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re: Why Did Bear Bryant Wait Seven Years to Integrate Bama Football?
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:08 pm to MrAUTigers
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:08 pm to MrAUTigers
quote:
Because USCw beat the absolute shite out of bama. They had quite a few black players on their team. Sam Bam Cunningham was their star player. That is when bear decided he needed to integrate.
You believed that bullshite story?
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Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:08 pm to DWag215
They weren't cut, they left the team. The spring of '66 was just three years removed from Malone and Hood integrating the University.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:09 pm to NATidefan
I saw that documentary. They asserted that Bryant deliberately set that game up to make a point to the administration. If they wanted to win, they needed black players.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:09 pm to pvilleguru
quote:
Is it possible to be any further from the truth?
quote:
Mr. Cunningham is famously said to have done more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King Jr. did in 20 years.
LINK
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:10 pm to LC412000
Pretty sure most white southern folk didn't like black people in the 60's. That's probably the main reason.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:11 pm to DWag215
The WSJ is wrong on this one. Hell, we already had a black player on the team. That USC game didn't do shite to integrate our team.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:11 pm to DWag215
Solid bait, would eat again.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:11 pm to NashvilleTider
quote:
Pretty sure most white southern folk didn't like black people in the 60's. That's probably the main reason.
It probably is.
I wonder if it's fair to say Bear, knowing his influence, should've done more to impart change.
It's an interesting question.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:11 pm to DWag215
Really? Bama went out to Los Angeles the next year and kicked USC's arse in the Coliseum in the opening game.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:11 pm to DWag215
Again, so much mythology around that game. Wilbur Jackson was already in the team when Alabama lost to USC at Legion Field in 1970. John Mitchell would star for Alabama in 1971, playing a integral part in beating USC in Los Angeles.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:12 pm to MrAUTigers
quote:
Because USCw beat the absolute shite out of bama. They had quite a few black players on their team. Sam Bam Cunningham was their star player.
This is true.
quote:
That is when bear decided he needed to integrate.
This is not. He wanted to integrate before then, but the administration and governor were against it. He pushed to play southern cal for the soul purpose of proving the team would have to integrate for Bama to stay competitive.
Or at least that's the why I've heard it explained.
This post was edited on 11/17/13 at 4:13 pm
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:14 pm to pvilleguru
quote:
Is it possible to be any further from the truth?
1970: L 09-12-1970 Alabama 21 Southern California 42 Birmingham, AL
LINK )
In 1971 Mitchell, along with Wilbur Jackson, became the first African-American to play football for the Crimson Tide.[12]
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:15 pm to pvilleguru
Below is an excerpt from an assortment of sources, the citations for which can be found in this link.
quote:
ear Bryant knew that a loss like this would change the view toward African American athletes in the south. It is said that that Monday after the loss he walked into an Alabama board of trustees meeting and said that any player should be able to play football for Alabama no matter what the color of his skin. The next season Alabama started recruiting African American athletes to play football and short after them so did every other college of the south. An assistant coach at Alabama later said that "Sam Cunningham did more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King did in 20 years.”
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:15 pm to MrAUTigers
Jackson was already on the team. He wasn't eligible to play under freshman rules of the era.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:15 pm to MrAUTigers
The game still did nothing to help integrate our team. It was already integrated.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:16 pm to NATidefan
quote:
He pushed to play southern cal for the soul purpose of proving the team would have to integrate for Bama to stay competitive.
That's basically what Showtime said with their documentary. John McKay and Bryant were the best of friends and Bryant wanted the game to be played in Birmingham to make a point to the administration and to the fan base.
He knew that Southern Cal was going to destroy them and that was the whole point of arranging the game.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:16 pm to DWag215
The Bear only had that power in the 70's and 80's. In the 60's? Not so much.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:16 pm to NATidefan
quote:
This is not. He wanted to integrate before then, but the administration and governor were against it. He pushed to play southern cal for the soul purpose of proving the team would have to integrate for Bama to stay competitive.
I think this may be the correct understanding.
But the questions still stands: Fully aware of his great power and influence, should the Bear have acted faster and more aggressively.
No on in the state of Alabama was going to refuse Bear Bryant.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:16 pm to DWag215
quote:This is false. We already had a black player on scholarship and we had been recruiting black players for a few years.
The next season Alabama started recruiting African American athletes to play football and short after them so did every other college of the south.
Posted on 11/17/13 at 4:17 pm to TeamCornbread
quote:
In the 60's? Not so much.
He won what, 3 championships in the 60s?
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