Hey Devil dog

[HooverOutlaw]

You have posted many times there were no black players before USC beat Alabama in 1970. Here is an article proving you were wrong.

 

The 1967 Walk-ons: The Forgotten Pioneers of Alabama Football's Integration

22

By C.J. Schexnayder  Jun 6, 2012, 9:33am CDT

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It began with a meeting in the office of Alabama head coach Paul W. Bryant sometime in February of 1967. The legendary coach peered over his desk at a young University of Alabama freshman named Dock Rone and listened as the former standout high-school guard announced his intention walk on to the Crimson Tide football team.

Bryant then warned Rone of the difficulties involved with making the squad but told the Montgomery native he was welcome to try out provided he passed the physical and was academically eligible.

"I admire your courage, young man," Bryant told Rone.

The incident, recounted in Keith Dunnavant's book The Missing Ring, is a crucial moment in the history of Alabama football. Rone was no ordinary UA freshman, he was African-American and would become the first black athlete to don the Crimson Tide uniform. His decision to try out for the squad marked the beginning of the end of segregation on the Alabama football team.

Rone would not be alone in his attempt. Four other black students joined him when he reported for the Tide's first spring practice on April 1, 1967; Arthur Dunning from Mobile, Melvin Leverett from Prichard, Andrew Pernell from Bessemer and Jerome Tucker from Birmingham.

Until now, the presence of these five African-American athletes on the Alabama practice field has been seen as an outlier in the story of the integration of the football team. The narrative instead focuses on the offering the scholarship to basketball player Wendell Hudson in 1969, football player Wilbur Jackson in 1970 and the 1971 Alabama vs USC game that saw John Mitchell take the field and, at long last, cross the Crimson Tide's varsity football color line.

Yet while the importance of these events cannot be overstated, neither can the contribution of the black walk-ons that preceded them. In a paper I delivered at the North American Society of Sports Historians' annual congress last week, I argue that there were a confluence of powerful factors in the Spring of 1967 that finally forced the University of Alabama to take action.

 

Thus the presence of the five walk-on players at spring training was more than just another milestone on the way toward integration -- it was the crossing of Rubicon.

Rone became the first African American to wear the Alabama uniform (even if it was only the practice uniform) when his four companions were not allowed to work out on the first day of spring practice. As their arrival was unexpected, they had not been cleared academically to participate. They joined Rone on the practice field the following week.

The Alabama coaching staff had told the team to expect the arrival of the black players before the start of the spring sessions, according to Dunnavant in The Missing Ring. One player, Tom Sommerville, said the instructions of the coaching staff were "that we shouldn’t make a big deal about it… just to treat ‘em like everybody else, which we did."

Former players and coaches say that was exactly how they handled the situation and Rone later admitted many "went out of their way" to make the walk-ons feel welcome. Still, there was a "distance" between the black players and the rest of the squad, Pernell recalled.

We didn’t have conversations with people. From the players and other coaches, it was just like, distance. It was like you didn’t exist for the most part.

That isolation was compounded by the limited number of blacks on the UA campus in that era. Out of a total student population of around 12,000 in 1967, only about 300 were black. As the walk-ons were not scholarship athletes, they did not reside in Bryant Hall with the other players.

 

On May 5, 1967 approximately 15,000 Alabama fans showed up at Denny Stadium to watch the annual A-Day intrasquad game. Three of the walk-ons were on the roster; Rone, Tucker and Pernell with the first two seeing playing time.

"I got a fair shot," Rone said at the conclusion of spring. "I expect to get a chance to play next season."

It would not come to pass. During the summer of 1967, Rone left school due to family problems and was subsequently called into military service. Bryant recalled later that he doubted if Rone would have ever started for the team but "I think he would have played one day."

Pernell returned to walk-on again in the spring of 1968. He dressed out for that year’s A-Day game and made it into the game for three plays. His career with the team ended when the athletics department learned he was attending school on an academic scholarship which was a violation of SEC rules for a student athlete.

"I figured that was about as far as I could go with this thing and I would never get to play," he said of his decision.

Yet, by that point, the die had been cast. According to Dunnavant, Bryant gave his coaches the green-light to recruit black football players at the start of 1968, accelerating the gains made possible by the five walk-ons a year prior.

 

 

 

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[Ararar]

None of them made the team

so yeah , no black varsity players

 

[HawgGoneIt]

I just want to point out that I'm very glad that HooverOutlaw didn't use the DD acronym or I'd have thought this another USAA topic calling out Dusty and just skipped it. 

 

[HooverOutlaw]

2 hours ago, Ararar said:

None of them made the team

so yeah , no black varsity players

 

Freshman did not play varsity in those days. Fact is Rone would have made the team if not for the death of a family member and having to return home to help out.

[DevilDog]

2 hours ago, Ararar said:

None of them made the team

so yeah , no black varsity players

 

That's like celebrating the 1st 5 blacks too boycott at the Walgreen's counter to demand a soft drink as serving the 1st Black Customers.  You can't stop The Cooter's with Revisionist history.   That's from his own article and what I schooled him on before in Bold.  USC also kicked Texas ass in the same way during this time period.     I bet they served a lot of Water to the white football players that were straight up racist. 

 football player Wilbur Jackson in 1970 and the 1971 Alabama vs USC game that saw John Mitchell take the field and, at long last, cross the Crimson Tide's varsity football color line.

Yet while the importance of these events cannot be overstated, neither can the contribution of the black walk-ons that preceded them. In a paper I delivered at the

[DevilDog]

In the Real world this  Dude was leading Alabubba in 1967 🤣  This Fine Gentleman is standing at the University of Alabubba when he made this speech.  I will await the Whataboutsim and well a Negro did cook in the Cafeteria 😎 so he did support integration.

Stop insulting my intelligence with this stupid Thread or I will decimate it.

Attempting to block integration at the University of Alabama, Governor George Wallace makes his infamous stand at the schoolhouse door to protest a federal order that allowed desegregation at the University of Alabama.

 

 

[DevilDog]

1965 blacks couldn't even vote or cross the Fucking Edmund Pettus Bridge.   But magically 2 years later they just embraced Blacks on the Bubba Football team.  SMDH 

 

[Ararar]

43 minutes ago, HooverOutlaw said:

Freshman did not play varsity in those days. Fact is Rone would have made the team if not for the death of a family member and having to return home to help out.

Thanks for confirming my original statement 

[DevilDog]

@Ararar

Here is the Truth when USC came in fully integrated.  Hell Jackie Robinson was a Running Back at USC in the freaking 40's and he's from Georgia.  Thanks USC for Kicking Bubba's ass and Texas ass too.  Alabama was the Flagship of White Racism in Football.  This Revisionism is just stupid.    

USC was the role Model of Integration and they kicked those slow ass Southern teams Asses.  Black people in the South was rooting for USC. .

Where are all those 1967 Walk ons.  They damn sure were not freshmen in 1970

USC Backfield look likes 1970 Grambling 🤣

 

[DevilDog]

@Horsefly  I know you are big on History Sir.  That Lady the 1st Black to enroll at Alabama Vivian Jones went on to do well outside of Alabama.  Very well. She graduated with a B+ from there and got not one job opportunity in Alabama.  But as I said she went on to be very prosperous and she was the Sister in Law to Eric Holder.  He married her sister.  

What's next a thread claiming in 1863 Alabubba led the nation in Negro Employment. 🤣  Further proof of how they are damaged by Christianity and how they can't wait to forgive because YOU KNOW WHO would want that. Blacks voted for him in the 1980s..  Older Southern Blacks have some serious Mental Damage. 

In Wallace's last term as governor in the late 1980s, he hired a black press secretary, appointed more than 160 blacks to state governing boards and worked to double the number of black voter registrars in Alabama's 67 counties. In part, it was the politics of patronage – in his last race for governor he won with 60 percent of the vote and well over 90 percent of the black vote – but on a deeper level it was using his waning political power to bond with those he once scorned. Tuskegee Institute responded with an honorary degree.

[Frosty4024]

10 hours ago, Ararar said:

Thanks for confirming my original statement 

Show's over folks...Back to our...oh...wait...

[Cossacks]

15 hours ago, DevilDog said:

@Ararar

Here is the Truth when USC came in fully integrated.  Hell Jackie Robinson was a Running Back at USC in the freaking 40's and he's from Georgia.  Thanks USC for Kicking Bubba's ass and Texas ass too.  Alabama was the Flagship of White Racism in Football.  This Revisionism is just stupid.    

USC was the role Model of Integration and they kicked those slow ass Southern teams Asses.  Black people in the South was rooting for USC. 
 

@DevilDog,

C’mon man that is so wrong. He went to the good school in Los Angeles. 

[HooverOutlaw]

In the past Devil Dog has said until the not 1970 USC/Alabama did Alabama recruit Blacks point being that was wrong.  Bryant knew trying to recruit blacks say in 1961 would have imploded the program due to the racist attitudes of the fans and politicians. He did it as soon as he though he could safely do it. Bryant was in a bad spot.  Not even Coach Bryant himself could stop racism. 

[DevilDog]

@Horsefly and @AztecPadre   This is why you cannot let these mindsets teach you anything about History,  Bear Bryant was  a damn racist till he realized his Nazi teams sucked when others were getting black players.  This revisionism is a Freaking Mental Disease    Read this brothers.   In the Past and in the Future DD will always tell the freaking Truth because I study and not just listen to His-Story.   He gets some credit but this Saintly image is B.S.  He was a born and bred Redneck from Freaking Alabubba in the 1920s.   He was the personification of a Covert Racist.  If USC had not of crushed their asses the SEC would be very different.   It now is superior because it has access to more black players than any conference.  Hell Ga and Fl has more Blacks combined than Texas and Cali with populations  1/4 of our States.   Bear Bryant and the Color Barrier (Covert Racism)

In 1970 the University of Alabama Football team was still a segregated team situated in the heavily segregated and racist south. The teams coach Paul “Bear” Bryant was often accused of being a racist for refusing to recruiting black players because according to him they were not as athletically gifted as white players. Bryant was born and raised in the south during the 1920’s where there is deep seeded racism and he was exposed to this while growing up there and while playing football for the University of Alabama, where he played defensive end and was named second team All-SEC in 1934 ).

After playing for the Crimson Tide as they are called, Bryant moved to an assistant coaching position at Union University in 1936. He later coached for Maryland, Kentucky, and Texas A&M, before assuming the head coaching position at the University of Alabama in 1958. He had great success in his early years at Alabama, including winning the national championship 1961 (Browning). In the years following that, Bryant’s all white Alabama was falling behind other teams who were starting to recruit black players. The major turning point came in 1970 when Alabama faced the USC Trojans led by Sam Cunningham a black running back for the Trojans. Cunningham dominated Alabama in the game that ended up winning 42-21 (Morton). After that season Alabama was forced to recruit black players in order to stay competitive with other schools.

Many people accused Bryant of being a racist for refusing to recruit black players, but he argued that the prevailing social climate did not allow him to do that. This can be seen as a form of covert racism as Bryant would not allow black players to play on his team. Covert racism is a form of racism where it is disguised or rationalized with an explanation that society is more willing to accept, like black players are not as good as white players so that is why they are not offered scholarships. Covert racism often works subliminally and is often done subconsciously. The argument that black players were not as good as white ones was dispelled after the loss to USC when all of the Alabama fans saw the potential of black players and how dominant they could become. Alabama would need to change its ways if it still wanted to be competitive in the new era of college football, one with black players.

After that season Alabama offered its first scholarship to a black player in the school’s history. In 1971 Alabama offered a scholarship to Wilbur Jackson a black player from Alabama to play running back for the Crimson Tide. That same year the first black player played for Alabama, John Mitchell a junior college transfer student (Browning). After that season and the breaking of the color barrier at Alabama, it opened the door for more black players to receive scholarships and to play football at the University of Alabama. By in 1973 more than 1/3 of the teams starters were black and more and more black players were receiving scholarships to Alabama (Browning).

Jackson and Mitchell faced great obstacles and barriers in coming to Alabama and so did coach Bryant because of the possible back lash from alumni and faculty for allowing black athletes to participate and attend Alabama. They all over came many types of racism and helped to show that black athletes could be part of Alabama. Bryant learned to change the way he thought of black people and allowed him to eliminate most of the covert racism that surrounded black athletes. He helped pave the way for black athletes to participate in not only football but in all sports at school all across the country.

Bear Bryant was very instrumental in changing how Alabama thought not just about black football players but how they thought about African Americans in general. His self sacrifice paved the way for African American students to attend college and to earn a degree and better their life. Without Bryant many people think that the covert racism that many blacks faced in those days would have continued to perpetrate, and would have slowed the civil rights movement and advances for all minorities. Although many people don’t think of Bear Bryant as a civil rights leader, in some ways he was one, for the advances in football he made. He gave many African Americans opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to have. For all the wrong that was racism in the south, Bear Bryant was one individual who stood up against it and defied society in the south.

[DevilDog]

Didn't I ask not to insult me with this revisionist thread or I would destroy it.  Well operation Destroy Revisionism is underway. Each new B.S. will get a more sterner reply.  I shall await Rd 3 of Well Whatabout 😎

The barrier to desegregating football, then, was not judicial but cultural. And no single football team embodied the fusion of gridiron dominance and massive resistance more than the University of Alabama’s. A perennial Top 10 team, Alabama boasted George Wallace as its governor and Bear Bryant as its head coach. Its fight song featured the line, “You’re Dixie’s football pride, Crimson Tide,” a dog whistle implying that each victory was for an entire region and its racial hierarchy.

In the standard narrative of integration and college football, the pivotal moment occurred in 1970, when Bryant’s team was routed on its home field by a USC squad starring a black quarterback and fullback. Certain sports commentators have even posited that Bryant had arranged the game, almost hoping Alabama would lose, specifically to prove why he needed to be able to recruit black players.

[DevilDog]

It's a lie given to him as integrating the South.  His-Story.  The fact is FAMU beating a mostly White Tampa  team in Florida is what changed the trajectory.

This is real History

https://theundefeated.com/features/the-game-desegregating-college-football-in-the-south-happened-50-years-ago/

 The groundbreaking game in desegregating college football in the South, for teams and fans alike, had taken place a year earlier. On Nov. 29, 1969, the all-black team of Florida A&M took on the virtually all-white team of the University of Tampa before a racially integrated sellout crowd of 45,000, which constituted probably the largest act of mass integration of a public facility since Emancipation.

On that Saturday night 50 years ago, Florida A&M beat Tampa 34-28 in a game that came down to a last, foiled pass into the end zone. In defeat, Curci made a point of telling the assembled media that not only had his team been outplayed but that he had been outcoached.

Years later, speaking to a journalist, Gaither put the stakes in perspective: “That game has to be the most important game of my life, for that proves a game of that type – with tension and competitiveness – could be played between whites and blacks in the Deep South without any undue racial violence with good sportsmanship by both teams and the public. I wanted to prove to myself that it could be done in the deepest state in the Deep South. And we did it.”

 

[BUFORDGAWOLVES]

47 minutes ago, DevilDog said:

It's a lie given to him as integrating the South.  His-Story.  The fact is FAMU beating a mostly White Tampa  team in Florida is what changed the trajectory.

This is real History

https://theundefeated.com/features/the-game-desegregating-college-football-in-the-south-happened-50-years-ago/

 The groundbreaking game in desegregating college football in the South, for teams and fans alike, had taken place a year earlier. On Nov. 29, 1969, the all-black team of Florida A&M took on the virtually all-white team of the University of Tampa before a racially integrated sellout crowd of 45,000, which constituted probably the largest act of mass integration of a public facility since Emancipation.

On that Saturday night 50 years ago, Florida A&M beat Tampa 34-28 in a game that came down to a last, foiled pass into the end zone. In defeat, Curci made a point of telling the assembled media that not only had his team been outplayed but that he had been outcoached.

Years later, speaking to a journalist, Gaither put the stakes in perspective: “That game has to be the most important game of my life, for that proves a game of that type – with tension and competitiveness – could be played between whites and blacks in the Deep South without any undue racial violence with good sportsmanship by both teams and the public. I wanted to prove to myself that it could be done in the deepest state in the Deep South. And we did it.”

 

In Flawda no less.... well before the heavy bluehair migration and tourists, just before Disney was opening but was busy straw buying sections of land for it.

Thanks DD,

BGW

[AztecPadre]

On 3/15/2020 at 1:12 PM, HooverOutlaw said:

You have posted many times there were no black players before USC beat Alabama in 1970. Here is an article proving you were wrong.

 

The 1967 Walk-ons: The Forgotten Pioneers of Alabama Football's Integration

22

By C.J. Schexnayder  Jun 6, 2012, 9:33am CDT

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It began with a meeting in the office of Alabama head coach Paul W. Bryant sometime in February of 1967. The legendary coach peered over his desk at a young University of Alabama freshman named Dock Rone and listened as the former standout high-school guard announced his intention walk on to the Crimson Tide football team.

Bryant then warned Rone of the difficulties involved with making the squad but told the Montgomery native he was welcome to try out provided he passed the physical and was academically eligible.

"I admire your courage, young man," Bryant told Rone.

The incident, recounted in Keith Dunnavant's book The Missing Ring, is a crucial moment in the history of Alabama football. Rone was no ordinary UA freshman, he was African-American and would become the first black athlete to don the Crimson Tide uniform. His decision to try out for the squad marked the beginning of the end of segregation on the Alabama football team.

Rone would not be alone in his attempt. Four other black students joined him when he reported for the Tide's first spring practice on April 1, 1967; Arthur Dunning from Mobile, Melvin Leverett from Prichard, Andrew Pernell from Bessemer and Jerome Tucker from Birmingham.

Until now, the presence of these five African-American athletes on the Alabama practice field has been seen as an outlier in the story of the integration of the football team. The narrative instead focuses on the offering the scholarship to basketball player Wendell Hudson in 1969, football player Wilbur Jackson in 1970 and the 1971 Alabama vs USC game that saw John Mitchell take the field and, at long last, cross the Crimson Tide's varsity football color line.

Yet while the importance of these events cannot be overstated, neither can the contribution of the black walk-ons that preceded them. In a paper I delivered at the North American Society of Sports Historians' annual congress last week, I argue that there were a confluence of powerful factors in the Spring of 1967 that finally forced the University of Alabama to take action.

 

Thus the presence of the five walk-on players at spring training was more than just another milestone on the way toward integration -- it was the crossing of Rubicon.

Rone became the first African American to wear the Alabama uniform (even if it was only the practice uniform) when his four companions were not allowed to work out on the first day of spring practice. As their arrival was unexpected, they had not been cleared academically to participate. They joined Rone on the practice field the following week.

The Alabama coaching staff had told the team to expect the arrival of the black players before the start of the spring sessions, according to Dunnavant in The Missing Ring. One player, Tom Sommerville, said the instructions of the coaching staff were "that we shouldn’t make a big deal about it… just to treat ‘em like everybody else, which we did."

Former players and coaches say that was exactly how they handled the situation and Rone later admitted many "went out of their way" to make the walk-ons feel welcome. Still, there was a "distance" between the black players and the rest of the squad, Pernell recalled.

We didn’t have conversations with people. From the players and other coaches, it was just like, distance. It was like you didn’t exist for the most part.

That isolation was compounded by the limited number of blacks on the UA campus in that era. Out of a total student population of around 12,000 in 1967, only about 300 were black. As the walk-ons were not scholarship athletes, they did not reside in Bryant Hall with the other players.

 

On May 5, 1967 approximately 15,000 Alabama fans showed up at Denny Stadium to watch the annual A-Day intrasquad game. Three of the walk-ons were on the roster; Rone, Tucker and Pernell with the first two seeing playing time.

"I got a fair shot," Rone said at the conclusion of spring. "I expect to get a chance to play next season."

It would not come to pass. During the summer of 1967, Rone left school due to family problems and was subsequently called into military service. Bryant recalled later that he doubted if Rone would have ever started for the team but "I think he would have played one day."

Pernell returned to walk-on again in the spring of 1968. He dressed out for that year’s A-Day game and made it into the game for three plays. His career with the team ended when the athletics department learned he was attending school on an academic scholarship which was a violation of SEC rules for a student athlete.

"I figured that was about as far as I could go with this thing and I would never get to play," he said of his decision.

Yet, by that point, the die had been cast. According to Dunnavant, Bryant gave his coaches the green-light to recruit black football players at the start of 1968, accelerating the gains made possible by the five walk-ons a year prior.

 

 

 

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Can you imagine how horrible the football must have been to watch prior to the end of segregation?  It would either be comical or hella boring.  

[TheMaximumHornetSting]

18 minutes ago, AztecPadre said:

Can you imagine how horrible the football must have been to watch prior to the end of segregation?  It would either be comical or hella boring.  

Unless your team was in the Big Ten,Big East or Pac12...  or in General up North... 

I remember watching a Documentary where Georgia Tech was susposed to play Pittsburgh for a Title. The state governor during the time said no  because he didn't want them playing against black players... During the time Pittsburgh had quite a few black players starting on the team.  

The Georgia Tech students and alot of the players launched a massive protest against the state because they thought it was absolutely stupid. They wanted to play Pittsburgh they stated they didn't care about some of the players being black they wanted to get their national title... 

Correction they did play GT won. 

But it took them months to get the game rescheduled they had to go over the governor's head though... 

 

[AztecPadre]

5 hours ago, DevilDog said:

@Horsefly and @AztecPadre   This is why you cannot let these mindsets teach you anything about History,  Bear Bryant was  a damn racist till he realized his Nazi teams sucked when others were getting black players.  This revisionism is a Freaking Mental Disease    Read this brothers.   In the Past and in the Future DD will always tell the freaking Truth because I study and not just listen to His-Story.   He gets some credit but this Saintly image is B.S.  He was a born and bred Redneck from Freaking Alabubba in the 1920s.   He was the personification of a Covert Racist.  If USC had not of crushed their asses the SEC would be very different.   It now is superior because it has access to more black players than any conference.  Hell Ga and Fl has more Blacks combined than Texas and Cali with populations  1/4 of our States.   Bear Bryant and the Color Barrier (Covert Racism)

In 1970 the University of Alabama Football team was still a segregated team situated in the heavily segregated and racist south. The teams coach Paul “Bear” Bryant was often accused of being a racist for refusing to recruiting black players because according to him they were not as athletically gifted as white players. Bryant was born and raised in the south during the 1920’s where there is deep seeded racism and he was exposed to this while growing up there and while playing football for the University of Alabama, where he played defensive end and was named second team All-SEC in 1934 ).

After playing for the Crimson Tide as they are called, Bryant moved to an assistant coaching position at Union University in 1936. He later coached for Maryland, Kentucky, and Texas A&M, before assuming the head coaching position at the University of Alabama in 1958. He had great success in his early years at Alabama, including winning the national championship 1961 (Browning). In the years following that, Bryant’s all white Alabama was falling behind other teams who were starting to recruit black players. The major turning point came in 1970 when Alabama faced the USC Trojans led by Sam Cunningham a black running back for the Trojans. Cunningham dominated Alabama in the game that ended up winning 42-21 (Morton). After that season Alabama was forced to recruit black players in order to stay competitive with other schools.

Many people accused Bryant of being a racist for refusing to recruit black players, but he argued that the prevailing social climate did not allow him to do that. This can be seen as a form of covert racism as Bryant would not allow black players to play on his team. Covert racism is a form of racism where it is disguised or rationalized with an explanation that society is more willing to accept, like black players are not as good as white players so that is why they are not offered scholarships. Covert racism often works subliminally and is often done subconsciously. The argument that black players were not as good as white ones was dispelled after the loss to USC when all of the Alabama fans saw the potential of black players and how dominant they could become. Alabama would need to change its ways if it still wanted to be competitive in the new era of college football, one with black players.

After that season Alabama offered its first scholarship to a black player in the school’s history. In 1971 Alabama offered a scholarship to Wilbur Jackson a black player from Alabama to play running back for the Crimson Tide. That same year the first black player played for Alabama, John Mitchell a junior college transfer student (Browning). After that season and the breaking of the color barrier at Alabama, it opened the door for more black players to receive scholarships and to play football at the University of Alabama. By in 1973 more than 1/3 of the teams starters were black and more and more black players were receiving scholarships to Alabama (Browning).

Jackson and Mitchell faced great obstacles and barriers in coming to Alabama and so did coach Bryant because of the possible back lash from alumni and faculty for allowing black athletes to participate and attend Alabama. They all over came many types of racism and helped to show that black athletes could be part of Alabama. Bryant learned to change the way he thought of black people and allowed him to eliminate most of the covert racism that surrounded black athletes. He helped pave the way for black athletes to participate in not only football but in all sports at school all across the country.

Bear Bryant was very instrumental in changing how Alabama thought not just about black football players but how they thought about African Americans in general. His self sacrifice paved the way for African American students to attend college and to earn a degree and better their life. Without Bryant many people think that the covert racism that many blacks faced in those days would have continued to perpetrate, and would have slowed the civil rights movement and advances for all minorities. Although many people don’t think of Bear Bryant as a civil rights leader, in some ways he was one, for the advances in football he made. He gave many African Americans opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to have. For all the wrong that was racism in the south, Bear Bryant was one individual who stood up against it and defied society in the south.

Hahahahahaha!!!!

[DevilDog]

Thank You USC and FAMU. 

[TheMaximumHornetSting]

39 minutes ago, AztecPadre said:

Can you imagine how horrible the football must have been to watch prior to the end of segregation?  It would either be comical or hella boring.  

UGA has an even longer history with racial tension. 

Walter Cocking  the then chancellor of UGA strongly supported integration but naturally  this was the 40s and there was some opposition. His biggest opposed was the Governor Eugene Talmadge.  He got Walter fired after he tried to bring in some Black athletes to the football team. The board of Regents and players themselves where either indifferent or or supported it.  Talmedge didn't and he slowly replaced the board of Regents with people who where like-minded similar to him and they fired Walter...  

This action however brought in the full wrath of the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities (Surprisingly) they said his actions where counter productive and harmful to the state of Georgia... This is where the down turn in his career came and fast... The U.S government pulled funding for all Georgia colleges after he enacted a policy barring non-Georgians, Minorities and Integration supporters from attending Georgia schools.  He dubbed them "Communist traitors".  And this pissed off the supreme Court to no ends.  And started a long line of legal warfare that Jim Crow incarnate couldn't win...  He also quickly lost favor with the people of Georgia after the Funding for the college's was pulled... As you can imagine this put a strain on the state tax payers... The funding had to come from somewhere...and the Citizens of Georgia sure as hell weren't about to have any of it...  He got elected 4 times but died before he could get sworn in the 4th time... 

Had he gotten in the 4th time I feel the college's would've rebelled against him because he damn near destroyed them with his ideology... 

And the Supreme Court without a doubt would've made his 4th term straight hell... 

[AztecPadre]

12 minutes ago, TheMaximumHornetSting said:

UGA has an even longer history with racial tension. 

Walter Cocking  the then chancellor of UGA strongly supported integration but naturally  this was the 40s and there was some opposition. His biggest opposed was the Governor Eugene Talmadge.  He got Walter fired after he tried to bring in some Black athletes to the football team. The board of Regents and players themselves where either indifferent or or supported it.  Talmedge didn't and he slowly replaced the board of Regents with people who where like-minded similar to him and they fired Walter...  

This action however brought in the full wrath of the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities (Surprisingly) they said his actions where counter productive and harmful to the state of Georgia... This is where the down turn in his career came and fast... The U.S government pulled funding for all Georgia colleges after he enacted a policy barring non-Georgians, Minorities and Integration supporters from attending Georgia schools.  He dubbed them "Communist traitors".  And this pissed off the supreme Court to no ends.  And started a long line of legal warfare that Jim Crow incarnate couldn't win...  He also quickly lost favor with the people of Georgia after the Funding for the college's was pulled... As you can imagine this put a strain on the state tax payers... The funding had to come from somewhere...and the Citizens of Georgia sure as hell weren't about to have any of it...  He got elected 4 times but died before he could get sworn in the 4th time... 

Had he gotten in the 4th time I feel the college's would've rebelled against him because he damn near destroyed them with his ideology... 

And the Supreme Court without a doubt would've made his 4th term straight hell... 

Nice post.  I had no idea about this.  Much appreciated.

[TheMaximumHornetSting]

25 minutes ago, AztecPadre said:

Nice post.  I had no idea about this.  Much appreciated.

His son was governor too but his son was alot more open than his father... 

[HooverOutlaw]

20 hours ago, DevilDog said:

@Horsefly and @AztecPadre   This is why you cannot let these mindsets teach you anything about History,  Bear Bryant was  a damn racist till he realized his Nazi teams sucked when others were getting black players.  This revisionism is a Freaking Mental Disease    Read this brothers.   In the Past and in the Future DD will always tell the freaking Truth because I study and not just listen to His-Story.   He gets some credit but this Saintly image is B.S.  He was a born and bred Redneck from Freaking Alabubba in the 1920s.   He was the personification of a Covert Racist.  If USC had not of crushed their asses the SEC would be very different.   It now is superior because it has access to more black players than any conference.  Hell Ga and Fl has more Blacks combined than Texas and Cali with populations  1/4 of our States.   Bear Bryant and the Color Barrier (Covert Racism)

In 1970 the University of Alabama Football team was still a segregated team situated in the heavily segregated and racist south. The teams coach Paul “Bear” Bryant was often accused of being a racist for refusing to recruiting black players because according to him they were not as athletically gifted as white players. Bryant was born and raised in the south during the 1920’s where there is deep seeded racism and he was exposed to this while growing up there and while playing football for the University of Alabama, where he played defensive end and was named second team All-SEC in 1934 ).

After playing for the Crimson Tide as they are called, Bryant moved to an assistant coaching position at Union University in 1936. He later coached for Maryland, Kentucky, and Texas A&M, before assuming the head coaching position at the University of Alabama in 1958. He had great success in his early years at Alabama, including winning the national championship 1961 (Browning). In the years following that, Bryant’s all white Alabama was falling behind other teams who were starting to recruit black players. The major turning point came in 1970 when Alabama faced the USC Trojans led by Sam Cunningham a black running back for the Trojans. Cunningham dominated Alabama in the game that ended up winning 42-21 (Morton). After that season Alabama was forced to recruit black players in order to stay competitive with other schools.

Many people accused Bryant of being a racist for refusing to recruit black players, but he argued that the prevailing social climate did not allow him to do that. This can be seen as a form of covert racism as Bryant would not allow black players to play on his team. Covert racism is a form of racism where it is disguised or rationalized with an explanation that society is more willing to accept, like black players are not as good as white players so that is why they are not offered scholarships. Covert racism often works subliminally and is often done subconsciously. The argument that black players were not as good as white ones was dispelled after the loss to USC when all of the Alabama fans saw the potential of black players and how dominant they could become. Alabama would need to change its ways if it still wanted to be competitive in the new era of college football, one with black players.

After that season Alabama offered its first scholarship to a black player in the school’s history. In 1971 Alabama offered a scholarship to Wilbur Jackson a black player from Alabama to play running back for the Crimson Tide. That same year the first black player played for Alabama, John Mitchell a junior college transfer student (Browning). After that season and the breaking of the color barrier at Alabama, it opened the door for more black players to receive scholarships and to play football at the University of Alabama. By in 1973 more than 1/3 of the teams starters were black and more and more black players were receiving scholarships to Alabama (Browning).

Jackson and Mitchell faced great obstacles and barriers in coming to Alabama and so did coach Bryant because of the possible back lash from alumni and faculty for allowing black athletes to participate and attend Alabama. They all over came many types of racism and helped to show that black athletes could be part of Alabama. Bryant learned to change the way he thought of black people and allowed him to eliminate most of the covert racism that surrounded black athletes. He helped pave the way for black athletes to participate in not only football but in all sports at school all across the country.

Bear Bryant was very instrumental in changing how Alabama thought not just about black football players but how they thought about African Americans in general. His self sacrifice paved the way for African American students to attend college and to earn a degree and better their life. Without Bryant many people think that the covert racism that many blacks faced in those days would have continued to perpetrate, and would have slowed the civil rights movement and advances for all minorities. Although many people don’t think of Bear Bryant as a civil rights leader, in some ways he was one, for the advances in football he made. He gave many African Americans opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to have. For all the wrong that was racism in the south, Bear Bryant was one individual who stood up against it and defied society in the south.

At least get your lies right Bryant was born 1913 in Arkansas.