African Americans and College Football, Part 3: Integration
By Dante Pryor
Key games
Individual accolades are fine, but it’s an entirely different animal when players lead teams to important bowl games. These players were met with some resistance both on and off the field.
These games are just a few of many that provided the backdrop of integration of college football.
- 1916 Rose Bowl
Although the Brown Bears fell in 1916 to the Washington State Cougars 14-0, it was the first time a black player — Fritz Pollard — played in a Rose Bowl. The game almost didn’t happen. When the Bears attempted to check-in to their hotel, they initially would not allow Pollard to sign in. The entire Brown football team threatened to go back to Rhode Island and not play. Pollard was then allowed to sign in, and the game was played.
A muddy field and stout Cougars defense held Brown’s diminutive dynamo — Pollard stood all of 5-foot-6 — to only 40 yards, but his presence in the game would be echoed through the “Granddaddy of them All” for years to come.
- 1961-62 Rose Bowl
Nearly 50 years after Pollard was the first black football player to play in the Rose Bowl, Sandy Stephens of the Minnesota Golden Gophers would be the first black quarterback to play in one in 1961 though the Huskies fell short, losing to the Washington Huskies 17-7.
Stephens would lead the Gophers back to the Rose Bowl again in 1962 amid controversy and they defeated the UCLA Bruins 21-3 becoming the first black quarterback to win the Rose Bowl MVP.
- 1970 Alabama v. USC
The legendary narrative says that Alabama head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant hoped his Crimson Tide would lose, so he could prove to the school’s brass why he needed to recruit black players.
Alabama was one of many programs in the deep south that did not allow blacks to enroll as students. It’s whispered in many corners that Bryant saw the changing landscape of college football. Integrated teams were playing — and winning — at a high level.
The Trojans claimed two national titles in the 1960s and Ohio State laid claim to titles in 1961, 1968, and 1970; they had black players on their team since the 1940s. Bryant knew black players would give him a competitive edge, especially in the south were segregationists did not want their schools integrated.
So he got the Trojans to Alabama — Birmingham, not Tuscaloosa — and 559 yards and a 42-21 thrashing later, the landscape of Alabama would forever be changed.