mid-season. As mentioned earlier, in an early season home football game against a southern school – Vanderbilt University – OSU went along with the Gentlemens' Agreement and held black footballer William Bell out of the game with the Commodores. Apparently, after criticism in the local press to the effect that “OSU has joined the Confederacy”, Bell was then used later in the same season in a game against Navy. The Naval Academy had previously refused to compete against black opponents in football games either at home or away. For whatever reason, they surprisingly agreed to alter that policy for this game with the Buckeyes. Bell's performance was so outstanding that several Navy players went out of their way to shake hands with him after the game.
1936 Surprising everyone who followed college football at the time, the University of North Carolina, scheduled to play NYU at the PoloGrounds, announced to NYU officials that the Tarheels would agree to play against any players – black or white – that the hosts put onto the field. It had been widely believed that NYU would have been quite willing to continue to follow that school's earlier policies, governed by the ever-present Gentlemens' Agreement, and to withhold its single black player – Ed Williams – from play. Williams played, and, it was reported, played well.
1937 Southern Methodist University (SMU) of Dallas, Texas, had previously refused to play against any teams that featured black players, but in 1937 agreed to compete against UCLA in L.A. The Bruins' two primary offensive players – halfback Kenny Washington and end Woody Strode – were both Americans of African descent. To avoid any potential criticism of earning a hollow victory over a depleted opponent, SMU agreed to play the game, winning by a score of 26 – 13. Pretty much the same scenario existed in 1940 when the Mustangs again travelled to a game against UCLA. This time UCLA's two great black players were halfback (and future Major League racial pioneer) Jackie Robinson and end Ray Bartlett. For the same practical reason, SMU chose not to place its high national ranking at risk, and agreed to play, winning again by the score of 9 to 6.
1938 Cracks continued to emerge in the world of Jim Crow in 1938. with Syracuse University being involved in both instances of surprising behavior on the part of schools that would be considered to be southern in custom and sentiment. In 1937 Syracuse had travelled to Maryland for a game with theTerrapins. The Orangemen brought along its great black quarterback, Wilmeth Sadat-Singh a black who had been adopted by an East Indian physician father in New York City. Maryland officials complained of this breach of “Gentlemens” etiquette, and Syracuse held Sadat-Singh out of the game. The two teams met again the following year, this time in Syracuse. SU officials insisted that Sadat-Singh would play, and Maryland agreed to play the game. Sadat-Singh and his Orangemen teammates had no fear of the Turtle that day, crushing Maryland by the score of 53 to 0.
Duke University (formerly known as Trinity College until the family made fabulously wealthy from the sale of tobacco products dropped a pile of money on them) was also scheduled to play Syracuse in 1938. They had a powerful team, and were hoping for a Rose Bowl bid. They too agreed to allow Sadat-Singh to play, fearing (ala SMU) that if they did not, their record of wins and losses would look somewhat compromised to Rose Bowl officials. It was a good decision for Duke, as they proceeeded to shut out Syracuse, 21 – 0.
1939 In 1939 Texas Christian University (TCU) of Fort Worth, Texas, an arch conservative Disciples of Christ institution, who had not previously agreed to play against black opponents, travelled west for a game at UCLA. The Horned Frogs were highly ranked, and were hoping to be invited to play in the Rose Bowl the following New Years Day. As with SMU and Duke, they knew that if their schedule appeared weak in any way, they might lose out to a school who played whomever their opponents put onto the field. As a result, they agreed to put their segregationist principles aside and play against the full UCLA lineup. UCLA in 1939 was absolutely loaded with offensive talent – Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Jackie Robinson, and Ray Bartlett. TCU almost pulled off their biggest win of the season. But their 14-game winning streak came to an end that day by the score of 6 to 3. (What were all those UCLA offensive weapons doing all afternoon?)
1940 In 1940, Texas A&M University also relented its previous “no games against teams with black players” policy in order to play a game with UCLA in L.A. The Aggies won, and remained in contention for a second successive “mythical” national championship. 1940 The Harvard University Corporation publicly announced a new guideline that explicitly stated that the University would not tolerate any racial discrimination involving its athletic teams.
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