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Memo shows UTex coaches wanted to keep black players off their teams
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:44 pm
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:44 pm
So this was released yesterday (8/30) by Texas Monthly magazine.
Sure it’s from the past; but It’s one of many reasons why the progressives at UTex need to keep their self-righteousness to themselves. Their football and baseball facilities remain named after these coaches.
Keep this in mind when you hear cries of racism in the SEC from the horns.
Texas Monthly
Sure it’s from the past; but It’s one of many reasons why the progressives at UTex need to keep their self-righteousness to themselves. Their football and baseball facilities remain named after these coaches.
Keep this in mind when you hear cries of racism in the SEC from the horns.
Texas Monthly
quote:
In the memo, McCown describes how Falk, football coach Darrell Royal, basketball coach Harold Bradley, and track and field coach Clyde Littlefield felt, at the time, about the prospect of coaching mixed-race rosters. Less than a month earlier, student association president Frank Cooksey had sent a letter to UT administrators urging them to integrate the school’s sports programs. “Last Saturday a Negro football player from the University of Oklahoma made 135 yards rushing against the University of Texas football team,” Cooksey, who later became mayor of Austin, wrote. “I dare say that the coaches on the Longhorn staff would be quite ready to accept the services of any one who could play football as well as Mr. Prentice Gautt did on Saturday afternoon.”
Perhaps not. The memo shows that Falk and the other famed Longhorns coaches, whose names grace university arenas and sporting events, preferred to remain far behind the curve of racial progress. According to McCown, Royal, who had previously coached an integrated squad at the University of Washington, said having Black athletes on the UT team would “create problems.”
“White players particularly resented Negro boys coming in their room and lounging on their beds,” the memo continues. “Darrell was quite pronounced in not wanting any Negroes on his team until other Southwest Conference teams admit them and until the housing problem is solved or conditions change.” Time and again, throughout the late fifties and sixties, Royal and coaches at other Southwest Conference schools argued that they preferred to postpone integrating their football teams until others in the conference did.
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Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:45 pm to EKG
But...but...Sul Ross served in the CSA! He founded Prairie View so he could keep black people down!
I'm shocked t.u. Monthly would allow this to see the light of day.
I'm shocked t.u. Monthly would allow this to see the light of day.
This post was edited on 8/31/21 at 1:48 pm
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:46 pm to EKG
Wasn’t UT one of the last programs in the entire state to integrate, if not THE last?
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:47 pm to EKG
Damn and this was 5 years AFTER desegregation
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:47 pm to EKG
Time to rename the stadium! #cancelled
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:48 pm to transcend
quote:
Damn and this was 5 years AFTER desegregation
we (LSU) didn't have any black players until over 10 years after this letter is dated, nor did most of the SEC
This post was edited on 8/31/21 at 1:49 pm
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:48 pm to CGSC Lobotomy
quote:
Sul Ross
The reason I posted this thread.
We never heard the end of statue-gate from horns; yet Ross lived from 1838-1898.
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:49 pm to EKG
Royal, Bradley, and Littlefield should immediately resign.
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:50 pm to EKG
Cancel texas university
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:50 pm to transcend
quote:
Damn and this was 5 years AFTER desegregation
Not if you're from Cleveland, Mississippi. They fought desegregation until 2016. One of my room/teammates was from there.
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:51 pm to Murph4HOF
the obsession at aTm is unlike any other?
seriously
seriously
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:53 pm to EKG
How long before DKR stadium is renamed?
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:54 pm to Texaggie96
quote:
How long before DKR stadium is renamed?
Sheila Jackson Lee Field at George Floyd Stadium?
Posted on 8/31/21 at 1:58 pm to EKG
I can't believe an Aggie went there. Interesting thing is Bud and Switzer cleaned up in aTm's back yard because of both large state schools history. aTm and Texas were the only two schools Joe Washington's dad/coach said he could not go to, because he knew them well
Yes, Texas integrated football after Ole Miss. And Darrell only reluctantly integrated his team, because Switzer was killing him recruiting black texas athletes. But, it isn't like aTm was way ahead
From aTm's own web site: A&M was all white until 1963 when three African-Americans enrolled in the first summer session, and a year later, five freshmen became the first African-Americans in the Corps of Cadets.
Sammy Williams left Texas A&M, degree in hand, in 1969 with no intentions ever to return to College Station. But decades passed, wounds healed and times changed.
When Williams walked back onto campus again in 1989, he found a different Aggieland. A more diverse Aggieland. A more welcoming Aggieland.
"The pride comes in the first time I saw an African-American student wearing her senior boots," Williams said. "I got all choked up. I told her, 'I'm so proud of you.' She said, 'Why?' I said, 'Because you're getting to wear the senior boots. I never did.' I chose not to stay in the Corps."
History hasn't forgotten Williams and J.T. Reynolds, but it hasn't honored them as it should either. As the first African-American football players at A&M, Williams and Reynolds paved the way for other African-American players to do what they never had the chance to do.
Williams and Reynolds were restricted to playing special teams and only during home games despite believing they were better than some of their white teammates.
Yes, Texas integrated football after Ole Miss. And Darrell only reluctantly integrated his team, because Switzer was killing him recruiting black texas athletes. But, it isn't like aTm was way ahead
From aTm's own web site: A&M was all white until 1963 when three African-Americans enrolled in the first summer session, and a year later, five freshmen became the first African-Americans in the Corps of Cadets.
Sammy Williams left Texas A&M, degree in hand, in 1969 with no intentions ever to return to College Station. But decades passed, wounds healed and times changed.
When Williams walked back onto campus again in 1989, he found a different Aggieland. A more diverse Aggieland. A more welcoming Aggieland.
"The pride comes in the first time I saw an African-American student wearing her senior boots," Williams said. "I got all choked up. I told her, 'I'm so proud of you.' She said, 'Why?' I said, 'Because you're getting to wear the senior boots. I never did.' I chose not to stay in the Corps."
History hasn't forgotten Williams and J.T. Reynolds, but it hasn't honored them as it should either. As the first African-American football players at A&M, Williams and Reynolds paved the way for other African-American players to do what they never had the chance to do.
Williams and Reynolds were restricted to playing special teams and only during home games despite believing they were better than some of their white teammates.
This post was edited on 8/31/21 at 2:02 pm
Posted on 8/31/21 at 2:00 pm to jiminAZ
quote:
A&M was all white until 1963
A&M was also all MALE and 100% cadet participation until 1965.
Dr. Fred McClure, the 1976 student body president and one of our most revered former students...is black.
This post was edited on 8/31/21 at 2:02 pm
Posted on 8/31/21 at 2:03 pm to jiminAZ
Texas Monthly went there. It’s not an Aggie article. It’s on their home page.
This post was edited on 8/31/21 at 2:07 pm
Posted on 8/31/21 at 2:04 pm to CGSC Lobotomy
quote:
A&M was also all MALE and 100% cadet participation until 1965.
Dr. Fred McClure, the 1976 student body president and one of our most revered former students...is black.
What does being MALE have to do with not-integrating? There were pleanty of Black males in texas during the 50s and 60s. Are you implying they were not good enough for the high standards of aTm then?
This post was edited on 8/31/21 at 2:06 pm
Posted on 8/31/21 at 2:05 pm to Wellborn
quote:
Texas Monthly went there. It’s not an Aggie article.
I'm SHOCKED that t.u. Monthly allowed this to be published. Either they are prepping for Juneteenth to be a National Holiday and are trying to get out in front of it or there is a yet-unseen "shite on A&M" narrative we haven't caught yet.
Posted on 8/31/21 at 2:06 pm to transcend
The reality is that this was just standard fare at the time and likely every school in the SEC could have similar letters. There wasn't a black player in the SWC for 6 more years in 1965 and 8 more years for the SEC in 1967.
Doesn't make these letter right, they are terrible and sad looking back. Still it speaks more to these coaches not wanting to rock the boat as opposed to deep seated racism, they were scared of recruiting consequences and if their team would rebel and didn't want to take the chance.
I have no problem with pointing out the flaws and truth of what these men did or said but I despise cancel culture and the intent here is to try to destroy all of the accomplishments of these men for what was basically ignorance. Once we go down that path realize that virtually anyone from prior to 1970 is going to be vilified and cancelled.
Once again this isn't defending anything in those letters, they are terrible. Historical context does matter though when judging people.
Doesn't make these letter right, they are terrible and sad looking back. Still it speaks more to these coaches not wanting to rock the boat as opposed to deep seated racism, they were scared of recruiting consequences and if their team would rebel and didn't want to take the chance.
I have no problem with pointing out the flaws and truth of what these men did or said but I despise cancel culture and the intent here is to try to destroy all of the accomplishments of these men for what was basically ignorance. Once we go down that path realize that virtually anyone from prior to 1970 is going to be vilified and cancelled.
Once again this isn't defending anything in those letters, they are terrible. Historical context does matter though when judging people.
Posted on 8/31/21 at 2:06 pm to jiminAZ
quote:
Are you implying they were not good enough for the high standards of aTm then?
I'm implying that the racist standards across the military CONUS-wide during that time played a role.
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