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While the story of the reintegration of professional football in
1946 after World War II is a topic that has been covered, there is
a little-known aspect of this integration that has not been fully
explored. After World War II and up until the mid- to late 1960s,
professional football teams scheduled numerous preseason games in
the South. Once African American players started dotting the
rosters of these teams, they had to face Jim Crow conditions. Early
on, black players were barred from playing in some cities. Most
encountered segregated accommodations when they stayed in the
South. And when African Americans in these southern cities came to
see their favorite black players perform, they were relegated to
segregated seating conditions. To add to the challenges these
African American players and fans endured, professional football
gradually started placing franchises in still-segregated cities as
early as 1937, culminating with the new AFL placing franchises in
Dallas and Houston in 1960. That same year, the NFL followed suit
by placing a franchise in Dallas. Now, instead of just visiting a
southern city for a day or so to play an exhibition game, African
American players that were on the rosters of these southern teams
had to live in these still segregated cities. Many of these
players, being from the North or West Coast, had never dealt with
de jure or even de facto Jim Crow laws. Early on, if these African
American players didn't "toe the line" or fought back (via contract
disputes, interracial relationships, requesting better living
accommodations in the South, protesting segregated seating, etc.),
they were traded, cut, and even blackballed from the league.
Eventually, though, as the civil rights movement gained steam in
the 1950s and 1960s, African American players were able to protest
the conditions in the South with success. Much of what happened in
professional football during this time period coincided with or
mirrored events in America and the civil rights movement.
On January 20, 1968, the University of Houston Cougars upset the
UCLA Bruins, ending a 47-game winning streak. Billed as the "Game
of the Century," the defeat of the UCLA hoopsters was witnessed by
52,693 fans and a national television audience-the first-ever
regular-season game broadcast nationally. But the game would never
have happened if Houston coach Guy Lewis had not recruited two
young black men from Louisiana in 1964: Don Chaney and Elvin Hayes.
Despite facing hostility both at home and on the road, Chaney and
Hayes led the Cougars basketball team to 32 straight victories.
Similarly in Cougar football, coach Bill Yeoman recruited Warren
McVea in 1964, and by 1967 McVea had helped the Houston gridiron
program lead the nation in total offense. Houston Cougars in the
1960s features the first-person accounts of the players, the
coaches, and others involved in the integration of collegiate
athletics in Houston, telling the gripping story of the visionary
coaches, the courageous athletes, and the committed supporters who
blazed a trail not only for athletic success but also for racial
equality in 1960s Houston.
What was it like for young black men growing up in a totally
segregated environment and transitioning to an integrated one?"
asks author Robert Jacobus in the preface to this collection of
interviews. How did they get involved in sports? How did the
facilities, both academic and athletic, compare to the white
schools? What colleges recruited them out of high school? Searching
for the answers to these and other questions, Jacobus interviewed
some 250 former players, former coaches, and others who were
personally involved in the racial integration of Texas public
school and college athletic programs. Starting with Ben Kelly, the
first African American to play for a college team in the former
Confederacy when he walked on at then San Angelo College, and
continuing with great players such as Jerry Levias, Ken Houston,
Mel Renfro, Bubba Smith, and more, the players tell their stories
in their own words. Each story is as varied as the players
themselves. Some strongly uphold the necessity of integration for
progress in society. Others, while understanding the need for
integration, nevertheless mourn the passing of their segregated
schools, remembering fondly the close-knit communities forged by
the difficulties faced by both students and teachers. Interlaced
with historical context and abundantly illustrated, the
first-person accounts presented in Black Man in the Huddle form an
important and lasting record of the thoughts, struggles, successes,
and experiences of young men on the front lines of desegregation in
Texas schools and athletic programs. By capturing these stories,
Jacobus widens our perspective on the interactions between sport
and American society during the momentous 1950s, '60s, and '70s.
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