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11 1 1111
II lll II
Black Athletes at The
University of Michigan
John Behee
Foreword by
Willis Ward


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11111 l
I11II 1111
III                IrI
by John Behee
Distributed by Ulrich's Books, Inc.
549 E. University,
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104




Copyright 1974 by John R. Behee.
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress catalog card No.:74-75995
Printed in United States of America by Swenk-Tuttle Press, Inc.,
Adrian, Michigan 49221




Contents
Chapter 1                  "SUPERSPADE"
Sport by sport analysis of how good you had to be to
play for Michigan, why certain sports were off-limits,
and how Michigan's experiences compared with other
schools.
Chapter 2         AT THE UNIVERSITY
BUT NOT OF IT
A look at life in the University's athletic, social, and
academic spheres, and the quest of the black lettermen
for employment upon graduation.
Chapter 3 BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION
Summarizing what can be learned from efforts by the
University and the Big Ten conference to promote
harmonious race relations in athletics.
Appendices
A Michigan's Black Lettermen, 1882-1972.
B Ratio of Blacks Among All Michigan Lettermen, 1890-1972.
C Ratio of Blacks Among Michigan Graduates, 1916-1972.
D Graduation Statistics For Michigan Lettermen, 1891-1970.
E Black All-Americans in Football, 1940-1970.
F Black All-Americans in Basketball, 1949-1970.
G Olympic Medals won by Black Track and Field Athletes from
The United States, 1904-1972.




Foreword


On a football Saturday in Michigan Stadium, each Wolverine
touchdown is immediately answered with the jubilant "Hail to the
Victors" played by the great Michigan band. In the narrowest sense,
the "Victors" are the uniformed players and their coaches who
determine events on the field of play, but in reality they are only the
central figures upon whom the aspirations of a vast family of
Michigan men and women rest that day. The "Victors" are the
countless who call Michigan their University and who thus share all
its triumphs and setbacks. The "Victors" referred to in the title of
this writing are that same family of Michigan men and women; the
central figures are black athletes who won varsity letters; and the
victory they share is the enormous progress made against racism at
the University, especially during the past decade.
This book is an in-depth study of racism and athletics at one Big
Ten university, Michigan, but it has meaning far beyond these
parochial boundaries. Much of the racism Michigan men experienced, during the first half of this centrury, as they worked, studied,
socialized, and competed for their school, was typical of the Midwest
and much of the nation outside of the " solid South.'" Several imaginative programs to eradicate the damnable plague of racism have been
undertaken by Michigan during the last half of this century and by the
Big Ten Conference, and there is reason for optimism. They are
examined in this writing in hope that others may profit by these
experiences.
This intriguing writing should have special appeal to the
Michigan family, the "Victors" already alluded to. It has meaning for
the similarly dedicated followers of other Big Ten schools. In fact, all
Americans who share the challenge of making this a greater country,
sensitive to the prayers, the labors, and the aspirations of all its
citizens, will profit from this unique research.
WILLIS F. WARD
June 22, 1973




Dedicated to... the memory of
Martin Luther King, Jr. He
gave his life. The least I can
do is give my energy.




Acknowledgements
I am indebted to Professor Bill San Giacomo of the Tri-State
College (Angola, Indiana) English Department and Mr. Paul Brown
of The University of Michigan Publications Office for editorial advice in preparing this manuscript.
The jacket design, showing Willis Ward sprinting to victory, and
layout of photographs are the work of Mr. Doug Hesseltine of the
University of Michigan Publications Office.
Partial, but generous, financial support for this study was extended by the University of Michigan School of Education Research
Committee through the efforts of Associate Dean for Research, Dr.
Rudolf Schmerl.
Dr. Guy Reiff, Director of the Graduate Program in Physical
Education at the University of Michigan was a constant source of
encouragement throughout the writing.
JOHN BEHEE
November 19, 1973




Preface


Because no major university has developed a history of its black
lettermen, it is not easy to make comparative assessments along an
historical timeline about the relationship of these college athletes to
their white coaches and teammates; about their social lives, academic
training, and employment following graduation. The University of
Michigan, with its liberal tradition and its national prominence, both
academically and athletically, was ideally suited for an in-depth, case
study. It would seem that if black athletes were to be treated without
regard to race at any major university in the Midwest, they would be
so treated at Michigan. The major purpose of this research was to
look at the experiences of black lettermen at this University, and to
compare Michigan to other schools whenever materials on black
athletes and on the civil rights movement would allow.
It was really quite by accident that this study was launched.
There was no reason to believe the blacks in those early years could
be identified. For three months I had been combing an immense
collection of yellowing correspondence called the University of
Michigan Athletic Papers. My purpose was to analyze the career of
the legendary Fielding " Hurry-Up" Yost, Michigan's football coach
(1901-23, 1925-26) and athletic director (1921-41). Then came the first
of several revealing letters. In it Andrew Baker, Yost's Secretary,
estimated that until 1930 only four blacks had earned the varsity
"M": Rudolph Ash on the 1923 baseball team, and three track men
DeHart Hubbard (1923-25), Eddie Tolan (1929), and Booker Brooks
(1929). Later research showed Baker's estimate was off a little, but it
was a valuable find. The small number indicated that identification of
all those "M" men was indeed possible.
No black ever played varsity football for Yost, but there was no
reason to expect his letters would explain why. Yet, a few weeks later
two of them proved very revealing. A young man named Clifford
Wilson (black) wanted to play football in 1928. Herbert E. Wilson
(white), an Indianapolis lawyer and active alumni supporter, took it
upon himself to help. Writing coach Elton "Tad" Wieman, Wilson
asked if a "colored man" could play football on the University team
explaining, "I know while I was in school, coach Yost would not
permit it." Wieman replied candidly and at length, documenting the
racism of his day, and showing almost total unawareness of its de



humanizing impact upon young black athletes. Wilson was not allowed to play for Michigan.
A few weeks later correspondence concerning DeHart Hubbard, the 1924 Olympic long jump champion, was discovered. Interestingly, it revealed Yost's genuine desire to see this athlete attend
Michigan. I wanted to know why he was so anxious to have a
trackman, but refused to have football players.
Another month of searching uncovered a very thorough description of the withholding of Willis Ward from the 1934 MichiganGeorgia Tech football game because he was black. Letters from the
NAACP and Yost's coaching colleagues, and a thorough account of
Ohio State University's agreement not to play blacks against Vanderbilt and Navy were scattered through several folders. They are
remarkable for their frank portrayal of the racism that permeated high
offices, from the commissioner of the Big Ten to the president of the
Ohio State University.
Later came evidence that blacks were barred from Big Ten
basketball by a "gentlemen's agreement" among the coaches, a ban
that lasted until 1948.
Discovery of this priceless historical evidence put the story of
Michigan's black lettermen within reach, and the task of identifying
all those men began. Fortunately, several active and retired Michigan
coaches, whose affiliation with University teams goes back to World
War I, were willing to assist with identifications. Scrapbooks and
sports pages documented the athletic achievements of the "M" men.
Transcripts told how many had graduated. University yearbooks
were checked to determine the ratio of blacks to the rest of the student
body. They revealed that the athletes were nearly the only blacks on
campus.
Believing the research was finished, I sat down to type the
manuscript. Frustration followed. The tables were lifeless. The work
needed a pulse that only the lettermen could provide. I set out to tape
interviews with all who had been the first to letter in a sport, several
captains, some all-Americans, and a sampling from each sport, taking
men from each decade. Twenty-four interviews were finally completed. They provided candid discussion of life as it was at Michigan,
athletically, academically, and socially from the recollections of
Michigan greats such as DeHart Hubbard, Willis Ward, Lowell
Perry, and Ron Johnson. Both tapes and transcriptions are located in
the Michigan Historical Collections at the Bentley Library on the
University's Ann Arbor campus.




In the spring of 1970, about six months before the interviews
were begun, black students at Michigan formed the Black Action
Movement (BAM) and produced a strike that virtually closed the
University for two weeks. They wanted a formal, financial commitment from the Regents that would increase the University's minority
enrollment from just over two per cent to ten per cent by the fall of
1973. They got the commitment. The NOW in BAM's demands
recalled the summer of 1963 when thousands of Americans of all
races had marched on Washington, D.C., to dramatize their indignation over racial injustice. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his
now-famous "I Have A Dream" speech, stressing the need for
immediate action:... America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which
has come back marked 'insufficient funds.' But we refuse to believe
that the bank ofjustice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are
insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So
we have come to cash this check - a check that will give us upon
demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have
also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce
urgency of NOW. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off
or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. NOW is the time to
rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path
of racial justice. NOW is the time to open the doors of opportunity to
ail of God's children. NOW is the time to lift our nation from the
quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood...
By word and deed Dr. King served as an inspiration for programs
of change, including BAM. Many universities have established scholarship funds in his name to help finance those programs and ultimately to foster understanding and brotherhood among all Americans. The University of Michigan has a Martin Luther King Jr. Fund.
The proceeds from this book wil' be donated to it.
JOHN BEHEE
Ann Arbor, 1973








CHAPTER 1




12  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


Old grads probably can name nearly every black who played for
the University of Michigan up to World War II. And why not; there
were only 12.
In contrast, from World War II through the fall of 1972, 159
lettered. Thus, of the approximately 8,000 men who have won varsity
letters representing Michigan (through the fall of 1972), 171 were
black.
At one time or another, in nearly every sport at Michigan, blacks
were either banned, restricted in number by an unwritten quota, or
expected to possess talent well above that required of white athletes.
In describing these practices it is helpful to examine each sport
separately. Until very recently a count of the black "M" men would
show over half of them lettered in one sport, track and field. Appropriately, the Michigan story begins with that sport.
TRACK
How good must a black athlete be to make the track team of a
major university prior to World War II? "Superspade" and "supernigger" were the terms used by Muhammed Ali to capture the essence of what was expected of blacks. They had to be sensational.
This was certainly true at Michigan where the feats of the first five
black lettermen in track, DeHart Hubbard, Eddie Tolan, Booker
Brooks, Willis Ward, and Bill Watson, were nearly incredible.
The 1913 and 1915 Michigan track teams had one secondary
letter winner, a recognition also accorded Walter Wickliffe, a high
jumper on the 1916 squad, but the first varsity letterman in track was
William DeHart Hubbard, - a sprinter, hurdler, and long jumper on
the 1923, '24; and '25 teams. He came to Michigan through a newspaper subscription contest and the ingenuity of a Michigan alumnus.
Hubbard was long jumping just inches short of the world's record and running the 100-yard dash under ten seconds at Walnut Hills
High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. A Michigan alumnus, Lon Barringer, made it his business to become fully aware of Hubbard's
athletic and academic records, even though he was living in Charleston, West Virginia.
I asked Hubbard how Barringer would know about Cincinnati
athletics. "Reading the Cincinnati newspapers," said Hubbard. "It
was not unusual for a West Virginia businessman to be reading a
major newspaper from a bordering state"' When Barringer learned
1 Interview, William DeHart Hubbard, September 26, 1970.




SUPERSPADE    13


that Hubbard had a solid four-year academic average of 90, he was
determined to land this great athlete for Michigan.
A check had to be made with his good friend and fellow West
Virginian, Fielding H. Yost. This iron-willed football coach had,
since 1901, prevented black athletes from playing football for
Michigan. Now, in 1921, he had just been appointed Director of
Athletics, and Barringer wanted to know if he would approve a black
athlete on Michigan's track team. Yost was willing to approve almost
anything to enhance the athletic glory of Michigan, especially since a
few universities were already using blacks to win in track and field,
and he could not stand to see them surpass Michigan. The alumni
could not object too strongly to one black, not when it looked like
Hubbard would be a world-beater. Yost enthusiastically endorsed
the idea and told Barringer to go ahead.
Barringer indeed had a plan:
The Cincinnati Enquirer was running a subscription contest.
The ten high-schoolers in the area who could enlist the greatest
number of new subscriptions would be awarded $3,000 college scholarships to attend the school of their choice. Today that would defray
the cost of one or perhaps two years of college, but in 1921 it was a
fabulous four-year award. Barringer interested Hubbard in the contest and vowed that if he'd attend Michigan every effort would be
made to help him win.
Nearly every Michigan alumnus in the United States got a letter
from Barringer on the subject. Many subscribed. Branch Rickey,
then owner of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, did. Alumni
from coast to coast did. The University of Michigan Library did.
Many people in Ann Arbor and Detroit did, to say nothing of the
Cincinnati boosters. In September, 1921, William DeHart Hubbard,
contest winner, enrolled at Michigan.
It would seem that an athlete with this combination of superb
athletic talent and good scholarship should have been besieged by
alumni and coaches of numerous colleges. Such was not the case.
Michigan faced little opposition.
"It wasn't very fashionable for blacks to attend college," explained DeHart. "Very few of my boyhood playmates and high
school chums went past high school. I was the only black on the
Michigan track team those four years, and rarely competed against
others, even in national meets. In the Big Ten, Iowa and Michigan
State had a few in either football or track. Only four of us made the




14  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


1924 Olympic team. My, how times have changed. Today you have to
be a world champion to get attention, but when I competed that
wasn't true. If you were black and on a college team you got a lot of
publicity." In Hubbard's senior year only eight of 1,456 students
graduating from Michigan were black.
Immediately living up to advance billing, Hubbard tied the University indoor 50-yard dash record and long jumped 24' 6 3/4" in
freshman competition. Edward Gourdin of Harvard held the world
record of 25' 3". Because freshmen were ineligible for varsity meets,
the only opportunity to test his mettle against the "big boys" came in
the national AAU meet in Newark, New Jersey. Both Gourdin and
Sol Butler, two of the best in the country, were there.
By winning the junior long jump (24' 3/2'") on Friday, Hubbard
qualified for senior competition and a shot at Gourdin and Butler the
following day. Leaping 24' 5~/2", he took the senior title and then made
it a double victory with 48' 1/2~" in the hop, step, and jump.
Spaulding's Guide named him to its all-American track team of 1922
as the most outstanding American in those two jumping events. Soon
the long jump pit at Michigan's Ferry Field would not hold Hubbard.
It was extended two feet from its former 25' length and widened
considerably.
Sophomore Hubbard set Big Ten marks in the 50-yard dash and
the long jump. His 25' 1/2~" was a bare 1/2~" short of Gourdin's world
record, but his greatest triumphs were yet to come.
A brilliant junior year brought Big Ten crowns in the 100-yard
dash (9.8 seconds) and the long jump 24' 10 3/4", and an opportunity to
make the U.S. Olympic team. The Midwest sectionals were held at
Ferry Field. DeHart took the long jump and was beaten in the
100-meters, finishing second. It was on to Harvard University to
determine the U.S. team. Wolverine track coach Steve Farrell said,
"Forget the 100-meters and concentrate on winning the long jump. If
you spread yourself too thin you might not win anything." The advice
was well-taken. Gourdin was again beaten, and the Michigan junior
became the United States' best hope for a medal in the long jump.
The boat ride to Paris afforded Hubbard a lot of time for contemplation. He, Earl Johnson, Ned Gourdin, and Charley West saw
themselves as representatives of the black people of America. They
hoped their performance might inspire black youth to achieve similar
goals and build racial pride.
The many acquaintances, the awesome Atlantic, the glamour of
Paris, and the aura of the Eighth Modem Olympiad made profound




SUPERSPADE    15


impressions on the 19-year old youngster from Cincinnati. But for
Hubbard, none of these could rival the excitement of winning a gold
medal. His chances were almost erased on his first jump. As he hit the
take-off board at top speed his front spikes touched the ground, just
beyond the board, for a foul. That was bad enough, but his heel was
severely bruised when it hit the sharp back edge of the board, exposed
by countless practice jumps.
Contestants were given three preliminary trials, and those with
the better marks received three final trials. On his second jump, the
high stakes making it easier to ignore the super-sensitive heel, Hubbard reached far enough out to make the finals. Later, still trailing in
the competition he started down the runway on his sixth and final
jump. In stride and gaining speed, he hit the take-off board well and
landed 24' 51/8" down the Continent, beyond the field of challengers,
and into the international limelight. In that moment William DeHart
Hubbard became the first black American to win a gold medal in an
individual Olympic event, and etched his name on the honor roll of
Michigan's greatest athletes of all time. Interestingly, Hubbard's
mark was not the best jump in the 1924 Olympics. In the pentathlon
Bob Lengendre of Georgetown astonished everyone with a jump of
25' 6 3/16", breaking Gourdin's world record.
With the distraction of all the fanfare accompanying his return, a
mediocre senior year would have come as no great surprise. Instead,
Hubbard flashed to victory in the sprints, hurdles, and long jump,
leading the 1925 Maize and Blue to Big Ten titles in both the indoor
and outdoor meets. During the course of the season he tied the
world's record in the 100-yard dash (9.6 seconds) against Ohio State
at Ferry Field, but he remembers most the 9.7 that won the Conference outdoor title:
"I get mad every time I think of that. It could have been 9.4 or 9.5.
I got off to a perfect start. Everything was perfect. About 70 yards
down the track there was nobody near me - I couldn't even hear
them. Normally you can hear them. So I said, 'Well, you'd better
slow down and save yourself for the finals.' John McKue, the AAU's
official starter, was working this meet. When I went back to the
starting line to collect my sweats he said, 'Turn around and let me
kick your behind. You should have gone on running and broken the
world record. I would have certified it.' I said, 'I'll get it the next trip
John.' In the finals I ran hard all the way - really going all out for the
record - and came up with another 9.7 seconds."
The world record most coveted by Hubbard, the long jump, had




16  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


been within reach even as a senior in high school. On ten occasions as
a collegian he surpassed 25 feet. It seemed only a matter of time
before it would fall. But for four years, like the carrot just beyond the
rabbit's reach, it constantly tantalized him. When Legendre broke it
in Paris he was doubly disappointed. He had unconsciously come to
regard it as his property. Just a little more hard work. A little luck. But
he never seemed able to put it all together. Now he was down to his
last chance, the NCAA championship at Chicago's Stagg Field, June
12-13, 1925.
Hubbard "warmed up" by winning the 100-yards in 9.8, equalling the NCAA record despite a rain-soaked track. It was to be his
day. The practice, the patience, the longing were to be rewarded.
Accelerating down the runway for the very last time in his collegiate
career, he exploded a leap of 25' 10 7/". Legendre's 25' 6 3/16"
"carrot" was in William DeHart Hubbard's hip pocket. He had
become the greatest long jumper in the world.
Yost and Barringer congratulated themselves for bringing this
rare athlete to Michigan. He had indeed been a wonderful asset. Only
four years would elapse before the experience was repeated. As a
matter of fact, there were two men: Thomas "Eddie" Tolan Jr. was a
sprinter in 1929, '30, and '31, and Booker Brooks lettered as a weight
man in 1929, '30, and '32. Both had read about Hubbard's gold medal
as eighth graders.
Tolan came to Michigan from Detroit's Cass Tech High School,
well-known for its high academic standards where he had won the
state and national interscholastic dash championships. At Michigan
the 5' 6", 130 pound speed merchant ran the 100- and 200-yard dashes
and anchored the 440- and the 880-yard relay teams. For two years
Ohio State's George Simpson beat him to the tape, but in his senior
year the Big Ten sprints belonged to Tolan. He won the 60-yard dash
indoors, tying the conference mark of 6.2, and the 100- (9.6) and the
220-yard (20.9) dashes outdoors.
After graduating in 1931, Tolan went to West Virginia State
College in Charleston for graduate work, to do some coaching, and to
keep in trim for the 1932 Olympics. The AAU's 1932 all-American
track and field team listed him as the top 220-yard dash man in the
country. He held the world's record of 9.5 for the 100-yards, although
Frank Wykoff of Southern California had a 9.4 pending.
The United States trials were in Palo Alto, not far from Los
Angeles where the 1932 Games were to be held. In both the 100- and
200-meter dashes Tolan was nipped by Ralph Metcalf of Marquette




SUPERSPADE    17


University. Willis Ward recalled standing at the finish line of both
races. "In both races," Ward recalled, "Tolan slackened near the
finish enabling Metcalf, the favorite, to win. Afterwards, when Eddie
and I were away from the other athletes he admitted letting Metcalf
win so as not to alert him on how ready he (Tolan) was. Tolan,
Metcalf, and George Simpson went on to represent their country in
the sprints in Los Angeles. "Tolan never beat either Simpson or
Metcalf in their practice sessions on starts and overs and unders in
the weeks between the trials and the finals," said Ward, "but I knew
he would win in the finals."
The United States hadn't won an Olympic gold medal in the
100-meters in 12 years, but that was to change. Though both Tolan
and Metcalf were late out of the blocks, they came from behind after
50 meters with remarkable bursts of speed finishing in a near dead
heat. The finish was so close that Metcalf was posted first as the
victor. After long debate, the official judges decided Tolan had
breasted the tape first by a shade. His time was 10.3 seconds, setting
new Olympic and world records.
In the 200-meters Tolan won by two yards over George Simpson. Metcalf got off to a poor start and was never able to make up the
lost ground, finishing third. Tolan's 21.2 seconds was an Olympic
record.
The September 1932 issue of Opportunity, a black periodical,
reported proudly:
In that dramatic moment when Eddie Tolan of the University of
Michigan and Ralph Metcalf of Milwaukee, two American Negroes,
fought shoulder to shoulder down the cindered lanes for victory in the
100-meter dash, seventy-five thousand of their countrymen forgot
their prejudices and leaped to their feet in a delirium ofjoy. It was one
of those occasions not uncommon in sports where admiration of
outstanding ability thwarts traditional racial attitudes. In this instance it was more than that; it was the spirit of an aroused national
consciousness submerging the consciousness of race...
In recognition of the honor brought to the State of Michigan in
Olympic competition, the Governor of Michigan proclaimed "Tolan
Day," thereby drawing attention of the people of the state to the
achievements of one of its citizens. The mayor of Atlanta paid a
similar tribute to Ralph Metcalf, a native of that city.
Two other Michigan men competed in the Olympic trials at Palo
Alto, senior Booker Brooks and freshman Willis Ward. Fate was not
as kind to them, but it was clear they could perform with the best in
the world.




18  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


Brooks had been the 1930 Big Ten discus champion (142' 6') and
finished second in the shot put (46' 6 3/8"). He repeated in the discus in
1932(148' 1/4"), and was second in the NCAA meet (153' 2"), qualifying for the final Olympic trials. He appeared in peak condition that
June, reaching 158' 4/2" in the Michigan AAU meet. This was three
feet beyond the existing Olympic record.
In the preliminaries, John Anderson of the New York Athletic
Club reached 165' 6", seven feet farther than the second-place man,
and that's the way the Olympic trials finished. Brooks and several
others were barely nosed out in the preliminary round, but Anderson
stood alone in the competition.
Ward was very optimistic, having made 6' 7 1/8" for first place in
the high jump at the NCAA meet. As a freshman he was not eligible
to win points for Michigan, but he qualified for the Olympic trials. At
Palo Alto three men tied for first, clearing 6' 6 5/8". Ward and three
others tied for fourth failing to make the U.S. team at 6' 55/" - still,
not bad for a yearling.
It had taken a federal judge and some hard in-fighting by football
coach Harry Kipke to get Ward into athletics at the University. There
were no academic problems. He was an A student and graduated near
the top of his class at Detroit's Northwestern High School. It certainly was not a question of borderline athletic ability; he was sensational. As a 15-year old freshman at Northwestern he had won the
city high jump title and placed second in the nationals. He went on to
set state records in the low and high hurdles, and the world interscholastic record in the high jump. The world record was set in his
junior year and re-set his senior year. In football he was an all-city end
for two years and an unanimous all-state selection in his senior year.
The problem was that he wanted to play football, and no black had
been permitted to do that at Michigan since 1892. Athletic Director
Fielding Yost, southern in his background and attitudes, was determined to keep it that way.
The word got out that Ward was going either to Dartmouth or
Northwestern University because of Michigan's rule against black
football players. Circuit court judge Guy Miller discussed the matter
with James Murfin, a regent of the University, and Fred Matthai who
was president of the University of Michigan Club in Detroit. They
decided that overtures should be made to see if Ward would consider
Michigan.




SUPERSPADE    19


"My first meeting with Judge Miller was in his chambers down at
the old circuit court building," recalled Ward:2
"I was introduced to him by his clerk who was the only black
clerk on the whole circuit. The black clerk was the one who gave
Judge Miller the lowdown on why I wasn't going to Michigan. I went
to see the judge out of a feeling of sympathy for the clerk, for whom it
was important to be able to get me to see Judge Miller. Once he
learned that my information was that Michigan and Yost did not want
black football players, Judge Miller said, 'Well, will you help us break
this rule?' I agreed to do so."
Harry Kipke, Michigan's football coach, was asked if he would
play a black. He said, "You're darn right I'll take that kid." He had
played with blacks in high school in Lansing, and played center field
on Michigan's baseball team beside Rudolph Ash. Kipke visited
Ward's home and impressed Willis' father. He assured him he could
be sure his boy would be happy if he came to Michigan.
There was immediate conflict between Kipke, on the one hand,
and Yost and his supporters (both alumni and coaches) on the other.
They wanted to know why Michigan needed a black player. They had
been successful without them. Ward heard from reliable sources
that... "on several occasions Kipke took his coat off and was prepared to fight with those who bitterly opposed having a Negro play for
Michigan."
With the support of Murfin, Matthai, and Miller, Willis Ward
enrolled at Michigan to play football for Harry Kipke. He remembers
going down to the field house to be assigned a locker. He was met by
Bob Miller, captain of the Michigan swimming team, and the son of
Judge Guy Miller. He said, "I'm Bob Miller. My father told me you
were coming, and if you have any problems, let me know."
Ivan Williamson, who was captain of the 1932 football team,
came over and said, "Welcome to the Michigan team. Any time I can
help you, let me know. If you have any problems with anybody, let
me know because we're prepared to take care of them."
There were other examples of this same thing. Apparently Kipke
had gone to certain players, the ones who felt it was the right thing to
do, and asked them to make certain Ward did not feel alone.
Ward needed a part-time job, as did most athletes, but there was
little employment for black students in Ann Arbor. Some had worked


2 Interview, Willis Ward, September 19, 1970




20 HAIL TO THE VICTORS


as porters or waiters in fraternities, but there were few jobs. Kipke
found one for Ward, washing dishes at the Parrot Cafe. Ward remembers it well:
"The cook happened to be a black man and, because I was going
to be a football player and he loved me, he fed me better than he fed
anybody. I ate real well for about a month. Because it was known that
I was a kid from Northwestern who was a world-beater, when I
would go in the kids would speak to me. The owner thought this was
out of step with the times, so he told the chap who was managing it to
tell me to use the back door."
That afternoon Ward went out to football practice and told
Kipke. "The next day he got me ajob washing dishes at the Michigan
Union," said Ward. "I was the first black kid to wash dishes at the
Union."
Ward had good reason to boast of being the first to wash dishes at
the Union. This kind of work was customarily given to the top players
who needed jobs, but it was unusual to see blacks anywhere in the
Union. "As a matter of fact," said Ward, "a fraternity brother, H. B.
Evans, who was a Phi Beta Kappa at The University of Michigan in
1912, said that when he was in school black students could not even
go into the Michigan Union."
In a very short time Ward became the idol of track crowds. As a
sophomore, he won the Conference indoor title in the high jump (6'
4") and finished second in the 60-yard dash. In the outdoor meet two
months later he scored infour events, winning the 100-yard dash (9.6)
and the high jump (6' 2 3/4"), and finishing second in the long jump and
the 120-yard high hurdles. In his junior year the Wolverines rode to
the indoor title largely on Ward's 6' 2" 190-pound frame. He scored 15
points as Michigan nosed out Illinois 37/2 to 332/5. Victories came in
the 70-yard high hurdles (8.8), high jump (6' 27/'), and 60-yard dash
(6.2) - the last tied the Big Ten record. The University of Chicago
was the site of this twenty-fourth Western Conference indoor track
championship. A blare of trumpets introduced the captains of the ten
teams precisely at 8 o'clock, and Ward proceeded with a magnificent
display of versatility. A semi-final heat in the dash was his first
assignment. As he started to don his sweat suit after winning that
race, he was notified that the high jump was starting. He cleared the
bar at the starting height without difficulty, but had to hurry to the
mark for a semi-final heat in the hurdles. And so it went. After
winning the high hurdles, dash, and high jump, Ward attempted a new
Conference record in the latter. He leaped 6' 5 78" on his third




SUPERSPADE   21


complete try, but the judges ruled that a previous approach to the
standards, during which he slipped, was a try and so the successful
jump was a fourth attempt and did not constitute a new record.
At the Butler Relays in Indianapolis two weeks later Ward
contributed 13 of the 18 /4 points that won the team championship for
Michigan. Hobbled by a leg injury, he turned in sub-standard performances in the conference outdoor meet placing fifth in the 100-yard
dash, tying for fourth in the high jump at 6' 0", and winning the long
jump at 23' 2/4".
Except for victories over Jesse Owens in the Michigan-Ohio
State indoor dual meet, Willis Ward's senior year accomplishments
fell far short of predictions. It wasn't senioritis. His motivation was
dealt a serious blow when he was barred from the Georgia Tech game
the previous fall because of race. That story follows, but it is worth
noting that he did beat Jesse Owens. The first meeting with Owens
came in Yost Field House, March 2, 1935, as Ward ended his indoor
competition at home. Michigan overwhelmed Ohio State 63-32 with
Ward leading the onslaught by personally accounting for two new
Yost Field House records. The world record for the 60-yard dash was
tied as Ward beat Owens to the finish in 6.2 seconds. Ward's own
65-yard high hurdles mark was broken with his 8.0 victory, in which
Owens finished third. The sophomore Buckeye sensation was given
the nod in an almost dead heat with Ward in the 65-yard low hurdles.
Owens turned the tables one week later at the University of
Chicago Field House where Michigan successfully defended its Big
Ten indoor championship. Blasting out of the blocks he sped through
the 60-yard dash in 6.1, a new record. Michigan's Sam Stoller and
Willis Ward trailed. Ward's only other points came with a fifth in the
70-yard high hurdles.
Injured running the hurdles in the Penn Relays, Ward saw no
action from April 27 to the Big Ten outdoor meet May 24-25, 1935.
Jesse Owens electrified the country that day with four world record
performances at Ferry Field. He tied the 100-yard dash mark and set
three new standards in the 220-yard dash (20.3), the 220-yard low
hurdles (22.6), and the longjump (26' 8/2"). Ward was officially on the
injured list that day, and was kept out of 100 and failed to qualify in the
high hurdles. He tied for first in the high jump (6' 35/8"), and, by
changing his approach so as to leap from his uninjured leg, Ward long
jumped 25' 1~2", finishing second to Owens. This contribution of
eight points, and similar courageous performances by teammates,
enabled Michigan to prevail 48-43/2 over Owens and the Buckeyes.




22  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


Remembering his senior year Ward said practice had become
drudgery. Except for the competition against Owens he just wanted
to finish the season and graduate after the humiliation of being withheld from the football game against Georgia Tech that fall. He was an
end on two Big Ten and National championship teams, the 1932 and
1933 elevens, and was given honorable mention on the Associated
Press all-America for 1933.
The Wolverines suffered a dismal 1-7-0 record in 1934, but Ward
was named second team all-Big Ten. The lone Michigan victory came
against Georgia Tech in a game played in Ann Arbor from which
Ward was barred to appease the southern school.
Yost had become a good friend of W.A. Alexander, the football
coach at Georgia Tech. Potential racial complications had been discussed well in advance of the playing date and Dan McGugin, Yost's
brother-in-law and the Vanderbilt football coach, wrote in December, 1933 saying:
"We had a meeting of conference coaches at New Orleans last
Friday and a group of us were in the room and someone asked
Alexander, in a rather joking way, what he was going to do about the
detail. Alexander said Michigan would not play a colored man against
Georgia Tech; that this had never been done by the Northern teams
with Southern teams and he was sure it would not be done."3
McGugin talked with Professor Armstrong, Athletic Director at
Georgia Tech, that evening and concluded, "I am sure they would
not want to play the game if Ward were to take part." Assuring Yost
this was to be expected of the Southern teams McGugin offered the
recent example of his Vanderbilt team:
"Ohio (State) wrote me two years ago about the same thing and I
talked with the Board about it and the Board was horrified and was
absolutely unwilling to play the game under that condition. I rather
had it in mind not to make any particular point on it as we were going
to their field, etc. but, of course, could not do otherwise and
Ohio did not play the man. Ohio told me when they scheduled games
with the Navy that the Navy had asked that a colored man not play at
Annapolis but that they did not ask for that agreement at Columbus."
McGugin counseled that, "if you would be embarrassed by not
playing him seriously then I believe Tech would quietly prefer to
3 Letter, McGugin to Yost, December 12, 1933, Carton 18. University of Michigan Athletic
Papers. (It is housed in the Michigan Historical Collections Library on the University campus;
further references to it are abbreviated UMAP.)




SUPERSPADE    23


withdraw from the game and maybe the report could be given out that
there was a mistake of some kind about the date."
The Board in Control of Athletics at Michigan had a long discussion one month later in reference to the Georgia Tech game and how
the race problem might enter into it, but no action was taken.4
Perhaps they believed that Yost, who would be traveling to Atlanta in
February for the Football Rules Committee meetings, would be able
to work something out with Armstrong. Perhaps Yost simply convinced them holding Ward out was the only possible answer.
In May, McGugin was still reminding Yost it would not be
possible for Michigan to play Ward:
"Am enclosing a note from Mr. Armstrong of Georgia Tech. I
don't believe you can afford to use colored players as it has never
been done in the case of games with teams from this section."5
During the summer Ward learned that he would not get to play
against Tech. He hung his head in disgust. How could such action be
justified in the light of the honor his athletic achievements had already
brought Michigan?
His friends badgered him with questions; what was he going to
do; was he going to bow to those racists; whose side was he on? He
told them he would quit Michigan football, and he wrote coach Harry
Kipke to that effect. Friends were delighted and began collecting
whatever money they could to help finance his senior year. There
would be no stooping to the white man. Coach Kipke was soon in
Detroit explaining that Tech absolutely would not play against a
black, and Michigan could not cancel the game. Ward was then
reminded of the great battle waged by Kipke, Murfin, and Miller to
get him into a Michigan football uniform. Added to this were the
many problems precipitated by race that Kipke had helped shoulder
the previous three years. He would never do it for another black if
Ward pulled out. Chin tucked into chest, Ward resigned to the wishes
of his coach.
Roy Wilkins, Assistant Secretary of the NAACP, wrote to
Kipke asking if it were true that he had agreed with Georgia Tech not
to play Ward. Receiving no reply he wrote again, saying a serious
moral question was involved. "What about the feelings of Negro
athletes who have carried the name and fame of the University of
4 Letter, Yost to Ralph Aigler, January 30, 1934, Carton 9, UMAP.
5 Letter, McGugin to Yost, May 2, 1934, Carton 9, UMAP.




24  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


Michigan to the ends of the earth with Olympic victories."6 Kipke
had been instructed to ignore all such inquiries.
Francis M. Dent, a Detroit lawyer, knew that Ralph Aigler, a law
professor at Michigan, was an influential member of the Board in
Control of Athletics. Upon requesting a direct answer to whether
Michigan was going to withhold Ward from the games, he received a
very vague reply suggesting that matters of etiquette and courtesy
were involved.
"This may seem to be a matter of etiquette and courtesy to the
Board in Control of Physical Education," Dent replied, "but when
we take into consideration that Mr. Lett, another colored athlete in
the University of Michigan, was not allowed to play on the basketball
team because of his color, the whole matter takes a different aspect.
Some four or five years ago the responsible officials of the University
attempted to open a separate dormitory for the colored girl students at
the University of Michigan. The Honorable Fred W. Green, who
was Governor of Michigan at the time, ordered the matter stopped
immediately and it was stopped. It would seem that someone connected with the University never ceases in their efforts to create
discrimination and segregation therein which, as I said in my previous
letter, is a direct violation of Act number 328, Public Acts of
1931..."7
Aigler answered that participation in intercollegiate athletics
was not a matter of right or duty but of privilege. He also stated that,
as a well-bred host, Michigan should take the feelings of Georgia
Tech into consideration.
"You might have also referred to well-bred guests," Dent suggested. "I am quite sure that nobody considers Harvard and
Washington and Jefferson universities and Dartmouth College illbred because they had sufficient courage to refuse to allow petty
intolerance to interfere with high traditions and principles of their
respective schools."
Joseph H. B. Evans, a 1912 Michigan graduate, also wrote to
Aigler and sent a copy of the letter to President Ruthven. To Aigler's
statement that athletic participation was a privilege Evans answered,
"As I look back on the days when I attended every Mass Meeting, I
6 Letter, Wilkins to Kipke, October 11, 1934, Ruthven Papers, Box 14, folder labled "Board in
Control of Athletics," Michigan Historical Collections in the Bentley Library, University of
Michigan.
Letter, Dent to Aigler, October 11, 1934, Ruthven Papers, Box 14, Board in Control of
Athletics" folder.




SUPERSPADE    25


can easily recall the words of various speakers who challenged and
reminded the players that these were times when they must not shirk
their DUTY to dear old Michigan. In theory, participation is a matter
of privilege and one who has met every requirement to obtain this
privilege has a Right to be accorded the same consideration as his
fellow players.
Aigler had stated his belief that, "the home institution and team
are in a very real sense hosts to the visiting team. Accordingly, the
customary courtesies which well-bred hosts are expected to display
toward their guests are to be normally anticipated in the relationships
between college and athletic teams."
Evans countered with an analogy, "Let's say that I invite guests
to come to my home and be a part of the family circle but I find that the
guest has an antipathy for my two fine Spitz dogs whose presence
adds greatly to our family's enjoyment and pleasure. He still objects
to the dogs no matter how gentle and well-bred they may be. Will I put
my dogs outside to cater to the feelings of my guest? Most certainly
yes. But now suppose that same guest insists that the presence of my
daughter, who to me represents one who had held high the family
name and traditions, is distasteful to him. Shall I then give way to this
whim and banish my daughter from the family hearth during his stay?
If I did I should not be worthy of the name of father and my relatives
and friends would be right in branding such action as comtemptible.
There is a distinct difference in the treatment of my daughter as
opposed to the treatment of my dogs."
In Evans' mind Michigan was putting a favored son, Willis
Ward, on the back porch while the guests enjoyed their visit.8 A
number of University students apparently shared this sentiment and
began organizing to show their opposition.
A sit-down in the middle of the football field during the game was
rumored. Yost became concerned and hired a Pinkerton detective to
identify the leaders and report on the proceedings of their big rally the
day before the Tech game.9 To this same rally he dispatched a
number of students whose job it was to create disorder and thwart any
chance this group might have to organize a sit-down.10 This man8 Letter, Evans to Aigler, October 17, 1934. Ruthven Papers, Box 14, "Board in Control of
Athletics" folder.
9 Letter, W. H. Shoemack, Superintendent, Pinkerton's National DetectiveAgency, Inc., to Yost,
October 27, 1934, Carton 9, UMAP.
10 Interview, Ira Smith, former Registrar of the University andformer member of the Board in
Control of Athletics, July 25, 1969.




26  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


euver proved successful, and no protest occurred in the Michigan
Stadium that October 20th as the Wolverines won their only game of
the 1934 campaign, 9-2.
Ward spent the game at the fraternity house, having been refused
permission to watch from the bench or the press box.
The news media severly criticized Michigan. An editorial in the
Scholastic Coach magazine was sent to the Board in Control of
Athletics asking for any corrections that should be made before
printing. It discussed the question of whether the United States ought
to participate in the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany if Germany
were to discriminate against Jews in the selection of their team.
Turning to the Michigan-Georgia Tech game it said:
Willis Ward, a Negro, Michigan's regular right end, was kept on the
sidelines. No explanation for this action was forthcoming from anyone officially connected with the Michigan coaching and athletic
staff. No official statement was made by the Michigan Board in
Control of Athletics. Time, The Weekly Newsmagazine, said, 'Athletic authorities insisted that he (Willis Ward) should not play because
1) it would be discourteous to Georgia Tech; 2) he might be injured.'
There was no authority for the rumor that Georgia Tech had requested Michigan not use Willis Ward. But there was no doubt that
Georgia Tech appreciated Michigan's gesture, because as a reciprocal gesture Georgia Tech kept her star end, Gibson, out of the
game... The Michigan Daily said editorially after the game,
Michigan's 'principles are incomparable with the South's position on
racial differences. Let Michigan of the future play with those who are
of her own eminently worthwhile type."'
Michigan's president, Dr. Alexander Ruthven, felt that the
Board in Control should have foreseen the difficulty and was in error
in scheduling the game, but he did not want to contravene the board's
authority.1 2 As it became a cause celebre on campus and in the press,
Ruthven told a confidant, "My life is being made miserable by
arguments with the colored brethern... I wish now that I had taken
the Ward matter into my own hands."13
Yost was also embarrassed and wrote coach Alexander of Tech
following the game, "I never dreamed there would be so much
agitation about the matter. The agitation was developed by a commitII Editorial in Scholastic Coach, December, 1934, a copy of which was sent to the University of
Michigan's Board in Control of Athletics, November, 1934 folder, Carton 9, UMAP.
12 Letter, Ruthven to H. Richard Frank, October 31, 1934, Ruthven Papers, Box 14, MHC.
13 Letter, Ruthven to Shirley Smith, October 12, 1934, Ruthven Papers. Box 16, MHC.




SUPERSPADE    27


tee of five Jewish sophomore students, four of them from New York
City and vicinity and one from Michigan. They did it in the name of
'The United Front Committee on Ward."14
The Commissioner of the Big Ten, John L. Griffith, sympathized with Yost: "You were telling me up at Minneapolis about the
radical students organization that stirred up the rumpus about Ward
in the Georgia Tech game. Can you without too much trouble advise
me whether or not there are any other liberal clubs in Michigan?"15
He apparently wanted to be forewarned in order to stifle any
similar actions on Big Ten campuses.
Michigan's action was not disclaimed by all alumni. One in
particular, Woolsey Hunt, revealed his feelings about interracial
competition in a letter to President Ruthven that spring. His son was
pictured finishing third behind two blacks, and he spoke of "extreme
repugnance in seeing black competing with white."
Ruthven replied that he did not find such competition objectionable because, "after all, there will have to be a certain amount of
association between the races when the boys are through college."16
Michigan was following a well-established precedent in withholding Ward. Dan McGugin had revealed this in recalling that Ohio
State had acceded to Vanderbilt demands not to play black football
players in their contest. As a matter of fact, even President George
W. Rightmire of Ohio State had concurred in the agreement to withhold William Bell in deference to the Navy when the 1930 Buckeye
team traveled to Baltimore. L. W. St. John, the Ohio State director of
athletics, supplied Fielding Yost with all the details. "Nothing was
said in advance of the Vanderbilt game... Some time ahead of our
game, I had personally talked with Dan McGugin and told Dan not to
be disturbed, that we would not play Bell against him. We handled it
in such a manner here that the fact that Bell was not put in the game
was more or less a surprise to everyone.
"For the Navy game at Baltimore that year, we were not able
to escape quite so smoothly..."17
St. John explained that plans to hold Bell out of the Navy game
14 Letter, Yost to W. A. Alexander, December 5, 1934, Carton 9, UMAP.
15 Letter, Griffith to Yost, November 27, 1934, Carton 9, UMAP.
16 Peter E. Van de Water, "Peace Maker: President Alexander Ruthven of Michigan and His
Relationship to His Faculty, Students, and Regents," Unpublished dissertation, University of
Michigan, 1970, p. 80. The letters quoted were Woolsey W. Hunt to Ruthven, March 4, 1935, and
Ruthven's reply March 13th.
17 Letter, L. W. St. John to Yost, October 4, 1934, Carton 9, UMAP.




28  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


reached Walter White, Secretary of the NAACP, in New York City.
White sent the following telegram to President Rightmire:
Report has been made to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that although after playing in a game last
Saturday against Wisconsin he is in good condition William Bell star
tackle of The Ohio State University football team is not to be permitted to play in the game on November eighth between Ohio State
University and the Navy. STOP. We are informed that in order to
prevent charge of race prejudice Bell is being sent to scout University
of Pittsburg team. STOP. We are loathe to believe that Ohio State
University would yield to racial prejudice in this fashion and violate
canons of good sportsmanship. STOP. National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People respectfully request statement from
you as to accuracy of reports made to it.'8
Rightmire's immediate reply was that he had never heard of the
NAACP. Before he answered any question of the University's good
sportsmanship, he wanted to know who had made the charges, what
was the nature of this NAACP organization, and how it became
interested in this subject. Upon receiving this information from
White, he concluded the correspondence with the following brief
telegram:
Since receiving your telegram I have obtained information relating to
your inquiry. William Bell will not play in the Navy game. The
Universitiy is endeavoring to protect him from unpleasant experience
of probable race discrimination manifested in a southern city.
The President had apparently become convinced that some kind
of racial demonstration would take place. He sent copies of the
telegraphic correspondence with White to St. John instructing him:
"Nothing more need be said, or should be said, by any University
functionary. I am suggesting that Professor Willaman talk as quickly
as possible with Mr. Bell about this whole matter and acquaint him
with the telegraphic correspondence before the matter is taken up, as
it may be, with Mr. Bell by Mr. White. I believe this early conversation between Mr. Bell and Professor Willaman to be very important,
because, as I understand it, Mr. Bell agrees that it is best that he does
not make the trip to Baltimore because of the conditions which he
understands he would probably meet there."
In yet another illustration of this same action, the Detroit Daily


18 Telegram, Walter White to President Rightmire, November 3, 1930. This and other quoted
correspondence on this issue located in October 1934folder, Carton 9, UMAP.




SUPERSPADE   29


for October 24, 1929 carried this story under the title, "N.Y.U.
Negro Star Out of Georgia Game:"
Head Football Coach Chick Meehan of New York University last
night ended the controversy over the question of using Dave Myers,
N.Y.U.'s Negro quarterback, in the intersectional game between
New York and the University of Georgia, November 9th, with the
announcement that Myers would not play.
'There will be no unpleasantness in the Georgia game, as we did not
intend to play Myers when we scheduled the game and he is not going
to play' Meehan said.
What effect would such racism have on the athlete? I asked Ward
what his feelings were.
"It was not the fact that I was not made captain of either the
football or track team that destroyed my will," he recalled. "It was
the fact that I couldn't play in the Georgia Tech game. That all of a
sudden, the practice that you just did because it was the thing to do to
be good - a tremendous amount of burnt up energy - all of a sudden
becomes drudgery. My desire to work was substantially affected. I
went through the motions, both in football and track, excepting the
time I ran Jesse Owens and beat him. I got motivated and beat him
twice, but Jesse beat me the next two times out. Aside from those rare
instances, I really would have preferred to quit. I was going to get my
education. Henry Ford wanted me to come down and work for
him."19
When the track season ended, Ward competed in the NCAA
decathlon and then hung up his spikes for good. I asked why he didn't
compete in the 1936 Olympic trials.
"They were urging me to go out in '36," he said. "I could have
won the high jump - I'll always believe I could have won the high
jump. I could have won the hurdles. I could have won the decathlon.
One of the reasons they were urging me was because the Germans
had a very good decathlon man. They thought he was going to win.
Our boy won it. Morris won it, but they didn't know he was that good.
But that Georgia Tech game killed me. I frankly felt they would not
let the black athletes compete. Having gone through the Tech experience it seemed an easy thing for them to say, 'Well, wejust won't run
'em if Hitler insists.' But it didn't happen that way. They ran the
blacks but didn't run the Jews."
19 Henry Ford was so impressed with Willis Ward that he actually took him under his wing. He
promised to make Willis a wealthy man. Ward stayed with the Ford Company several years, having
his law degree financed by Ford and apparently doing quite well in the company's employ.




30  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


"I still claim morally that I was absolutely right. It was just as
bad as if they'd done it to the blacks, to me, what they did to the Jews.
I've never regretted not having competed in the Olympics."
"All through the protest that's taking such a violent form today,
although I abhor the destructiveness, I can understand the young kid
with his African hair styles and all of this - his belligerence, his
hostility. It's the destructive part that throws me. But as far as the
protest and all, I could not criticize those kids, because I know what
the hurt was. Now I say I was protesting and those in the know knew
why. Coach Ken Dougherty wanted me to go out with him in the
decathlon. He was a decathlon man himself, and wanted the distinction of coaching the guy who would win it. But I wouldn't. I
wouldn't. That Georgia Tech game knocked me right square in the
gut. It was wrong. It will always be wrong, and it killed my desire to
excel."
The 1934 Georgia Tech game left a lot of people embarrassed,
bitter, and resolved that it should not happen again. As a result,
Michigan did not play another southern team for nineteen years. It
was almost as bad for the black football players; it was seven years
before another played for Michigan.
Michigan's fifth track and field letterman, Bill Watson (1937, '38,
and '39) puts a huge exclamation point to the statement, "You had to
be 'superspade!' " A Saginaw, Michigan product, Watson is regarded by many observers of Wolverine athletic history as the
school's greatest athlete ever. Big, strong, and fast, he could long
jump 25', high jump 6' 5", and throw the shot nearly 55' and the discus
over 160'. He was a three-time Big Ten outdoor champion in three
events and a three-time winner in the indoor shot, twice, setting new
records. He also did well in NCCA meets. From a fourth in the shot
put as a sophomore, he improved to place in three events the next
year - third in the shot put, fourth in the discus, and second in the
long jump. As a senior, Watson scored twenty points tying for individual scoring honors in the meet with second in the shot, second in
the discus, and fourth in the long jump. One year later, with little or no
training, he won the national AAU decathlon crown scoring 7,523
points. In 1970 he still ranked in the top 50 United States performers
of all time with a score of 7,102 (the 7,523 re-scored on the most
current decathlon tables comes out to 7,102). The way track and field
records often disappear before the ink is dry, this is truly a remarkable
testimony to a remarkable athlete.




SUPERSPADE    31


Bill Watson would surely have been a strong contender for the
Olympic decathlon title had World War II not forced cancellation of
the 1940 and 1944 Games. He was no three or four-sport letterman.
Blacks couldn't be in those days. But judging by his performance in
the only major sport in which he was really free to compete, Watson
just may be the greatest of all Michigan athletes.
The "superspade" syndrome continued through 1950 ending
with Charles Fonville (1946, '47, 48, and '50), the first man in the
world to put the shot 58'. Through the 1950s there were several steady
performers, but there was no Ward or Watson. This meant that more
black athletes were being accepted into Michigan track. Hundreds of
whites who were not world-beaters had lettered, but not until the
1950s was this true for their black counterparts.
I asked Fonville why it was so much easier for black athletes to
compete in track and field than in other sports. "It is very difficult to
maintain an effective bias, except when selecting members of the
team where the competition is close," he said. "When the gun goes
off, all the things people can use to discriminate with are virtually
shorn away. The clock and measuring tape let you know how you
stand in relation to teammates and opponents, without regard to the
subjective judgement of a coach or meet official.",20 Then he recalled
playing football in high school. The coach did not want to start him,
but when the chips were down he would send Fonville in to pick up a
vital first down. "I've seen this happen to many black football
players," said Fonville.
After track coach Ken Dougherty saw him compete at Detroit's
Miller High School and encouraged him to come to Michigan, Fonville talked to Ward and Watson.,They made it clear to him that life
would be immeasurably simpler if he were to forget football and
basketball. He did. Neither the football or basketball coach, of
course, expressed an interest in having him try out.
FOOTBALL
Only six black athletes lettered in football at Michigan through
1949. In contrast, 69 lettered from 1950 through 1972. As with track
and field there was a long period when only the most outstanding men
could play.
The first to make Michigan's varsity was George H. Jewett Sr.
An Ann Arbor High School star (football co-captain and captain


20 Interview, Charles Fonville, September 18, 1970.




32  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


of the track team), he became the Wolverines' most dangerous halfback as a freshman in 1890. After laying out of school a year, he
returned to spark the 1892 team, and to face the occasional overt
racism of some fans.
"Kill the coon! Kill the coon!" chanted the blood-thirsty Purdue
crowd when Michigan squared off against the Boilermakers that
season. The chant continued until early in the first half when the
officials unscrambled a heap of players. Jewett was found underneath, flat on his face, unconscious. As his limp body was carried off
the field the Purdue rooters stood and cheered wildly.21 In those days
teams deliberately sought to cripple key opposing players and the
officiating, like the rules, was rather loose in discipline. Purdue won,
24-0.
Just five days after this defeat Michigan was beaten by Northwestern 10-8 in Chicago. Michigan's student newspaper, the Daily,
called Jewett's running the feature of the game, "he is a brilliant
player who stands punishment with indifference."22 This accolade
was prompted by a second half play when Jewett swept end for a nice
gain. As he was tackled several Northwestern men piled on, leaving
Jewett when it was all over with a badly bruised face.
"The crowd was indignant," reported the Daily, "and requested
Jewett to name the man who had maltreated him, but this he refused
to do..." After sitting out for several minutes the battered sophomore returned to the game and was heartily cheered.
As a sophomore, Jewett began learning how the game was
played. Having had his fill of the conduct of Maroon lineman William
Rapp in the Chicago game, Jewett came up from the ground and
smashed the Chicago player a tremendous blow in the nose and was
then ushered off the field by the referee.
In the season finale against Cornell, Jewett swept end on a
reverse that fooled the opposition and made a 25 yard gain. After the
tackle, a player named Witherbee came in on the gallop and dropped
hard on Jewett's head. Jewett sprang to his feet, smashed Witherbee
on the nose, and was ruled off the field by the referee.23
It would be inaccurate to say these conflicts were totally motivated by race. Violence was woven into the fabric of intercollegiate
football. These incidents soon became nothing more than fond
21 George Ade, "Football at Purdue In the Early Years," in Allison Danzig's, Oh How They
Played the Game, N.Y.: The MacMillan Co. 1971, p. 89.
22 Michigan Daily, October 31, 1892.
23 Michigan Daily, November 28, 1892.




SUPERSPADE    33


memories of the good old days. In the spring of 1907 William Rapp
would come to Ann Arbor accompanying his wife, a world-famous
contralto, on a concert tour. During the performance Rapp and his
old football adversary George Jewett sat in an ante room - having
the time of their lives recalling their football battles.
The ill-feeling between Jewett and the Northwestern team was
even more fleeting. He transfered to the Evanston campus and won
varsity letters on the 1893 and 1894 Wildcat teams.
Brief intervals of coaching at Michigan State Normal and Olivet
colleges followed; then he opened the Jewett Cleaning and Pressing
Shop in Ann Arbor. A lot of pants and shirts would make their way
through the shop before another black lettered in football at
Michigan. In fact, had Jewett come along just a few years later it is
conceivable he would never have played college football. At some
time in the mid-'90s many of the "doors" opened by the Civil War
were slammed shut to blacks. One manifestation of this national
pattern was their exclusion from college football and professional
baseball. Since basketball didn't gain popularity in colleges until the
early 1900s, blacks were automatically excluded from that sport when
it did become established.
At Michigan, the hiring of Fielding Yost as football coach in 1901
ended whatever chance black athletes might have had in football.
Yost, the son of a Confederate soldier, had lived the first 50 years of
his life in the South. He would successfully exclude black athletes
from Michigan football until Willis Ward in 1932.
A few men prior to Ward had tried to make the team. One case,
that of Clifford Wilson, is interesting for its portryal of the tortured
logic coaches used to deny any guilt of racial prejudice.
Herbert W. Wilson, a white lawyer from Indianapolis and an
active Michigan alumnus, became interested in assisting a young
black student, Clifford Wilson, in his effort to play football for the
Wolverines. Clifford was already in the program but was apparently
having academic problems and would have to enroll for the summer
session to become eligible for the 1928 season. Herbert Wilson asked
Coach Tad Wieman if a "colored man" could play on the Michigan
team explaining, "I know while I was in school Coach Yost would
not permit it."24
Wieman replied that he "had quite a talk with Wilson two or


24 Letter, Wilson to Wieman, April 25, 1928, Carton 5, UMAP. Yost coached 25 Michigan
football teams, 1901-24 and 1925-26.




34  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


three weeks ago relative to the problem you suggest,"25 and it was
explained to him that, "there were certain complications that would
be difficult for all with a colored man on the squad: that because of
this I did not think it advisable for a colored man to be on the squad
unless he was good enough to play a good part of the time. In other
words, unless he were a regular or near regular, the handicaps to the
squad would be greater that the advantages to say nothing of the
difficulties that encounter the individual himself. I assured him, however, that any man who could demonstrate that he was the best man
for any position would have the right to play in that position."
"Wilson took all of this in fine spirit and agreed that that was the
best way to handle the situation. He said he would not care to be on
the Varsity squad unless he were good enough to play, and there is
where the case rests now."
Cliff Wilson went out for spring practice, and Coach Wieman
described him as big, strong, and fast, but said he would not be able to
say much more until he had a chance to demonstrate his ability in
scrimmages. Wieman, himself a former Michigan football player,
further explained to Herb Wilson, "During the time that I have been
at Michigan we have never had a colored candidate for the team who
was good enough to play at all regularly. At one time we did have a
backfield man who, had he been white, would probably have been on
the squad as a second or third substitute. In a case like that we
decided that it was not worth the friction that would result to have him
on the squad. I do not know of any other case where a man's color has
in any way affected his standing in athletics at Michigan."
Wieman was a bright, young coach respected by the Michigan
faculty, yet, in this statement he appears to be completely naive.
Since blacks were not recruited and were expected to be good enough
to start without the customary build-up of game experience, it is no
wonder few cases of prejudice came to mind. The truth of their
deliberate exclusion was poignantly illustrated by the full-scale war
Harry Kipke was forced to wage to get Willis Ward on the 1932 team.
Julius Franks was the left guard on great teams at Hamtramck
High School in Detroit and was named all-city guard enroute to two
straight city titles. A good student, he entered the University in 1940
to play football and study dentisty. He saw a lot of action at right
guard during the 1941 season and his aggressive style of play caught
the eyes of coaches and fans. Honors were heaped upon him during
the next season. He nailed down a starting position at right guard, the
25 Letter, Wieman to Wilson, April 26, 1928, Carton 5, UMAP.




SUPERSPADE    35


Big Ten coaches named him to the all-Conference first team, the New
York Sun placed him at guard on its second team all-America, International News Service and Look Magazine both had him on the first
team, and he was selected to play in the College All-Star game in
Chicago. No obstacle seemed insurmountable for Michigan's first
black athlete to make all-America in football. What he did not know
was that his real battle, for life itself, was about to begin.
Shortly after the All-Star game Julius contracted tuberculosis.
For 25 months he was on his back in the University Hospital, his
football career was ended, and his vision of someday becoming a
dentist apparently was out of the question. Adversity only made him
more determined. In 1945 he re-entered the University, and he received a bachelor's degree two years later.
A newspaper story quoted him as saying, "Some of my friends
tried to discourage me from studying dentistry because of the long
hours and hard work. But when I lay on a hospital bed all those long
months I knew that someday I would be a dentist - regardless of how
many years it might require." He said it was the aid of the doctors,
nurses, and alumni that kept him going.
In June, 1951, he had his School of Dentistry diploma in hand.
But it was no easy task for a black, all-America or not, to establish a
dental practice. Paul Goebbel, a former Michigan football player and
later Regent of the University, was mayor of Grand Rapids. He and a
friend finally found Franks an office in Grand Rapids for his practice.
Franks was the first of four black athletes to make Michigan
teams in the 1940's. Gene Derricotte was an outstanding offensive
and defensive halfback lettering in 1944, '46, '47, and '48. He was
chosen for the East-West Shrine game played January 1, 1949, becoming the first black athlete in history to be invited to that postseason classic.
The 1946 and '47 teams were the first in Michigan history to field
more than one black starter. In addition to Derricotte, two ends,
Lenny Ford and Robert Mann, figured significantly in Michigan's
record, which included two Big Ten championships and a smashing
49-0 Rose Bowl victory over Southern California, January 1, 1948.
Ford was also an outstanding basketball player, but Michigan
was not prepared to break with Big Ten tradition and permit a black
on its team. He went on to play ten years of professional football after
graduation.
Michigan football was, and still is, big business. As such, it had




36  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


to be very sensitive to its paying customers, and the customers were
certainly not ready for a large influx of black athletes in the 1940s.
Neither were the white coaches. Unwritten quotas were maintained
keeping the number down to one or two superb athletes. Some good
ones had to be turned away. Horace "Hap" Coleman and Joseph
Hayden, Jr. were among them.
Coleman had played on the excellent Hamtramck football
teams with Julius Franks. The 6' 0" 190 lb. speedster attended Western Michigan University and starred four years in their backfield and
on the track team. His heroics prompted that school to award him a
plaque in 1970, which read, "The Most Outstanding Football Player
in Western Michigan University's Long and Illustrious Tradition."
He had anchored Western's mile-relay team to victory over Michigan,
so he was well known in Ann Arbor. With an extra year of eligibility
because of war-time policy, Coleman enrolled at Michigan to play
football and complete a master's degree. For five games he tried to
convince coach, H.O. "Fritz" Crisler that he could help the 1945
football team, but they already had one black, and Coleman rode the
bench. He elected to quit football, explaining that master's degree
studies were demanding more attention. He was certain the real
reason was obvious.26
"Perhaps Crisler didn't know much about you," I suggested.
"I went in to talk with him upon enrolling at Michigan," Coleman explained. "I told him I'd like to play if I could help the team.
I'm sure he knew about me because of my record at Western. Also,
Michigan had a great mile relay team. They had come from a meet on
the Coast where they had run a fantastic 3:11.9. When they ran
against Western, they pulled out one of the regulars and we beat
them. They knew me, because I was running the anchor on our mile
relay team.
"Crisler said, 'O.K., you can come out.' I was with the reserves
at first, and, after a few scrimmages, they put me with the varsity.
Crisler always remained very aloof. The assistant coaches were
personable and friendly, but Crisler would take a shower beside you
after practice and look right at the wall. The only player I ever saw
him talk to was the quarterback. There were only two blacks on the
team, Lenny Ford and myself. Ford came up after a game or so at
Morgan State. He had a heck of a time trying to make the team. Only
after he had just about annhilated a couple starting halfbacks trying to
block him in practice, did he get a chance to play."
26 Interview, Horace "Hap" Coleman, December 19, 1970




SUPERSPADE    37


"I was playing halfback along with Hank Fonde and Bob Nussbaumer. We were all pretty close in skills, but I was bigger and faster.
Supposedly, the one who blocks best or does well in drills gets the
starting position, but this throws the decision to the subjective
judgement of the coaches. At first the competition was between
Fonde and I, and I became a spot player. Then, when Nussbaumer
joined the team after a brief term of service, I played less and less. I
thought, 'I don't need this. I'll just get my degree.' I think the players
knew why I quit.
"I think there were alumni who helped get Nussbaumer to
Michigan. While I thought it was obvious that I had the greater talent,
even if we were equal I suspect Nussbaumer would play before
"Hap" Coleman of Detroit. I'm sure alumni pressures had something to do with who played, but in the final anlysis I thought I was
good enough to start. Crisler didn't."
I asked Coleman if he thought the fact that he had only one
season of eligibility left was a factor.
"It might have been," he said, "but you'd think it would be a
factor in track, too. By contrast, I had a very good relationship with
the track coaches, Ken Dougherty and his assistant, Don Canham.
They showed an interest in your academic work, and in you personally."
I asked if Coleman thought the larger number of blacks (four) on
the track team was a factor.
"I doubt it," he said. "I'm inclined to believe it wasjust that the
track coaches were more interested in me than Crisler. Anyway, it
was very reassuring to escape the subjective judgement of the football
world and be measured by th'e clock."
Having only one year of eligibility may have hurt "Hap"
Coleman's chances of making the 1945 Michigan team, but having
four years left didn't even get Joseph Hayden, Jr. a tryout. He played
high school football, went into military service after graduation, and
found himself playing ball with some very talented athletes.
"I'd left Hawaii on a good note," he recalled, "I was full of
self-confidence and ambitious to play college football. I'd made the
all-Air Force team in company with established college stars, so I
was eager to go. We had gotten watches, certificates, and the full
treatment. At Michigan I had a frank conversation with line coach,
Jack Blott, in February 1945. He said the team was already set. I
could go out, but it was almost certain that I'd just stand around. I




38  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


don't even remember if they had spring practice that year. I know
this, if they did, I was not to be invited out. The unmistakable
impression conveyed was that they already had enough blacks.27
When questioned about the stories of Coleman and Hayden, H.
O. "Fritz" Crisler labeled them "malcontents", and denied that
coach Jack Blott could ever have made such statements to Hayden.
He said that Michigan athletics were completely free of racial bias
through the years, and any charges of racism were false.28
In 1940 the unprecedented number of five black athletes lettered
in football, and there continued to be three to five letters awarded
each year throughout the decade. A few others tried out but didn't
make it. One in particular, Lovell Farris, is convinced the coaches
were determined not to let him make it. He was an all-state basketball
player, city shot put champion in track, and graduated ninth in his
high school class of 174 in Cleveland. He came to Michigan to play
basketball and lettered two seasons, being named the team's Most
Valuable Player in his senior year. As a sophomore, he became very
disenchanted with basketball coach, Bill Perigo and decided to try
winning a football scholarship. In spring practice, he was placed at
split end and worked his way to third team. He could jump and had
good speed and good hands. His pass catching in the intrasquad game
that climaxed spring drills drew many compliments, so he worked
enthusiastically all summer on pass patterns and catching.
In the fall he was moved immediately to tight end. He was told
the switch was to utilize his blocking ability. Since he had never
played football prior to the spring practice and had very little in the
way of blocking ability to display, this came as a great surprise.
"I've been working all summer on pass patterns," he explained.
"If I had a lot of football experience the switch would make some
sense. I can beat those guys at split end, but moving to tight end
makes it an entirely different matter."
Lovell began recalling spring practice and the difficulty he had
getting extra help from the end coach. As he looked at the split ends,
he saw men who had been heavily recruited, men in whom alumni had
vested interests and great expectations. Whether he was right or
wrong, he honestly believed the move was made to take the pressure
off those men. Within a couple weeks he had injured both ankles


27lnterview, Joseph Hayden, Jr., December 19, 1970.
28lnterview, H. O. "Fritz" Crisler, April 23, 1973.




SUPERSPADE    39


wading into defensive tackles, from his tight end position, and felt
completely frustrated. Like it or not, it was back to basketball.
Farris admits, "It may be that I read too much into that, but
blacks had plenty of reason to doubt the coaches."
The "superspade" prerequisite for playing football began to
diminish at Michigan in the mid 1950s, five or six years after it
declined in track and field.
Basketball
Basketball was the last of the three major sports at Michigan to
become open to black athletes. Franklin Lett had hoped to make the
1934 team, but there was no chance. Harry Kipke might fight for
Ward's right to play football, but Frank Cappon, the basketball
coach, had no intention of introducing blacks to Big Ten basketball.
He told Lett to stay away from the team. Leon Wheeler of the Detroit
Athletic Association (colored) interceded. He wrote Cappon, "A
large group of interested Michigan people and friends have been
deeply interested in knowing whether you would be big enough and
break the much-talked-of gentlemen's agreement and be gentleman
enough to let Frank Lett play on your basketball team... "
"The 'Gentlemen's Agreement' is out. It is an individual matter
to you as a coach of One Big Ten Team to let this boy play because he
is capable of making the team according to your own statement.29
A similar appeal came from Roy Wilkins of the NAACP. It was
answered by Frank Robbins, Secretary to the President of the University.
"You may be interested to know that Mr. Franklin Lett has been
informed by the Board in Control of Athletics that he can, if he
desires, come out for the freshman basketball team, the only one, of
course, which is open to him at the present time as he is a freshman
student in college. I mention this in view of your letter of December
29, which was addressed to President Ruthven."30
Wilkins quickly expressed gratification for the Michigan stand.31
In commenting on the Lett case, Willis Ward said, "Robbins'
letter was a lie! Coach Cappon came to me and said, 'Willis, tell Lett
to stay away from the team. He cannot play!' "
29 Letter, Leon Wheeler to Franklin Cappon, January 9, 1934, Carton 9, UMAP.
30 Letter, Frank Robbins to Roy Wilkins, January 18, 1934, Carton 9, UMAP.
31 Letter, Roy Wilkins to Frank Robbins, January 20, 1934, Carton 9, UMAP.




40  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


When asked about the "gentleman's agreement" H. O. Crisler
categorically denied that any such understanding ever existed in the
Big Ten during the nearly 50 years he was associated with the conference. He had never heard a coach or athletic director speak of not
wanting to play black basketball players, not even in informal conversation over cocktails.32
Dan Kean, one of only two black tennis players in Michigan's
history, was on campus in 1934. I asked him what students believed to
be the reason for keeping blacks out of basketball.
"I never learned the official reasons." he answered, "but there
was plenty of speculation.33 The story I got was that if blacks played,
their skin would rub against whites and that would be bad." After a
hearty laugh, he continued.
"This all seems so hilarious now. They said this could be prevented in football by the uniform worn. Tennis and track were noncontact sports. But in basketball there was too much contact between
white skin and black skin. This was the story I got from blacks, and I
suppose it was their humorous answer. As I remember, a few blacks
played intramural basketball without repercussion. Everyone
seemed to agree that Fielding Yost would have preferred there be no
blacks on any of Michigan's teams."
There was no reason for anyone to try for the basketball team
again until the late 1940's when black athletes began appearing in
track, football, and baseball. Lenny Ford, the great Michigan end
who went on to play ten years of professional football following
graduation in 1947, wanted to play basketball. Black lettermen of that
era unanimously agree that not only was he good enough to play, but
also that he was better than anyone on the Michigan basketball
varsity. Ford was adamantly refused a tryout. About 1950, two men
from New Jersey, Tim Harvey and Elton Price, were similarly refused. There were probably others.
In the spring of 1950 John Codwell, Sr., wrote to Michigan's
basketball coach asking if his son, John, Jr., would be permitted to
play if he were to enroll at the University. The senior Codwell was
both a doctor and a graduate of Michigan. He acknowledged that no
black athlete had ever played there and expressed the hope that race
would not prevent his son from making the team. The reply said John
would be given a fair chance.


32 Interview, H. O. Crisler, April 23, 1973.
33 Interview, Dan Kean, December 18, 1970.




SUPERSPADE   41


"I was able to go as far as my abilities would take me," said John
Codwell, Jr., who lettered three seasons.34 In 1952 he and Donald
Eaddy became the first blacks ever to play on the Michigan team.
There was just one "wise guy" on the squad. Otherwise relations
with players and coaches were described as "good." Coach Ernie
McCoy modified the southern phase of the schedule in Codwell's
sophomore year, playing the University of Virginia in Pittsburgh.
"There were surprisingly few problems," said Codwell. "Being a
pioneer was pleasing, and we were determined to do well so others
could play."
Six blacks lettered in basketball in the '50s. As long as there
continued to be just one or two on a team there was little fan hostility,
especially since the black athletes were very talented. (Almost every
one who played from 1952-72 was good enough to letter three seasons.) In the early '60s some university coaches were brave enough to
name three or more black athletes to their starting five. Dave Strack
named three at Michigan in 1964.
At first it was shocking and repulsive to many whites. Then, as
championships began reviving Michigan basketball from its long
obscurity, these three men won the hearts of alumni and fans alike. At
center, 6'6", 220 lbs., Bill Buntin twice made all-America (1964 and
1965), and was twice voted Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten (1963
and 1965). At forward, 6' 8", 215 lbs., Oliver Darden was a solid
performer in 1964, '65, and '66, being named captain of this last team.
At guard, 6' 5", 220 lbs., Cazzie Russell was a three-time allAmerican and three-time Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten (1964,
'65, and '66). He set every individual Michigan scoring mark, in
leading the Wolverines to three Big Ten titles and trips to the NCAA
tournament each year. They placed third in '64, second in '65, and
made it to the regional finals in '66.
Since 1966 there have been several black basketball players on
the Michigan squad who were good athletes, but not of superstar
calibre. The day of "superspade" is finally gone.
Baseball
In the entire history of Michigan baseball, from the 1880s to
1972, only seven black athletes have lettered. Moses Fleetwood
Walker played in 1882 and 1883; Rudolph Ash in 1923; Donald Eaddy
in 1952, '53, '54, and '55; Frank Howell in 1952 and '53; Wilbert


34 Interview, John Codwell, Jr., December 14, 1970.




42  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


Franklin in 1959 and '60; Elliot Maddox in 1968; and Reginald Ball in
1970 and '71.
Michigan may have had the first black ever to play college
baseball. Moses "Fleetwood" Walker is listed in the record books as
a letterman in 1882. In his excellent book, Only The Ball Was White,
Robert Peterson credits Walker with Michigan letters in 1882 and
1883. Described as tall, slender, and handsome, possessing a rare
combination of athletic and intellectual talent, Walker became a
businessman, inventor, newspaper editor, and author. Born in Mt.
Pleasant, Ohio, the son of a physician, he attended Oberlin College.
They formed a baseball team his last year there and played three
games, one against Michigan. He must have made a few friends,
because for the next two seasons they were his teammates. Without
completing a Michigan degree, he joined Toledo's professional
baseball team the summer of 1883. The next year Moses Walker
became the first black major leaguer when Toledo entered the American Association, a recognized major league.
For seven seasons Walker caught for various professional
teams, receiving plaudits from some home fans and a few sportswriters, but facing far more hostility. There were only a handful of
black professional players, and they were subject to cruel treatment.
Pitchers would throw at their skulls rather than allow them to hit. On
the infield they were the constant target of high flying spikes, and
some turned to wearing skin guards. Fans heaped abuse upon them.
The Buffalo team refused to sit with Frank Grant, their leading
batter, for the team photograph. Eventually, the white team
owners phased them out and closed professional baseball's doors in
the late 1890's.35
Baseball was finished with Walker in 1890. He stayed in Syracuse, N.Y., where he had last played ball, supporting his family by
work as a railroad mail clerk. In April 1891, he was harrassed on the
street by several white men who came out of a saloon. In the mele that
followed, Walker drew a knife and stabbed one assailant fatally. A
jury found him not guilty of second-degree murder.
Shortly after the trial he moved to Steubenville, Ohio, nearer his
home town. His business interests included managing a hotel, owning
and managing a movie theatre, and editing a newspaper. By the turn
of the century, Walker was in sharp disagreement with Booker T.
Washington and similar theorists on solutions to racism. Neither
35 Robert Peterson, Only The Ball Was White, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, Inc., pp.
21-33.




SUPERSPADE    43


education, religious training, economic advancement, or intermarriage was the answer. He looked to Africa, the ancestral home of
American blacks, saying Americans should emigrate and form new
Liberias. Nothing but failure and disappointment faced them in
America.36
Rudolph T. Ash was Michigan's left fielder throughout the 1923
season, missing only the traditional, early-season Southern trip. Fifteen men made the eight-game jaunt, but Ash stayed home. In spite of
having missed this valuable spring training, he was immediately installed in left field when the team returned. Just a sophomore, he
batted fifth in the line-up most of the season compiling a.405 average,
third highest on the squad. Academic difficulties limited his varsity
play to this one season.
Donald J. Eaddy and Frank Howell in 1952 became the third and
fourth Wolverine baseball players. Unlike Ash, they made the team's
early-season Southern trip, but it didn't penetrate too far south. Eight
games were played in Maryland, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and
Virginia - three of them with recently integrated service teams.
Eaddy had no predecessor in basketball, and this was virtually
the case with baseball. He made all-conference four consecutive
seasons at third base and shortstop. In 1954 and 1955 he made
all-American. Wilbert Franklin was an all-conference left fielder.
Elliot Maddox was the all-conference center fielder in 1968, leaving
Michigan to play in the major leagues.
When professional football and basketball began signing black
athletes their numbers increased dramatically on college teams. The
re-opening of major league baseball did not have the same effect.
From 1953-68, a period of 15 years, Michigan lettered only four men.
During that same period, Michigan State University lettered only
three. I asked Milbry Benedict, Michigan's baseball coach since
1963, why there had been so few.
He explained that most of the good athletes are not strong
students. If they decline professional offers and come to college, they
are likely to quit and accept the professional contract "when the
going gets tough, either in the classroom or on the field." Conference
rules dictate that the scholarship cannot be used again until that
player's class graduates. The coach risks losing a scholarship for four
years if he is not cautious in recruiting. By contrast, the football or
basketball player will "gut it out," because the colleges provide the


36 Ibid., p.45.




44  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


best training for professional ball. In baseball, the minor league
system is the best training ground. He explained that blacks have not
played on college baseball teams in great numbers, not only because it
is not the best training for the majors, but because of the glitter of a
bonus. Instant cash for a lad who knew only poverty has led many to
disdain scholarship offers from colleges.37
Black athletes on the Michigan campus in 1970 said differently.
To a man they stated their belief that Coach Benedict wants no part of
playing blacks. They cited white baseball players who left Michigan
to play professional baseball before their elegibility expired. Instant
cash bonuses also seemed to appeal to the lad from white, middleclass America. The blacks recalled examples of good baseball players
they had recommended to Benedict, who did not follow up on the
lead. One excellent football player with outstanding baseball credentials spoke of a lighthearted conversation with coach Benedict. Everything was fine until he said, "Hey, I think I'll come out for
baseball and show those guys how to play." Benedict grew very
serious, and indicated he wanted no part of that excellent athlete's
presence in baseball.
WRESTLING
There were five black wrestlers at Michigan through 1972: Guy
P. Curtis (1960 and 1962), Jesse Rawls (1969 and 1970), Tom Quinn
(1969 and 1970), Therlon Harris (1970), and Jarrett Hubbard (1970
and 1971).
Curtis attended South Bend Central High in Indiana and became
interested in wrestling because the football coach was a former
NCAA wrestling champion and all-American football player at Indiana University. Making the most of excellent coaching, Curtis
became state champion in wrestling as well as an all-state choice in
football.
Not many predominantly black high schools that Curtis could
recall in Indiana or Michigan had wrestling. Thus, the opportunity to
learn the sport was not available to these youths. There weren't many
college scholarships available, so wrestling was not an avenue to
higher education for many blacks. Curtis estimated that five to ten per
cent of the contestants in the Indiana state tournamount during his


37 Interview, Milbry Benedict, September 18, 1970.




SUPERSPADE    45


senior year were black, a surprisingly high figure. Evidently there
was heavy participation by black athletes at the few high schools
where they could wrestle. Curtis witnessed the state meet in
Michigan in 1958 and remembers seeing a few black contestants.
Several colleges had one or two black wrestlers, and there were
always a few at the major tournaments.38
Curtis, a fine student, was encouraged by his parents to attend
Michigan. He strolled by the football practice field after arriving on
campus and decided to try out. He went on to letter three seasons.
Cliff Keen, the wrestling coach, worked with the Michigan linemen.
When he learned of Curtis' background, he extended an invitation to
join the wrestling team.
In Guy Curtis' view, Michigan had few black varsity wrestlers
because there were so few available, and because coach Keen refused
to conduct a vigorous recruiting program for wrestlers, black or
white. Most of his greatest wrestlers were either sent by his former
players or were those he discovered in the student body. He consistently molded them into Big Ten champions.
In the twilight of his career, Keen bowed to coaching pressures
and actively recruited a few wrestlers. One such was Jesse Rawls. In
contrast to Guy Crutis, Rawls had a very weak academic background. He dreamed of becoming football's next Jim Brown, but the
all-black high school he attended in Springfield, Georgia, did not have
a strong athletic program. With his mother's tearful consent, the
ambitious seventeen-year old moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to
live with an uncle. It was a brilliant move, because he received
excellent coaching in football and wrestling and became state champion in the latter sport. His C- average prevented four-year universities
from granting him a scholarship, so he attended the Junior College at
Trinidad, Colorado. Throughout two wrestling seasons he remained
undefeated and traveled to the national meet at Worthington, Minnesota, his sophomore year. There coach Keen saw him. Keen had
said he was going to Minnesota and would bring back the best wrestler he saw there. Rawls impressively defeated all opponents, winning the national crown and a scholarship to Michigan.
Throughout high school, junior college, Big Ten, and national
competition, Rawls recalls very few black wrestlers but he noted a
decided increase in 1970, his senior year.39


"I Interview, Guy Curtis, September 19, 1970.
39 Interview, Jesse Rawls, March 24, 1971.




46  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


HOCKEY
Hockey has traditionally been a Canadian sport on this continent, and, while blacks have been extremely rare, so have United
States whites. The race problem on Michigan's hockey team has been
between French- and English-speaking Canadians. The latter have
maintained a numerical majority and elected the captain. Only very
recently has the gap been bridged and a French-speaking captain
chosen. There have been no black hockey players at Michigan.
GYMNASTICS
Gymnastics is another sport that has little participation by blacks
at the elementary and high school levels where the college athletes are
born. Keith Cooley looked good in a physical education class and was
encouraged by Michigan coach Newt Loken to come out for the
team.40 He became a fine trampolinist lettering in 1966. There were
no blacks on other teams Michigan competed against during his
career. He regards Newt Loken as one of the most unbiased men he
ever met, a conclusion supported elsewhere in this writing.
GOLF
Michigan has had no blacks in golf, an experience shared by
nearly every other integrated university in the country.
TENNIS
Two men made Wolverine tennis teams about forty years ago.
Henry Graham played in 1928, and Dan Kean in 1934. Frankly, I was
surprised to find any, and my first reaction was that they probably
came from wealthy backgrounds where the parents could afford
private tennis instruction. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Graham grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. While he was in his teens,
his father died, and the burden of supporting the family fell to his
mother. Attendance at college was prompted by a friend at Michigan
who told Graham how to obtain a working scholarship that would pay
board and room. Tennis was a varsity sport at his high school, and he


40 Interview, Keith Cooley, August 27, 1970.




SUPERSPADE    47


had taught himself while playing on city park courts during the summers. At Michigan he beat about a dozen others to become the
number one freshman on campus. When he won the all-campus
tournament in which a few varsity men participated people took
notice. The part-time job and all that tennis served to introduce him to
an important campus figure, the Dean of Students. In a very kind and
fatherly manner, Graham was assured that the University was far
more interested in his grades than his forehand, and that if rapid
improvement was not made in the former, he would suddenly have a
lot more time for the latter. Hard work enabled him to more than
recoup the losses before his sophomore season.
Competing on the varsity his sophomore year, Graham began as
tenth man and worked up to second by the end of the season. None of
Michigan's opponents during his career had a black tennis player. In
fact, there were only three in all varsity sports at Michigan: Graham,
Eddie Tolan, and Booker Brooks. The fact that they were on a college
campus made them exceptional. Graham finished two and one-half
years, leaving school in his junior year to marry and accept
employment.41
Dan Kean came from a sports-oriented family. Two brothers
coached high school football in their home state, Kentucky. He
played basketball and tennis two years in high school, and two more
at Fisk University in Nashville, in addition to being an honor student. Through the sports pages of the Chicago Defender, Louisville
Leader, Pittsburgh Courier, and other papers, Kean read about DeHart Hubbard, Eddie Tolan, Booker Brooks, and Willis Ward. He
was convinced they had it made at Michigan, free of the racism so
prevalent in Kentucky and Tennessee. Eager to share that experience, Kean transferred to Michigan in 1932, his junior year. He
watched the only other black letterman at Michigan those two years,
Willis Ward, break the color barrier in football and burn up the track
that winter and spring. He also learned that basketball was closed.
Not being an aggressive person, Kean did not attempt to integrate either the basketball or tennis teams. He played intramural
tennis, winning the fall, winter, and spring tournaments. The tournaments, which included some members of the varsity, were given
publicity in the Michigan Daily.
"In the intramural building one day a fella, very obviously Scottish, came up to me and invited me out for the squad," Kean


41 Interview, Henry Graham, September 26, 1970.




48  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


remembered.42 He was Johnny Johnstone, the tennis coach and a
terrific person. Race was never of consequence to him. "1 played
number one that season by virtue of beating the others. It made me
feel good to have blacks at Michigan and elsewhere take pleasure in
seeing me do well. There were just a few in college tennis, none on
teams we faced in '34. Doug Turner played for the University of
Chicago in the late '20s. Richard Hundlen finished there in the early
'30s, and Maceo Hill was a highly ranked member of Ohio State's
team at about the same time. Those were the only black tennis players
in the Big Ten during the years I followed the teams."
Dan began playing tennis largely through the influence of his
older brothers who started him at age thirteen. The public parks in
Louisville were integrated, then segregated again. It seemed to shift
each election year. During the summers that the facilities were integrated he played, and there were city-sponsored tournaments. There
was also the chance for national competition. The United States
Lawn Tennis Association prohibited blacks from entering its tournaments, so the American Tennis Association, an association of
tennis clubs, was formed. There were clubs in Louisville, Columbus,
Indianapolis, Chicago, and elsewhere around the nation. During the
summer they played the circuit which really meant going east to
compete in Washington, D.C., New York, and Philadelphia and at
Virginia State University, Hampton University, and others. There
was a midwestern tournament in addition to the ATA championships. It was held on the campus of a black college. For years
Tuskegee Institute was the site; then it moved to Hampton Institute,
Virginia State, and others.
Tennis for whites was very closely associated with countryclubs, athletic clubs, tennis clubs, and segregation. It is not surprising
that few blacks attempted to play in integrated colleges. Perhaps the
surprise is that as many as two lettered at Michigan.
SWIMMING
G. Anderson White, a diver on the 1955 team, has been
Michigan's one letterman in swimming, a total unsurpassed by any
Big Ten University through the 1972 season. Short in stature, and
possessing a greater sense of daring than fear, White remembered


42 Interview, Dan Kean, December 18, 1970.




SUPERSPADE    49


developing acrobatic stunts on his own as a youngster.43 Doing flips
off the family's 10' high back porch became fun, once the threat of
breaking one's neck diminished. After learning to swim at the Green
Pastures Camp run by the Detroit Urban League, he was a willing
pupil waiting for a diving instructor to come along.
At Ferndale's Lincoln High School, swimming became terribly
complicated by race. A new pool had been built in 1941, but since the
black students (ten per cent of enrollment) also wanted to swim it
remained dry for nearly ten years. Andy got in it, but only to play an
instrument. The resourceful music instructor got permission to use it
as a classroom rather than see it unused, and White would sit there
during orchestra practice thinking "I hope I get to swim in here
someday." Finally, during the summer of his junior year in 1950, the
pool opened on a trial basis to see if blacks and whites could swim
together.
The state diving champion, a lad from Highland Park High
School, and his coach worked out at the pool all summer. "I'd sure
like to learn to dive like your guy," Andy remembered telling the
coach. "1 can do some of those things." He said, "Let me see what
you can do kid." Whether impressed with spunk or ability, he began
working with White on fundamentals. At the end of the summer, the
new pupil was beating the state champion. The coach said, "They're
probably going to have a team now at Ferndale. You go out!"
White followed that advice, but the entire season was spent
riding the bench. Then came the regionals. Each team could enter
three divers and White happened to be entered. He stunned everyone
by winning first place. The youngster who stuck it out had won. Many
would long since have quit. At the meet was one of the most successful swimming coaches of all time, Matt Mann of Michigan. He complimented White, saying he had great potential in diving and that he
would like to see him enroll at the University.
This probably would have been incentive enough, but White was
also doing well in his other love, music. Straight A's from ninth
through twelfth grade culminated in all-state honors. He was the first
black in the all-state orchestra, and he was first chair. As he said, "It
seemed like I was always the first black going somewhere." By being
first chair he was to receive a token scholarship to the National Music
Camp at Interlochen, Michigan. "At that time they wouldn't let
black students go to Interlochen," White said, "so I'd sort of given


4'3 Interviewv, G. Anderson White, December 14, 1970.




50  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


up that dream. Then in 1969, I became the first black to conduct an
orchestra there." His high school music success prompted an offer to
play in the Michigan State University band, but a tour of the
Michigan campus while playing at a state music festival there had
greatly impressed White. Then he learned that the world-renowned
violist Paul Doktor, was on the University's School of Music faculty.
Overwhelmed that both Matt Mann and Doktor were on the same
campus, White was determined to attend Michigan.
The Assistant Principal at Ferndale advised against Michigan.
He saw White as a big fish in a little pond, and thought the competition would be out of his reach. Aside from music, academically he'd
just been average.
"I did very well in elementary school where all the students and
teachers were black," White said. "That's why I was put in the
academic track (college prep) at Ferndale. But it was quite an adjustment coming to a nearly all white high school with upper middle class
standards. It was very disheartening there in many ways, and I had a
tendency to be either totally absorbed by something or very casual.
My grades ranged from excellent to poor, averaging out at C; hardly
indicative of success at Michigan. I'd felt a little cheated by life all
along, and the strong doubts expressed by the Assistant Principal
spurred me on. I set out for the University with a deep desire to
succeed."
Michigan had one of the finest swimming teams in the country,
and White was impressed with those teammates. "I remember John
Davies, an Olympic champion from Australia then on the Michigan
team, discovering that I was ten papers behind in English," said
White. "He decided that I had to pass and be eligible. With both of us
burning the midnight oil, I managed to present all those papers to the
instructor the last day of class. It was inspiring to have John say,
'You're going to be on the Michigan team and this is quite an honor.
But you have to be eligible.' "
Others tried to help him find a place to work-out during the
summers. Bud Hurd worked at Crystal Pool at Eight Mile and Greenfield, near White's home in Detroit. There was a stipulation that
anyone with a private card could get in. "Hurd finagled a card," said
White, "but when I presented it the whole place blew up. They got
the manager, and he ended any thoughts of my working-out there."
Bill Winkler, whose home was in the wealthy Detroit suburb of
Grosse Pointe captained the Michigan gymnastic team. Andy re



SUPERSPADE     51


membered him being so stunned that a "black cat" could beat him at
diving that, "... He invited me to the Grosse Point Yacht Club to
work-out. I'll never forget it. His mother called to apologize saying it
was a private club and they hadn't made the preparations for a permit.
It was always the same old story."
Each winter the Michigan team went to Fort Lauderdale,
Florida, to prepare for the swim season. White never went. There
was every reason to believe he could not be housed or fed with the
team, and he wasn't leaping at the chance to be ostracized. The fact
that he was left home never really became an issue. One of the leftist
groups on campus approached White saying the team shouldn't be
going places without him, but their thoughts never gained much
momentum.
Of coach Matt Mann, White said, "I honestly admired him. I
don't think he gave much thought to what the establishment was
doing. Race didn't make any difference to him. I got in one meet as a
freshman and placed second. He was really proud of me, and saw to it
that an appropriate write-up appeared in the New York Times. When
I competed in AAU meets he saw to it that I received recognition as
the first black swimmer or diver in Big Ten history."
"My junior year was very lack-lustre and I remember thinking,
'You must really be a nut. This is almost like self-punishment!' The
next year Matt Mann retired, Gus Stager became head coach, and
Bruce Harlan diving coach. Bruce was young, generated a great deal
of enthusiasm, and made a profound impression on me. He didn't
care if you were black or green. If you worked hard and improved,
you could dive for Michigan. He entered all of us in the Michigan
AAU and we qualified one through six, and like I was in on that. I
think I was fourth or fifth, but it made us all feel we were part of the
Michigan team. He and his wife would have us over for dinner. I
really worked hard for him, and lettered. I also remember Matt
Mann, Jr. coming to the pool to watch workouts and saying, 'Come
on White. You're going to be in there. You're looking good today.'"
Looking back on his senior year White said, "I sure wish Bruce
had been there my first year. Matt would always say something sage,
something for me to listen to, but I never felt a closeness because of
his age. I could identify with Bruce much easier."
Most of White's diving victories came the year after his graduation. Drafted into the Army, he was sent to Fort Hood, Texas. With
1956 being an Olympic year and since the trials were scheduled to be




52 HAIL TO THE VICTORS


in his hometown, Detroit, he began agitating for a chance to compete.
"I really had no sincere expectation of making the final team," he
said, "but wanted to see if I could make the top fifteen and feel good
about that. They didn't believe that a "black cat" could dive at all, let
alone try out for the Olympic team, but I was permitted to go into
Temple, Texas for the first elimination round."
White remembered that experience vividly. "With no prior
workout, I expected to get wiped out. It happened that the divers
there were terrible, and I really put it on, winning the competition.
The whole city was in an uproar. They couldn't believe a black cat
could even swim, let along dive. I remember before the meet started
the whole pool, the spectators, everybody followed me around the
pool. Every eye was on me as I did preliminary exercises. After
diving so well I remember thinking, 'Bruce would sure be proud of me
today.' "
"I went on to take all-Army, all-Fourth Armored, and all the
divisional meets. Then they shipped me to Germany. I made the
mistake of beating a fellow I'd competed against from Royal Oak
High School in Michigan. He was a good competitor, but nothing like
the divers I'd faced at Michigan. Since he was a major and had
something to say about who stayed and who got shipped out, I got
shipped out. I went to a meet in Germany, billed as an all-Army,
USRA, Russians, French, Allied Army, etc., but that was my last
competitive diving."
The only blacks Andy White can remember competing either
with or against in all his experience were one or two at opposing high
schools when he was at Ferndale.
Music was White's other love, and performing in that medium
provided many tests of his perseverance. No black had even been in
the cast of the Michigan Union Opera, and he was reluctant to try out.
Watching the tryouts for an hour did wonders for his self-confidence.
He had been in a Broadway show in Detroit as a youngster and used
that credit in requesting an audition. He performed a stunning acrobatic song-and-dance routine. "They wrote me in as a specialty," White
said.
"I wasn't part of the show actually. I was a specialty. Then the
director said, "We're going on the road during Christmas vacation.
We can take you to Detroit, but we're going to Buffalo and will stay at
the Buffalo Athletic Club. I don't know what to do about the problem, but they will object to our bringing a Negro. You are a specialty,




SUPERSPADE    53


and if you'll just want to go to Detroit it will be O.K.' I agreed, but my
specialty became the show stopper. After the Detroit performance,
John Daugherty, one of the cast from Pontiac, Michigan, said,
'You've got to go to Buffalo!' I said, 'No, I'm staying in Detroit.
First of all, there is no place for me to stay in Buffalo.' He decided
that they could fly me to Buffalo for the show and then fly me right
back. I sort of begged off saying I had something to do in Detroit
anyhow. Ignoring that, he started asking the alumni at an after-glow
party for the money to send me to Buffalo. Learning of my predicament, Richard Forsight, a lawyer and President of the Detroit
Alumni Association, called the Buffalo Athletic Club demanding an
explanation."
The next thing he knew, Andy White was again the first black
going somewhere, this time to stay at the Buffalo Athletic Club. The
blacks who worked there informed him that the Buffalo City basketball tournament had just been cancelled because the teams were to
play at the Athletic Club and one of the final teams was black. They
expressed amazement that he had gotten in.
"Of course, I wasn't about to let their fine pool go unused
either," said White. "When I began diving for the coach there his
mouth hung open. 'First of all, how did you get in here?' he wanted to
know, and 'where would a black cat learn to dive?' So I helped coach
some of his kids that day. They were all stunned."
The next year a few more blacks had joined the Union opera,
including all-American tackle Art Walker. The Buffalo Athletic Club
reverted to its customary policy of race prejudice. Said White, "Half
the cast stayed at the Athletic Club and half at the Statler. Some of the
white students who were main characters did not understand the
arrangement. Then, it became clear to all that racism alone had
dictated the terms."
I suggested to White that at least he had some black companionship in the Union Opera that second year.
"Right," he chuckled. "It seemed like we were always breaking
in someone."
As with golf and tennis, black youngsters have not been able to
get the quality swimming and diving instruction available to many
caucasians. White cited the Florida swim camp of Michigan's great
diving coach, Dick Kimball. "How many black kids can afford to go
to Florida and shell out the $80-100 a week costs? I've been kidding
Kimball that I'm going to get somebody to that camp. I don't know




54  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


whether its going to take until my son is old enough or not, but I am.
The lack of opportunity to learn from talented coaches, coupled with
a lack of pools and pool facilities for competition, therein lies the
explanation for so few black swimmers," reasoned White.
CHEERLEADING
It was rare to see a black cheerleader at an integrated school until
the 1960s, and, since Michigan's yell leading was traditionally assigned to its gymnasts, it comes as no surprise to find blacks absent
through 1972. There was only one possible candidate, and he was
refused a chance to cheer. Keith Cooley, the trampolinist who lettered in 1966, was asked by coach Newt Loken, "Why don't you go
out for cheerleader?" That was the fall of 1965, and Cooley had
returned to Ann Arbor a little early for school. The idea appealed to
him, so he got the reaction of returning cheerleaders. They agreed it
was a good idea and said, "All we have to do is clear it with
'upstairs.' " That meant securing the approval of Athletic Director
"Fritz" Crisler. After a two weeks silence, Cooley asked what they
had learned. Embarrassed, they said Crisler would not approve.
They were instructed to tell Cooley it was too late to learn the
routines. He should wait another year. The problem never arose
again because he felt it was a waste of time to repeat the humiliation.
"That was my only clear run-in with prejudice at Michigan," said
Cooley.44
When asked about this story Crisler denied ever having been
approached on the subject and said he had never been guilty of racial
bias either as a coach or athletic director.45
Michigan coaches in 1960 were just starting to discard the practice of an unwritten quota system for black athletes. That year Ken
Burnley enrolled as an undergraduate. He recalled it was standard
practice at Midwestern universities to guard against having three
basketball starters, three backfield starters, a black quarterback, or
enough blacks on the team to draw criticism from alumni and fans.
"I have nothing to substantiate that it was going on at
Michigan," he said, "but Michigan was not an isolated microcosm. It
was part of the whole society in which these practices were clearly


44 Interview, Keith Cooley, August 27, 1970.
45 Interview, H. O. Crisler, April 23, 1973.




SUPERSPADE    55


prevalent. Black athletes certainly believed quotas existed in basketball and football in the early '60s. They don't feel that way in 1970. "46
MICHIGAN IN PERSPECTIVE
In practicing racism, Michigan was very much in step with the
nation. In track and field, there were very few black athletes competing at major universities until the 1950s. Wisconsin's George Poage
was outstanding enough in the 400-meter run and 400-meter hurdles
to represent the United States in the 1904 Olympic Games in both
events. He was the first black athlete to win an Olympic medal.
Amherst, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Chicago, U.C.L.A., and Southern California were among the schools that fielded superb black
athletes 10-20 years before DeHart Hubbard lettered at Michigan.
Only occasionally, however, did these schools field a black athlete,
usually a superstar. Perhaps the best index of the prevalence of
blacks in college track and field is the number of medals won in
Olympic competition by black athletes representing the United
States. From Poage (1904), the first medal winner, to Hubbard
(1924), the first to win an individual gold medal, there were never
more than one or two medals won by blacks. Then, in the 1932
Games, there were five. In 1936, the year of Jesse Owens' (Ohio
State's superspade) dramatic victories, 13 medals were won by
blacks. From then on, the number gradually increased to 19 in 1952
and hit a peak of 26 in 1964.47 The men who won those 13 medals in
1936 represented probably 100-200 blacks in track and field at major
universities. Those who won the 26 in 1964 represented 1,000-2,000
other collegians. The era of "superspade" in track and field was
ending at Michigan and nationally in 1950.
In football, Amherst College played William Jackson and William Lewis on their 1889 team, but George Jewett, Sr., Michigan's
backfield star in 1890 and 1892, had very few predecessors in collegiate ranks. Then, for the next 50 years, Michigan lettered only two
men; the rosters of several colleges in the East, Midwest, and West,
showed only a sprinkling of black players. In the Big Ten, Iowa,
Minnesota, and Michigan State were among the schools fielding a few
of these athletes while Michigan was denying them a chance to play.
46 Interview, Ken Burnley, October 26, 1970.
47 See Appendix G for Olympic medals won by U.S. black athletes in track from 1904-1972.
It will be noted that only 12 medals were won in 1972, one less than the totalfor 1936. The decline is
perhaps best explained by the upgrading of track andfield throughout the world.




56  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


After World War II, Michigan began getting into step with the Big
Ten and the nation in playing two or three blacks on the varsity.
Evidence of widespread discrimination nationally in limiting the
number of black athletes in college football can be seen in examining
their appearance on the all-America teams. There were so few playing in the 1940s that Look magazine selected only two to its mythical
teamsfor the entire decade.48 By contrast, 15 appear in the 1950s, and
35 in the 1960s. The increased number of black all-americans reflects
the growing number being permitted to play the game at all levels.
Amazingly, at Michigan the increase oflettermen was in almost exact
proportion to the increase of Look all-Americans: four men lettered in
the 1940s, 16 in the 1950s. and 32 in the 1960s. The scanty research
available allows a few comparisons between Michigan and some
specific schools. From 1957-67, Washington University had 20 black
lettermen, Michigan had 21. From 1960-67, California had 12,
Michigan had 18. In three seasons, 1965-67, Oregon had 11, Michigan
had 13. There were a few more blacks playing at Michigan, but this
was to be expected of a heavily industrial state with a large black
population. The era of "superspade" in football was also ending at
Michigan in the mid-1950s, in keeping with the national trend.
The entire Big Ten Conference excluded black athletes from
basketball until 1948. A few universities fielded outstanding black
players on occasion; among them were Nebraska, Columbia, Rutgers, Hamilton, Oberlin, Syracuse, Long Island, and U.C.L.A. The
number of schools and players remained very small until the 1950s.
Then professional basketball opened its doors. Ed "Chuck" Cooper
became the first to play in the National Basketball Association,
signing with the Boston Celtics the 1950-51 season. Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton joined the New York Knickerbockers that same year.
Indiana University broke with Big Ten precendent and played Bill
Garrett at center the 1948-49 season. He was super enough to be
voted the most valuable player in the conference and was selected to
several all-America teams. The curious observation to be made is
that while the Big Ten clearly excluded black basketball players until
1948, it was, for all practical purposes, in step with the nation. Even a
cursory glance at the all-America selections of Look magazine shows
almost no black athletes named until 1952.49 One made it in each of
the next three years. Since 1955 approximately four men have been
named each year, and in 1968 eight of the ten were black athletes. At
48 SeeAppendix Efo the number of black athletes making the Look all-A mericafrom 1940-1972.
49 See Appendix F for the number of black athletes making the Look all-A mericafrom 1949-1972.




SUPERSPADE    57


Michigan and across the country, the era of"superspade" in basketball was ending by the early-to mid-1960's.
What were the forces that brought black athletes into college
track, football, and basketball in increasing numbers after World War
II? Was it the work of some athletic policy-making body? Not at all!
The catalyst was the civil rights movement. As national political
victories were won and the human rights of black Americans were
grudgingly acknowledged, college athletic programs manifested
changing national attitudes by showing increasing participation by
black athletes. During World War II, black Americans were denied
jobs in the war industries, and the United States military services
maintained a tradition of segregation. The hypocrisy of condemning
Germany's racism and condoning America's was given voice by
black leaders, especially A. Philip Randolph. Under the threat of
embarrassing boycotts, jobs were won in industries and in civil service, and President Harry Truman ordered the military to desegregate. More black students attended college, some with the aid of the
G. I. Bill, and more lettered in varsity sports. Professional football
(1946), baseball (1947), and basketball (1950) lowered their race barriers in quest of greater financial gains. This provided one of the most
glamorous and highest salaried occupations open to black Americans. With professional careers in mind, more sought the valuable
college playing experience. By the mid 1950s Washington, D. C., had
been ordered to desegregate, the Supreme Court had ruled that
school desegregation must begin with all deliberate speed, and Martin
Luther King, Jr., had led the historic Montgomery bus boycott.
The decade of the 1960s rocked with the devastating civil rights
revolution. With Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated and cities
aflame, wholesale changes in nearly every aspect of race relationships were demanded. In college athletics that meant black coaches
and an end to the subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, quotas for
black athletes. For much of the nation the era of "superspade" in
athletics ended in the 1960s. It has been said that sports mirror
society. Nowhere is this demonstrated so convincingly as in the study
of black athletes.




Charles Fonville


William DeHart Hubbard
William DeHart Hubbard




Willis Ward




Thomas Edward Tolan


Julius Franks




George Jewett shown here with the 1890-91 football team.


Kobert Mann




Horae "" Cem
Horace "Hap" Coleman


(Cene Derricotte


The first black athletes to play basketball for Michigan, No. 3 Donald Eaddy and No. 11 John
Codwell Jr., shown with the 1952-53 team.




This 1970-71 Michigan team provides a striking contrast to the 1952-53 team in the participation of
blacks as players and coaches.


Michigan basketball fortunes were richest with the 1964-65 team featuring Bill Buntin (far left),
Cazzie Russell (second from left), and Oliver Darden (seventh from left). Coach Dave Strack is at
far right.




Elliott Maddox


Guy Curtis


Dan Kean with friends and old tennis rivals. L. to R.: Arthur Beeler (Akron, Ohio), Maceo Hill
(Columbus, Ohio), Dan Kean (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Orlando Robinson (Indianapolis, Ind.), and Dr.
Thomas Brewer (Columbus, Ohio).




Art Walker




G. Anderson White conducting the orchestra at Interlochen, Michigan in 1971.




CHAPTER 2
A   I II MII
wI rI
IIIj I  II  B




68  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


Much of the prejudice Michigan's black lettermen encountered
was deeply interwoven into the nation's fabric. To announce that
restaurants and hotels refused them service, that landlords refused
them housing, and that employers refused themjobs upon graduation
is little cause for surprise. Until the mid-to-late-1960s this was the
expected fate of black Americans whether athletes or not. They were
IN America but not OF it. What is surprising is that after living within
the comforting walls of a prestigious university such as Michigan,
black athletes would conclude the same thing about life there. Dan
Kean, speaking of his junior and senior years at Michigan (1933 and
1934), said candidly, "If you want to know what it was like then I'd
have to say black students were AT the University but not OF it."
He could just as well have been describing 1954 or 1964.
Why did Michigan athletes feel so alienated? The answer lies in
examining both the racial prejudice imposed directly by the University and its coaches upon these athletes, and that imposed by outside
forces to which the university and its coaches were challenged to
intercede in behalf of their athletes or students. First, a look at life in
the athletic world, where race was sometimes overlooked by coaches
and teammates and where privileges not ordinarily extended to black
Americans were enjoyed; then the other world of maddening housing
problems, repugnant social conventions, and academic preparation
for a job market severely limited by race.
THE ATHLETIC WORLD
Many people saw only that the athletes ate with teammates in
fine restaurants and slept in hotels that would not ordinarily serve
black Americans. Their conclusion was that these men "had it
made." What most failed to realize was the tremendous anxiety and
tension that accompanied travel for most black athletes and the
apprehension that at any time or place they might be publicly
humiliated because of their race. To their credit, some Michigan
coaches struck hard at this problem as early as 1932, but the athletes
were still confronted with it in varying degrees even into the 1960s.
DeHart Hubbard, the first to make a Michigan traveling squad in
the twentieth century, was embarrassed only once that he could
recall. It occurred over eating arrangements in a Chicago hotel in
1924.
"The entire team then ate in a private dining room," he said. "I
always stayed in the same hotel with teammates. Most of the time I




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT


69


had a room to myself. I suppose that was part of the racially accepted
pattern of the time."
He did remember staying on at least one occasion with the
trainer, Bill Fallen (white). In Paris, he and Jim Brooker, a white
University of Michigan teammate, roomed together in the Olympic
village.
Traveling was more difficult for Henry Graham, the number two
man on Michigan's 1927 tennis team. "Negroes were barred from the
better hotels," said Graham, "and, of course, that's where the
Michigan teams stayed."
Among several embarrassing incidents, the one in Minneapolis
stands out in his memory. "They didn't want me to stay in the hotel,"
he said. "We arrived at night and were to play the Universtiy of
Minnesota the next day. The captain of the team was told by the night
clerk that Negroes could not stay in the hotel. If I stayed all the guests
would walk out. The captain came to me and said, 'Graham, we've
got a problem. I'm from Iowa and I don't know too much about
colored people. I've had very little contact and I really don't know
them. I've lived on a farm and there were none near. There were none
in the schools I attended. But I have no prejudices. I think you're a
fine person and I'm behind you, but I'm not going to fight the color
question. However, I don't want you to accept anything inferior, and
if we can't find suitable lodging we'll come back to the hotel and sleep
together.'
"We saw a nice hotel and the taxi driver said Hubbard had
stayed there. The clerk at that one said all rooms were filled. I got
angry at that. It was late at night and I had a match the next day. We
went back to the other hotel and I shared the room with our captain."
I asked Graham how he got past the night clerk.
"I just went right on past," he replied.
Paradoxically, he remembers having had a very nice time at the
hotel. Minnesota's very pleasant custom was that both teams would
dine and dance after the day's match. A sorority arranged dates for
the opposing team's players, and the entire party was seated in the
hotel's large dining room. Graham was not denied the opportunity to
dine with the group, and his date, who was white, was nice enough not
to make an issue of having a black escort. Hank did not try to dance.
He described the evening as, "a very fine thing, considering the
times."
Eddie Tolan and Booker Brooks did not fare as well as Hubbard




70  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


either. In Chicago for the Big Ten track meet, they were compelled to
stay at the black YMCA. Upon rejoining their mates, they were
reprimanded by the hotel clerk for using the front entrance and were
advised not to do so again. This was the same Eddie Tolan whose two
Olympic victories would bring 75,000 cheering Americans to their
feet. This was the same man for whom the Governor of Michigan
would proclaim a "Tolan Day" as an expression of America's pride
in this young man's athletic achievements. But to the hotel clerk in
Chicago, whose attitude reflected the national persuasion, any black
wanting accommodations was just another "nigger."
Both Tolan and Brooks were outstanding enough to be invited to
special meets. Rather than fight the problem of hotel and eating
arrangements, the policy at Michigan and throughout collegiate ranks
was to give the athletes $25-30.00 and ask them to make their own
arrangements. They would stay with a black family who would be
happy to help and wouldn't charge anything. Coaches perhaps salved
their consciences with the knowledge that black athletes were receiving much-needed pocket money. All of this would change when Willis
Ward came to Michigan.
"Harry Kipke loved me as a boy," said Ward, "and was determined to fight anyone who might try to hurt me because of race."
Kipke believed the football team functioned as a unit rather than as
individuals, as in track and field. He wanted to know where the
players were at all times on trips, what they were eating, and if they
were getting proper rest. This was 1932, the bottom of the Depression, and hotels were begging for business. Kipke let them know that
if they wanted Michigan's business they were going to have to accommodate Ward. He threatened the loss of business from other
Michigan varsity teams, and said influence would be used in the Big
Ten to keep other schools from patronizing hotels that would refuse
Ward.
"As a result," said Ward, "I always stayed with my football
teammates." As the 1933 track season approached, he expected to
stay with a fraternity brother or to make arrangements such as Tolan
and Brooks had; but coach Charley Hoyt insisted that if the team
traveled together in football, it would be the same in track. "So," said
Ward, "I always stayed with my track teammates."
Because Kipke was willing to stand his ground against hotel
owners, a vital precedent was established. Though Michigan's black
athletes would face future humiliation in many forms, after 1932 they




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT 71


traveled with the team, were assigned rooms by football position or
track event more than by race, and ate with their teammates.
In anticipation of the Michigan-California dual meet in April,
1935, Hoyt wrote A. J. Sturzenegger to see if there would be a
problem accomodating Ward. The former Michigan coach, then on
the California football staff, assured him, "I don't think you will have
any difficulties in getting accommodations for Mr. Ward. We had a
colored boy on our football squad over the past season. We take him
everywhere with us and never mention it to any hotel whether in the
Los Angeles area or Bay Region or up in the northwest. We simply
assign him a room to himself and that is all that there is to it."
By stationing their "colored boy" in a room by himself, Berkeley
did not stretch its liberal traditions to the seams.
When potential problems were not fully checked in advance, a
showdown was likely. "I recall very vividly," Ward mused, "that I
went down to the Butler Relays my senior year. I'd stayed at the
Indianapolis Athletic Club for three football years and two track
years. This time, I remember the manager went up to get the keys and
all of a sudden he was very embarrassed. I can remember Hoyt
saying, 'Well, we'll pack up and go right back to Ann Arbor!' Then I
noticed the usual embarrassement of the kids on the track team.
Finally the team manager came over and said, 'Willis, here's your
key. We got it!' and he was beaming. I asked, 'What happened?' He
said 'Well, they didn't want you to stay.' So I said, 'Why? Where's
Jesse Owens?' 'He's over at the Y,' was the answer."
"When we got to our rooms I called the Y. 'Jesse, what are you
doing there?' He said, 'They wouldn't let me stay at the Athletic
Club. They said this is where you were going to stay.' I said, 'No,
No, Jesse baby!' "
"In about a half-hour I got a phone call. 'Willis, I'm here!' " The
Indianapolis Athletic Club had also found it possible to accommodate
the great Jesse Owens. Again, a coach had stood his ground against
racism and won.
Kipke and Hoyt succeeded in keeping Ward with his teammates
on trips, and Johnny Johnstone did rather well with Dan Kean on the
1934 tennis team. There were no problems staying in Columbus,
Champaign, or other cities. The only bad experience occurred in
Chicago where the final meet of the season was held.
"Johnstone asked me if I could find a place to stay in Chicago,"
Kean recalled. "The Blackstone refused to accommodate blacks.




72  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


Johnny said they argued with them. I don't know how hard they
argued, but Michigan had been staying there for a number of years
and wanted to keep their friendship. I didn't protest. Of course today
you could never get by with that, but my training had been to get
along, win friends, and prove yourself by performance. I told Johnny
I could stay at the South Park Hotel on the south side. I never will
forget that. There was one time I felt very, very alone, me at the
South Park and the white boys at the Blackstone."
He chuckled briefly and said, "I've got to laugh because no
black would stand for that today, but that's the way it was."
I asked if he rejoined teammates for meals.
"You know, it's funny thing about those experiences. I must
have relegated them to my subconscious because of the personal
hurt. I was trying to think the other day, when I learned you were
coming for this interview, how in the devil I got to the University of
Chicago to play. I don't know whether I took a taxi, whether someone picked me up, or what. The details of that trip are completely
blotted out of my mind. I wonder how many other people, in order to
survive, similarly blot out these experiences."
With a broad smile, Kean remembered another rude awakening
that came on the team's trip to Columbus, Ohio. "I was from the
South, and had been taught that whites had very high moral standards, and that blacks would do well to emulate them. As soon as we
hit the room at our Columbus hotel, one of the fellows on the team
went straight to the bathroom. They had these great big, thick,
beautiful towels, the thickest towels I'd ever seen in my life, with the
hotel's name on them. He got all the towels and divided them up and
the men put them in their suitcases. He then called linen service and
said, 'We don't have any towels in this room.' I have to laugh now,
but it did cause me to reconsider what I'd been taught about whites."
Julian Witherspoon, a sprinter on the 1944 and 1945 track teams,
remembered disheartening travels. At the Chicago Relays, a hotel
clerk informed Michigan coach Ken Dougherty that blacks couldn't
use the front entrance. With Julian in the fore, they balked. It was
explained that several prominent Michigan men, Willis Ward and
Julius Franks among them, had used the rear door. The blacks said
they would rather go back to Ann Arbor. "Well, we won't be responsible for the reception you get," the desk clerk scolded.
"Wouldn't you know it," Witherspoon recalled, "there was
absolutely no difficulty. All the guests did not get up and leave. As a




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT


73


matter of fact, some were outwardly friendly. After this incident the
question of using back doors never came up again."
In Champaign, Illinois, Bob Mann and Witherspoon were refused service in a restaurant across the street from the University
campus. "We protested," Julian remembered. "Then the owner
came out and told us he was sorry. We would have to leave, not
because he wanted it that way, but his customers would not stand for
it. We created a mild disturbance, but they still didn't serve us. At
Purdue we faced similar travel problems."
Ten years after Willis Ward's experience in Indianapolis,
"Hap" Coleman made the trek with Western Michigan University
teammates. His coach dutifully took him to the black YMCA, only to
be challenged by the clerk, "Why isn't he downtown with your other
players?"
"Well, we've always had our players stay here," the coach
answered.
"Well, next year don't bring him here. Take him downtown with
the rest of the team!" came the reprimand.
"The next year the coach kept me with the team," Coleman
recalled. "No problems were encountered whatsoever. It was beautiful so far as I was concerned. A lot of the problems seem attributable
to coaches who did not insist on keeping their teams together."
I asked Coleman if he was allowed to dine with teammates on
trips.
"In my four years at Western the only places I wasn't served
were Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the Palmer House in Columbus,
Ohio," he said. "At the Palmer House the coach took me to his room
in the Hotel and we ate together. We had a good meal, but I would
have rather eaten with the team."
Coleman then asked me directly: "You've interviewed several
men; do you know what it felt like to travel under those circumstances?"
"Yes, I think so," I blurted out, shortly to wish I'd kept still.
"I'm glad you do," he continued, "but you'd really have to
experience it to know the constant anxiety. You never knew when or
where a problem might be encountered. If our relay team went
somewhere there would only be four or five fellows and the coach.
We competed in some small towns and the coach would say, 'Here's
some money. Go eat and meet me back here.' Some of the fellows
knew the problem, some didn't. Some would say, 'Come on Hap,




74  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


let's go in there.' Then we would get the stares. The anxiety would
build in me. They would serve us, but it was always pretty tense for
me.'"
"Football was worse. I had just turned 17 upon graduation from
Hamtramck High, and was the only black on the Western team. On
trips I would go into the hotel and stay in my room. Not until my
junior year did I begin to say, 'What the heck. I'm part of the team.
I'm going to do like everyone else.' "
At Michigan, before he tired of riding the bench behind halfbacks
to whom he felt superior, Coleman made two road trips. "I never
really felt I was part of the team," he recalled, "but travel was less of
a problem at Michigan than at Western. Lenny Ford and I roomed
together on those trips. At Northwestern one of the lesser assistant
coaches cautioned, 'Be nice, and don't make yourselves too obvious,' as if to say, 'Don't look too black.' It went in one ear and out the
other, because I'd been through that bit. I told Lenny, 'We'll operate
just like anyone else.' "
In his one season of track at Michigan, Coleman remembered no
travel problems, and thought highly of both Ken Dougherty and his
assistant Don Canham.
Joseph Hayden, Jr., was more critical of Dougherty. "He was
very good about assigning rooms on trips by the event you were
competing in, and would discuss any personal problems and work
with you," said Hayden. "Of course, problems precipitated by race
were never discussed."
He offered this example of Dougherty's insensitivity to the black
athletes. Michigan had the top mile- and two-mile relay teams in the
country and were expecting fierce competition at the Evening Star
meet in Washington, D.C., in 1947. This was to be the first collegiate
interracial competition ever held in that city. "We usually stayed
together as a team," said Hayden, "but blacks weren't allowed in the
D.C. hotels. Dougherty arranged for us to stay at Howard University, while the caucasians stayed at the Continental Hotel. New York
University faced the same problem by bringing their entire team to
the Howard campus."
Coach Dougherty's insensitivity deserves strong criticism, but it
was no match for the callousness of the entire country, beginning with
its seat of government. It is still startling to realize that blacks could
not be served in restaurants, lodged in hotels, or seated in a theater in
the nations's capital as late as 1953. Even more startling is the treat



AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT


75


ment of Adam Clayton Powell, elected to the U.S. Congress in 1944.
An unwritten law kept black congressmen from the House barbershop, gymnasium, and dining room. He not only ignored those rules,
but ordered his staff to do likewise. He is quoted as saying, "When I
heard that the dining room for representatives' staff was off-limits to
Negroes, I told my secretary and clerks to go down there and eat
whether they were hungry or not."
In Hayden's freshman and sophomore years (1945 and 1946) the
white athletes were little help in solving the restaurant problems that
invariably occurred on track trips. "They would split up," he said,
"leaving the black athletes to fend for themselves. Then men like
George Shepard showed initiative in keeping the team together and
facing the issue. After we had been together for a while it became
standard procedure that if blacks were not served, the entire team
went elsewhere."
On the positive side, Hayden recalled having an extra year of
eligibility because of war policy. "Dougherty advised me not to use
it," he said, "because it would unfairly interrupt my vocational
progress. In that respect he was unselfish." Hayden said of assistant
coach Don Canham, "I never had any experience with him where
racism was exhibited."
The one man on the Michigan athletic staff who made a profound
impression on Hayden with his sense of fair play was gymnastics
coach Newt Loken. Hayden was never involved in gymnastics, but
he was selected to a 16-member dance team representing the Physical
Education Department. " 'Doc' Laban, the dance teacher, and
Loken selected the group," said Hayden. "They were great people,
and the caucasian girl whose partner I'd be wanted me as a partner.
We made several trips giving dance performances. It was a very
pleasant experience." Taking his praise for Loken a step further,
Hayden remembered being a candidate for membership in the professional fraternity for physical education majors, the Phi Epsilon
Kappa, in his senior year. "I wasn't accepted," he said, "because of
race. Loken wrote letters to the local and national chapters objecting
strenuously. The following years, after I'd graduated, blacks were
accepted to membership because of Loken's action."
Learning from the Washington, D.C., experience, Dougherty
did much better in Salt Lake City that same year. Sophomore Charles
Fonville and a few teammates were there for the NCAA meet. The
restaurant in the hotel where the team was registered refused to serve
Fonville. Dougherty moved the Michigan contingent to a motel a few




76  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


miles up into the mountains where service was more accomodating.
Fonville worked his quiet vengence upon the field of shot putters,
beating them all to become national champion.
The next year Fonville and Harrison Dillard, a great hurdler
from Baldwin Wallace University, were invited to compete in the
Kansas Relays. In Lawrence they were hustled off to stay in a private
home in the black section of town. Neither unpacked. They walked to
the K.U. campus to see how the white athletes were being greeted
and quartered. It was a totally different world. They were being met
at the Student Union and being given campus tours by cheerleaders
chauffering in new convertibles. In a variety of ways they were being
received as celebrities. Incensed by their second-class treatment,
Fonville and Dillard pondered whether to stay and compete or return
home immediately. They attempted unsuccessfully to find the meet
manager. Fonville thought of calling Dougherty in Michigan for
advice, but decided against it. Frustration, disgust, and indecision
tugged away at the two.
A few blacks were now being given a chance in track. A strong
protest ran the risk of provoking a damaging backlash by white
coaches. The next morning they elected to stay, compete fiercely,
and exit quickly. Fonville broke the world shot put record and,
moments later, the world high hurdles mark fell to Dillard. Shortly
thereafter they headed home, proud but sullen.
Fonville went to the weekly black newspaper in Kansas City and
asked them to call Michigan saying he would be back on the first
morning flight. He slept at the YMCA. Coach Dougherty loaded the
track team onto a bus and greeted his world record holder at the
Detroit airport. Following the congratulations of teammates, Fonville, in a quiet discussion with his coach, described his Kansas
treatment. Dougherty wrote to protest the action and to demand an
explanation. He showed Fonville the letter and the Kansas answer
saying it was purely coincidental that the black athletes were all
housed in the same private home. No racism was intended, and it was
not their intention to have it happen again.
It never happened to Fonville again, because he refused to
defend his Kansas Relays crown in his senior year.
"I grew up in an era when discrimination was a fact of life, and it
still is," said Fonville. "It is just a matter of degree. Coach
Dougherty assured me the Michigan team would travel, eat, and
sleep as a unit. In general what he said was accurate."
The 1948 football team had only one black athlete on the travel



AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT


77


ing squad, halfback Gene Derricotte. In preparation for the game
with Purdue at Lafayette, business manager Don Wier tried to arrange for the team to stay in Indianapolis the night before the game.
The hotels there absolutely refused to accommodate Derricotte.
Wier tried Chicago and got three consecutive refusals. He called
Northwestern University, just north of Chicago, and was given the
name of a hotel that would accept Derricotte. The Michigan team
worked out at Northwestern's field on Friday and stayed that night in
Evanston. Saturday morning they reboarded the train for Lafayette.1
Tom Johnson, a tackle in 1949, '50, '51. and Lowell Perry, an
all-America end who played on the '50, '51, and '52 teams, were both
pleased with travel arrangements. Johnson described himself as the
"pet" of line coach, Jack Blott. As the only black player on the '49
team, he roomed on trips with Al Wistert, and developed a lasting
friendship. Wistert was a 32-year old tackle, and the third Wistert
brother to make all-America at that position for the Wolverines.
Perry roomed with Johnson on campus and on many road trips, but
said room arrangements for athletic trips were not predicated on race.
"We stayed at the University Golf Course the evening before home
games and rooming was integrated," he said. I usually roomed with
another black on road trips, but did share one with Merrit Green
(white), the team captain, in my senior year."
The travel problems of G. Anderson White, the diver on the 1955
swim team have already been noted. The pre-season trip to Fort
Lauderdale was out, and the Buffalo, N.Y. Athletic Club showed it
could match Florida's racism.
Most Northern teams avoided athletic competition in the South,
but that began changing in the 1960s. Several of Michigan's outstanding track men wanted to go to the Texas Relays in 1960, but the black
athletes refused to go. They were key members of relay teams, so the
trip was cancelled. It created some resentment by the whites. The
next year, Don Canham, Michigan's track coach from 1949 to 1968,
made every effort to prevent humiliation or harrassment because of
race, and the team competed in Austin.
"Canham was never the kind of guy you could sit across from
and feel very casual talking to," said Richard Cephas, a member of
the 1959, 1960, and 1961 track teams, "but if he said 'We're going to
Texas or we're going some place and the black athletes are not going
to be discriminated against because if they have to stay in a dirty,


Interview, Don Wier, JulI 19, 1970.




78  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


crummy hotel, everybody is going to stay there,' we did it. I've got a
lot of respect for him on that score."
Ken Burley recalled two occasions when Canham supported his
black athletes. "We went to Miami, Florida, in 1962, my sophomore
year. He made sure we had transportation above and beyond the
other guys, because he felt we would have more problems. He made
sure the trip was just as pleasant for us as anyone."
"On a track trip, I think in Indiana, one of the black athletes was
either refused admittance to the local movie or was forbidden to sit
somewhere in the theatre, I've forgotten exactly. Anyway, he returned to the motel and told Canham. He blew his stack. They went
back to the theatre and raised hell. The management backed down
and let the athlete be treated like anyone else."
"It really makes you feel good when you see a guy stand up for
you like that. I'd heard stories of incidents occurring before I came to
Michigan where Canham stood up for the blacks without question or
hesitation. The athletes felt he was one of the first coaches to really
give them a square deal.
Many hotels and restaurants began desegregating in the 1960s,
but at the finer ones blacks were and still are an oddity. If they aren't
careful, they're likely to be pressed into service as bellhops. On the
1964 Rose Bowl trip, Mike Willie and a few players were in front of
the team's hotel, the Huntington Sheraton. Assuming he must be a
bellboy, a lady commanded, "Say, will you get these bags." Not
being averse to a little humor, Willie said, "Sure," and toted her bags
inside. "She gave me a dollar," he said. "I smiled broadly, and
returned to find my teammates enjoying a good belly laugh. The next
day we were returning from supper and passed three old women in the
lobby. One said very disgustedly, 'Well! They're letting THEM in
now.' "
In 1965, Michigan opened its football season at the University of
North Carolina. Willie remembered the trip. "The day before the
game a Ku Klux Klan rally was staged near the Stadium with burning
cross and the works. As we went through our loosening up drills the
sprinkling of spectators called, 'Hey nigger,' and worse. Beer cans
and malicious threats were hurled at us. Interracial competition was
new to the Atlantic Coast Conference. We went back to Chapel Hill
in 1968 or 1969, and I was on the Michigan trainer's staff. There were
no incidents. Some of the people were even sorta warm. It was quite a
contrast."




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT 79


Although there were about eight black athletes on Michigan
travel squads during Ron Johnson's three varsity football seasons, he
always had a white roommate. It was quarterback Dennis Brown in
1966 and 1967, and fullback Garvie Craw in 1968. Said Johnson,
"Absolutely no problems were encountered in travel. Coach 'Bump'
Elliott was highly respected by the black athletes. I think all the
Michigan coaches were more sincere in their personal interest in you
than was true at many schools."
There is no way of knowing how Elliott and other recent
coaches would have been rated had they coached in the 1940s. Arranging travel was a much simpler task in the 1960s. It is evident that
earlier coaches were frequently called upon to settle issues with
hotels and restaurants, to write letters of protest, and to keep racial
grievances resulting from travel at a minimum. After the "separatebut-equal" doctrine was annulled by the Supreme Court in 1954,
restaurants, motels, and transportation companies grudgingly reduced discriminatory practices. In the late 1960s, largely because the
civil rights acts of 1964 and 1965 put pressure on businesses, this was
no longer an issue among Michigan's black athletes.
Not only was the public generally unaware of these travel problems, they also deluded themselves into thinking that athletics provided a grand example of democracy. Apparently they saw athletes of
differing races sharing victory and shouldering defeat and concluded
that white coaches and athletes were unconscious of race.
"From the point of view of the black athletes," said Charles
Fonville, "the greatest source of bias was the financial aid system in
athletics at Michigan. Many caucasians with far less ability than some
of the black athletes received this aid before their black counterparts.
The money was controlled by the coaches, and I got the impression
the alumni contributed money to a fund. In some cases they took the
athlete under their wing financially. I observed this in both football
and track."
Fonville was criticized by black teammates for not setting precedent and demanding aid. For the top-flight performers at Michigan in
football and track it was unusual not to be receiving some kind of
financial aid from the Athletic Department. "I knew the money
would not come without strings attached," said Fonville, "and would
be so small in amount it wouldn't be worth it." He paid his own way,
through summer savings and a loan. A strong individualist, Fonville
remains fiercely proud of never having received a cent of aid from the
Athletic Department to pay for his education. When the Big Ten




80  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


began granting tenders (athletic scholarships) in the 1950s the financial aid system became more honest and more equitable. Eventually,
all tendered athletes received a fully-financed, four-year University
education. One of the greatest sources of bias was thus removed.
I asked Hap Coleman if he thought athletics was a grand example
of democracy. "I think there was a greater sense of democracy in
athletics than most sectors of life," said Coleman, "but it was really a
matter of need. If the need for your talents was greater, the democracy got better." He spoke on good authority, having been denied
the chance to play football at Michigan because of race, having seen
blacks prevented from playing basketball, and having enjoyed a fine
varsity track season at Michigan. That was the late 1940s when only
one or two outstanding black athletes were needed in football; none
were needed by any Big Ten team in basketball; and several were
needed on the track team. Then, in the 1950s and 1960s, coaches
whose teams won with outstanding black athletes forced opposing
coaches to expand their recruiting. As the need (and thereby the
number) increased, the democracy got better.
This same principle can be seen in the selection of team captains
at Michigan. As the value of black athletes to the team became more
apparent and as their numbers grew, the possibility of having one
elected captain increased. The first was, quite predictably, a track
man; Bill Watson was chosen in 1939. There had been other men
before him who might well have been named. DeHart Hubbard made
it big at Michigan. A good student, admired by teammates and public
for his Olympic medal, and the author of a track column for the
Detroit News, Hubbard remembered his Michigan teammates with
affection. In his judgement they showed no overt bias. It would be
hard to imagine a better qualified candidate for captain of the 1925
track team than Hubbard. I asked how it was that teammates could be
as unbiased as he claimed and yet deny him this honor.
"I'm glad you mentioned that," said Hubbard, "because that
became a point of discussion. They elected Jim Brooker, a fine
pole-vaulter who had won third place in the 1924 Games. I don't
know if that was purely racial or whether it was because of the terrific
competition among the various fraternities. A large part of their
prestige came from having the captains of the varsity teams in their
membership. The one having the football captain was often considered the most outstanding. I'm sure that was a factor in the election
of the 1925 track captain. How much race entered in, I don't know."
Eddie Tolan and Booker Brooks, both world-class performers,




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT  81


had plenty to recommend them. Then there was Willis Ward, a
one-man track team, a fine student, and a crowd favorite. Perhaps in
the entire history of Michigan athletics no more abundantly qualified
man has been bypassed by teammates. It may be that they were still
struggling with the idea of having blacks on the team. Electing a black
captain apparently was out of the question. But that was to change
four years later.
What prompted the 1939 track team to make history by electing
Bill Watson its captain? The key seems to be the attitude not of the
players but of the coaches. Recalling his days as assistant coach, Ken
Dougherty said Charley Hoyt would make his choice known to key
men just before the election, and he was rarely disappointed in their
selection. He was sure Watson's selection was inspired by Hoyt.
Through this action, Hoyt acknowledged the increasingly more vital
role of black athletes in Michigan track and field.
In Dougherty's nine seasons as head track coach (1940-48)
Michigan had several talented black candidates, but none was made
captain. The players felt he had quite a lot to do with it. John
Roxborough missed in 1944 by just one vote. Rumor among the black
athletes was that Dougherty controlled the ballot count, preventing
his election because he thought it would create controversy. Later,
Val Johnson went through the same thing. Joseph Hayden, Jr. remembered Dougherty counting the ballots and announcing, "Well
Val, you did a good job, but you missed by just one vote." Said
Hayden, "We were always curious about that one vote."
The fact that Watson was named in 1939 and that men could
come within one vote was indicative of the growing tendency on the
part of track coaches to accept outstanding black athletes more fully
into the democracy of intercollegiate track. As the number competing
for various colleges increased, more black captains were elected.
Hap Coleman was co-captain of Western Michigan's 1943 track
squad, and Charles Fonville was Michigan's choice in 1949.
Because he was a national champion, Fonville was a nominee for
team captain as a sophomore. His quiet, independent, aloof relationship to coach and teammates was not ideally suited to a captain.
Coach Dougherty anticipated steady performance from him, and
encouraged the selection of someone else for whom the recognition
might boost performance.
The next year Fonville was the world record holder, and teammates disregarded the apparently impenetrable exterior to elect the




82  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


second black captain in Michigan sports history. But a serious spinal
operation forced Fonville to sit out the 1949 season and to give up the
captaincy.
Ten years later it would be rather commonplace for superior
track athletes to be elected captain. Mamon Gibson led the 1959
team. Tom Robinson was the overwhelming choice in 1961, as was
Kent Bernard in 1965. The cream rose more easily to the top in track
and field because of the very nature of competition there. Even in the
hands of a racist, the watch and tape provided a better guarantee that
the best man would win. Just as essential at Michigan was the makeup of the track team. White Americans came to have less and less to
say about who would be captain. On the 1959 squad nine different
countries were represented. It was truly international with Canadians, Europeans, blacks from the West Indies, and American whites
and blacks. Michigan was a winner, and that made for good morale.
On those rare occasions when a conflict with racial overtones arose,
it originated invariably with a white American.
In most sports the team elected its leader with the coach's
influence bearing great weight. In tennis it was customary to name the
number-one player captain. I was a little surprised that Dan Kean
was not so named in 1934 and I asked him, "If there was no discernible racial bias among your teammates, could a black have been
elected captain of that tennis team?"
"No," he answered without hesitation. "Not with the players
voting. We enjoyed playing against each other, but the pleasantries
were, 'Hello. How you doin'? How you gettin' on?' We never discussed race. I don't remember discussing race with any member of
the team. As I say, I think they respected my ability. But to make a
black captain would have taken leadership by one or more of the
whites. Someone would have had to say, 'Look, we're gonna do this
thing.' There was no teammate that had that type of leadership."
"There was the willingness to play. Everyone wants to play the
number-one guy, and I was whippin' everyone, so everyone was
willing to play me. There were a couple who deeply resented being
whipped, because they would throw their rackets and bounce the
balls all over the place. Now whether or not they did this more when I
was in the game than they would if they lost to someone else, I don't
know. Frankly, I don't remember. Nothing ever got to the point
where it was obvious they were motivated by prejudice. But certainly
there was no warm feeling or camaraderie on the team."




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT 83


When basketball named a black captain in 1959 it became only
the second sport at Michigan to look beyond race in determining its
leadership. The University's first black athlete to letter in basketball
did so in 1952. Its fifth, Memie C. Burton, Jr., was named co-captain
in 1959. Then came Dave Strack's talented teams of 1964-66, with
Cazzie Russell, Bill Buntin, and Oliver Darden playing decisive
roles. Black athletes and their leadership potential were clearly established, and the team chose Darden to lead them in 1966, Jim Pitts in
1968, and Ken Maxey in 1969.
There were three times as many black lettermen in football at
Michigan as in basketball. Yet, through the fall of 1972 only two, Ron
Johnson (1968) and Henry Hill (1970), have been named team captain. Could others before them have been selected, given the proper
credentials? Of the 1945 eleven, Hap Coleman answered unhesitantingly, "NO! You were lucky to get to play."
Tom Johnson, the "pet" of line-coach Jack Blott, was nominated in 1951. He joined a growing list when informed he "had done a
good job but missed by just one vote." Said Johnson, "Some of the
men were really disappointed that I wasn't elected, because I played
both offense and defense. The gentleman they elected played only
offensive tackle."
Lowell Perry made all-America his junior year and displayed
many of the appropriate attributes that prompted black teammates to
push for his selection in 1952. "It may be one of the first instances of a
black caucas," he smiled. "I think I lost not because of race, but
because the team thought Merrit Green was a better man. I think it
was possible for a black to have been captain in those days."
Guy Curtis agreed it was possible to have a black captain on the
1959-61 football teams. In his senior year, 1961, Bennie McRae was
in the running. The following year Dave Raimey was the team's Most
Valuable Player and a strong candidate for captain. Neither was
selected. "I don't know how the coaches would have reacted," said
Curtis. "It would have been a first, but I don't really believe race was
an issue with my teammates."
Perhaps what Johnson, Perry, and Curtis should have said was,
"I think a black could have come within one vote of being football
captain." White coaches and alumni would find it very difficult to
accept black leadership until the nation began doing so in the 1960s.
Remembering his days on the 1962-65 football teams, Mike
Willie saw no chance of electing a black captain. "The socioeconomic differences were as great as the racial," he said. "You tend




84  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


to run with those who can afford your kind of recreation. Most blacks
came from blue collar families, the whites from white collar. Fraternities and other interest groups played a major part in selecting the
team leadership." Guy Curtis strongly agreed with this assessment.
By Ron Johnson's senior year, the country had witnessed flaming race riots in Los Angeles, Detroit, and Newark. Black athletes on
over 30 major college campuses had served notice to their coaches
that conventional racism would no longer be tolerated. If ever the
climate was right for Michigan to show that a qualified black could be
football captain, 1968 was the year.
"About 16 seniors voted," recalled Johnson, "six of them black.
Tom Stincic and I tied. I then won on the next vote. Stincic was sorta
introverted. If he had won many would have believed the vote followed racial lines."
"Ron Johnson was so outstanding he could not be passed over,"
said Mike Willie. "He had drive, ability, was outgoing, universally
well-liked, and was the hardest worker out there."
We can only speculate as to whether Johnson could have been
captain had he played for Michigan in the 1940s, 1950s, or early 1960s.
The odds are he could not have. There is no question that the racial
turmoil of the mid-'60s greatly enhanced his chances in 1968, just as it
did for Jesse Rawls of the wrestling team shortly thereafter.
About 25 men determined the wrestling captain for 1970, three of
them black. Rawls was elected. "It was just like one big family," he
said. "I never had a hard word with any of the guys on the team. We
worked hard and enjoyed some very close friendships. One of my
best friends was a white teammate from Tennessee."
By 1972 it was not unusual to have black captains in track,
football, basketball, and wrestling at Michigan. This was in keeping
with the times. Again we see American sports mirroring the society.
In the late 1960s Americans were seeing blacks in various leadership
roles for the first time - as mayors, businessmen, engineers, and in
other occupations traditionally closed to them. Some key leadership
positions in government services were being kept vacant, awaiting
the arrival of qualified blacks. It was only logical that teammates
should begin looking beyond race in determining their captain. As
white coaches and athletes displayed less and less prejudice, democracy, in the sense of equal opportunity, in Michigan athletics became
more and more a reality. In 1972 it was even possible to have a black




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT 85


quarterback; Dennis Franklin became the first in Wolverine football
history.
"I treasure and maintain friendships with whites that developed
from swimming and music," said G. Anderson White. "They would
never have happened in the other world. Some of my fondest
memories are of Bill Revelli and the Michigan band. I didn't have to
play the saxophone in the marching band. My major was viola. But I
wanted to tour with them and became so involved that I was writing
shows for the band near the end. Like I say, these friendships would
never have happened in the other world."
THE OTHER WORLD
The other world White referred to meant maddening housing
problems, repugnant social conventions, and stereotyped employment following graduation.
The University compared photographs on application forms and
paired black students. Hap Coleman experienced this in 1945, Lowell
Perry in 1950, and Andy White in 1952. Because the number of black
students was so small, the resulting match-ups were often disastrous.
In his freshman year at Michigan White tripled in a room with two
graduate students with whom he had almost nothing in common
except race. About half-way through the year he was climbing the
walls. He was permitted to move in with a white student who later
was accepted into a fraternity. White then made still a third move.
The practice of racial pairing seems to have declined in the late
1950s. Marshall Dickerson had a white roommate in the Michigan
dorms in 1958 and 1959 as did Mike Willie in 1962.
Students eagerly sought to escape dormitory living after their
freshman year. The unmarried, under 21 years of age, were expected
to live in campus housing. One escape was the fraternity or sorority
system. Thousands of white students took it; very few black students
did. There were fraternities and sororities for black students. Unfortunately they often had members but no house. In the late 1960s, as
black enrollment increased, their activities and membership became
more stable.
When they were eligible to rent rooms or apartments off-campus,
black students were constantly humiliated by landlords. "We'd go to
rent a place and they'd say, 'No, it has just been rented,' " recalled
Lovell Farris. That was in 1959 and 1960. "Then we'd offer to take
the For Rent sign down for them. Their faces would flush a little, not




86  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


expecting our free service." The usual solution was to stay where
other blacks had stayed, in an apartment that was unacceptable to
white students because it was either too shabby, the landlord too
strict, or the rent unreasonable.
Richard Cephas tried renting and received the typical, "Sorry, it
has already been leased." A white friend then called only to find it
still available, but "not to niggers." Cephas beat the system in 1961
and 1962. A Jewish friend rented an apartment and said he had
roommates coming. When the lease was signed, four black roommates appeared. The landlord's hysteria was met with, "Sorry, but
we've got a lease."
Rather than fight the landlords individually, some of the men in
1953 and 1954 were able to rent a house. White remembers sharing
that rental with about eight others, all black and nearly all athletes.
This idea was seen again in 1964 and 1965 as the first black football
fraternity house was initiated. White teammates frequently joined
well-established fraternities. The blacks wanted to establish a house
that might serve the same purpose. At coach Bump Elliott's insistance a business agent was appointed and a cook was hired. Approximately ten men shared the dwelling, and the idea was continued. Its
1970 version was affectionately titled, "The Den of the Mellow
Men."
University housing took a much more active role in assisting
students against racist landlords after the U. S. Congress passed the
Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 and after the 1967 Detroit riot. Ron
Johnson could not remember any athletes for whom housing was a
problem in 1967 and 1968. Although it became increasingly easier for
blacks to rent an apartment in the late 1960s, they encountered much
opposition when they tried to purchase a house. The greatest opposition faced those who were interracially married. That was Mike
Willie's challenge.
"We shopped every spring for five years," said Willie. "We
were shown some real rat traps by realtors who were sure they knew
just what we'd be looking for. You wouldn't wish them on your worst
enemy. Once, we found a nice house we liked. The price was right
and we agreed to it with the realtor. When confronted face-to-face
with the seller, the price went up several thousand dollars. We
probably should have listened to advice and taken it to court, but
didn't.
"Finally we found a home in north Ann Arbor in a neighborhood
about 30 per cent black, 70 per cent white. I called the City Planning




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT


87


Commission to ask about the area and the caucasian gentleman
replied, 'the neighborhood is integrated and we like it that way.' That
sold us. We have not been disappointed with the acceptance we've
found there. With all its lingering racism, Ann Arbor is perhaps the
only city in Michigan where you can live interracially and feel very
comfortable."
The other world Andy White referred to included the social
vacuum in which blacks were expected to manage. The problem was
three-fold. First, there were practically no black students on the
Michigan campus until 1966. In fact, for many years there were more
students from India than black Americans at the University. Second,
of those on campus, nearly all were male; many were athletes. Third,
any attempt to fill the void by joining white fraternities or dating white
coeds met with fierce opposition from many sectors.
In the early 1960s, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
labeled the University racist and capitalist, basing his judgement on
the near absence of blacks and the prevalence of students from upper
middle-class America. The North Central Association of Colleges
and Secondary Schools, which accredits the University, agreed.
Upon completing its routine inspection of the University for reaccreditation it characterized Michigan in three words - excellent,
wealthy, and white.
Ron Johnson remembered being the only black in almost all his
courses in the business school in 1966, 1967, and 1968. There were
three in his class and eight to ten in the entire school.
The second part of the social problem, that is the virtual absence
of black women on campus, curtailed social life for most of the
athletes. DeHart Hubbard was an exception. He married his high
school sweetheart at the age of 18 and had started a family while still a
student at Michigan. The demands of track, studies, family, and a
part-time job kept him too busy to ponder social inequities. Of
course, there was never any thought of attending the J-Hop or similar
University social functions. Two black fraternities, Omega Psi Phi
and Alpha Phi Alpha, with about 20 members each, formed the hub
of what little social life there was for black students.
"Black fraternities and sororities were never active in the same
sense as the white ones," said Charles Fonville in recalling the late
1940s. "Often they had no house and few members."
"It seemed like I was always going some place," remembered
Andy White. "Either the band, the Union opera, or the swimming




88  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


team was traveling. But it wasn't as easy for most black students."
He especially remembered the anxieties of those light-skinned ones
who were "passing." They were trying to pass for white because it
was the only escape from racial hatred. They were constantly locked
in an inner struggle, afraid whites would learn the truth, uncomfortable with blacks because of the lie.
Comparing dating notes with high school teammates who went to
all-black colleges caused Richard Cephas (1958-62) to have second
thoughts about his choice of Michigan. "Our fraternity, Kappa Alpha
Psi, had a few parties, but the absence of black students in general and
females in particular was really discouraging. Fortunately, Eastern
Michigan University in nearby Ypsilanti had some black coeds and
Detroit was only 45 miles away if you had a car."
In a rare occurance, Marshall Dickerson met and married a
black University of Michigan coed in 1960. So accustomed were
friends to thinking of blacks at Michigan as male and varsity athletes
that introducing her at parties often brought amazement and the quip,
"Really? What sport did she play?"
Social life began improving in the late 1960s. "Traditionally,
concert groups were selected by whites to suit white tastes," said
Ron Johnson. "After the riots in Watts and Detroit, student leaders
made a conscious effort to select groups that would appeal to both
sides, such as The Fifth Dimension. In 1967 my fraternity, Alpha Phi
Alpha, accepted an invitation to a party with a white sorority."
Gestures such as these were isolated examples of how some students
felt about racial bigotry. They were in no sense a trend in the Greek
housing system, where, through 1972, no black letterman has ever
been granted membership in a white fraternity. A few made unsuccessful bids.
In 1968 Morris Abrahams, a football tackle, attempted to pledge
Sigma Chi, a fraternity noted at Michigan for its famous athletic
members. The Ann Arbor men wanted Abrahams, but the national
office's final decision was not to admit a black to fraternal membership. Abrahams continued as a social member and the house did not
break with its national leadership, a point on which they were sharply
criticized by black students.
Few of the former complaints of a sterile social life were voiced
by black athletes after 1968. The Universtiy's minorities recruitment
program increased black enrollment markedly. Ron Johnson's
fraternity had only twelve members in 1966 and over sixty in 1968.
Jesse Rawls married a black University of Michigan coed in 1970. He




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT


89


described parties in the Union ballroom attended by nearly 200 black
students. Ypsilanti and Detroit were also mentioned as likely sources
for dates. "I remember my two years at Trinidad, Colorado Junior
College," he said. "There were 30 blacks on campus, five were
women. To date interracially was strictly forbidden. You had to drive
over 200 miles north to Denver to find any social life."
Johnson remembered some high school teammates who were
similarly isolated. One attended the University of Iowa, and complained bitterly that there were no blacks to date and that coaches
scorned players who dared to date interracially.
Among Michigan coaches, some football coaches were the least
tolerant of interracial dating and felt completely justified in making
decisions for athletes in the social realm. They would dismiss them
from the team if they insisted on dating interracially. This view was
shared by the overwhelming majority of white Americans.
The coaches were not alone in their determination to control
dating habits. In the 1940s and 1950s the Ann Arbor police often felt
compelled to stop and harrass interracial couples. Joseph Hayden,
Jr., recalls being stopped enroute to a movie. The policeman tried to
intimidate both him and his date. Andy White remembered police
stopping a fellow black student driving with his white date. "The poor
guy was so threatened," said White, "that he pleaded with the
lawman not to turn him in for his 'crime'." Not until the 1960s did
Ann Arbor's finest begin turning this energy toward more pressing
crime problems.
Even Lowell Perry, for whom criticism of Michigan is nearly
impossible, had to admit that interracial dating was likely to bring a
Michigan athlete rapidly into disfavor with his coach. David J. Hill, a
halfback on the 1954 and 1955 Wolverine teams, serves as one example. He was dismissed from the squad and denied the chance to travel
with them to the Rose Bowl because of interracial dating. A small
furor was raised by alumni from Hill's hometown, Ypsilanti, but the
decision of the coach was final.
The 1958 football team lettered three blacks, Willie Smith, Al
Van Groce, and Don Deskins. Smith was big, strong, a good student
and the team's fastest tackle. He dated interracially, and, what made
it worse, this young coed would come watch the practices, making it
clear who her favorite player was. Willie had troubles with the coaching staff. Van Groce was a highly touted halfback from Pennsylvania. He dated interracially. Coaches demanded he either quit doing




90 HAIL TO THE VICTORS


so or turn in his equipment. He bitterly turned in his equipment. Don
Deskins was a two-year letterman tackle. He was married, so dating
was not a factor in his relationship to the coaches.
In 1962 Mike Willie and Mike Bass were reprimanded by their
football coaches for such dating. The odds against making the team,
with over 80 fine athletes competing for 11 starting positions, were
very high. Failing to heed the warnings of coaches made them soar
even higher. Most athletes were not willing to face those odds. Some,
like Willie, were forced to conduct their social life beyond the view of
coaches.
The Ann Arbor police were not the only outsiders to share the
football coaches' view: The Dean of Women felt compelled in the
early 1960s to note all coeds dating interracially and send a letter to
their parents disclosing this ominous fact. She has since been removed from office.
Among all Michigan coaches, Don Canham, today's Director of
Athletics, seems to have been much less disturbed by this practice
than most. "I don't think it made that much difference to him," said
Richard Cephas. "Track captain, Mamon Gibson dated a white girl
who used to come down while he was practicing pole vaulting, catch
his pole, watch his steps, and urge him to higher heights."
In spite of the deterrents there is evidence that black athletes
have dated and married interracially at Michigan since World War II.
This suggests that not everyone at the University agreed with the
football coaches, the Ann Arbor police, or the Dean of Women.
In contrast to their bitter memories about social life, a great
majority of the athletes were pleased with the quality of academic life
at Michigan. A rhetoric class stands out most vividly in Henry
Graham's memory. It was 1927, and as a freshman he never thought
that such relevant issues as sex and race could qualify as grist for
academic discussion. "We talked about everything. I had a terrific
time in that class," said Graham. "The professor felt America was a
great melting pot, and said, 'No two races have ever lived side-byside and not intermingled.' The subject of interracial housing was
raised and a boy in class, who incidentally was from my home town,
Cleveland, complained of a Negro doctor moving next door. He
didn't understand why they would want to do that. Why not stay in
the negro neighborhood? This professor had me answer the question.
We talked about how in white neighborhoods the garbage is collected
more often; the police protection is more strict and more fair; the least




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT


91


thing that happens is taken care of immediately." Graham couldn't
recall the professor's name, but regarded him as "way ahead of his
time."
Charles Fonville chose Michigan in 1946 largely because of its
combination of academic and athletic excellence. Having established
a fine reputation in the shot put even as a freshman, he received many
invitations from relays promoters across the country. His athletic
talents were never used at the expense of academics. "I reached an
understanding with coach Dougherty," he said, "that since I had
studies and since I was receiving no financial aid from the University,
I would compete once a week or as the regular schedule called for.
Under no circumstances would I be lured around the country competing Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as some of the nationally known
athletes were doing." Fonville graduated with a B average in industrial relations.
A few years ago Lowell Perry received a letter from his sociology professor at Michigan. "He had occasion to write an appraisal of
me back in 1950," said Perry, "and it predicted grand things. Just
recently he came across an article describing my work at Chrysler in
very flattering terms. That prompted him to send the appraisal along,
complimenting me for making him a shrewd prophet."
Lovell Farris ranked ninth out of 174 graduates in his Cleveland
high school in 1955, and was a member of the National Honor Society. He turned down 30 scholarships from fine schools, including
Ohio State, to come to Michigan. Its academic prestige was the
deciding factor. He now has a dental practice in Detroit.
Upon graduation from South Bend (Indiana) Central High
School in 1958 Guy Curtis had several Big Ten scholarship offers in
both football and wrestling, but athletics never entered into his choice
of a university. His father was a dentist, his mother a graduate of the
University of Chicago. A grandfather had been a doctor, and an aunt
had a Ph.D. His academic record showed an average of 91 out of a
possible 97 for four years. It had always been a foregone conclusion
that he would attend college. Michigan's academic reputation sold
him. After he went out for the football and wrestling teams and
lettered in both as a sophomore he was offered a scholarship by each
coach. He turned them down, preferring to remain financially independent of the Athletic Department. His father was willing and able
to finance his education. In his senior year he decided not to go out for
spring practice. In anticipation of graduate school he wanted to
concentrate on classwork. Some of the coaches were very upset but




92  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


head coach Chalmers "Bump" Elliott gave his permission. It would
have been a different story if he. had been receiving an athletic
scholarship. Just recently Curtis completed a doctor's degree at the
University.
Andy White was deeply impressed with the quality of instruction
and programs in the School of Music at the University. Many other
"M" men interviewed, including 1968's great all-American, Ron
Johnson, said that Michigan's academic excellence was the decisive
factor in their choice of schools.
While the vast majority of the athletes commented favorably
upon academic life at Michigan, there was also some sharp criticism.
A few recalled a low grade that left them debating the degree to which
race figured into the finaljudgement. Dan Kean remembered student
teaching at the University High School in Ann Arbor in 1934 and the
female critic teacher to which he was assigned who could not accept
the idea of a black student teaching her students. She made Kean a
spectator of the class for the entire time. He was given teacher
certification, but was never allowed the supervised practice teaching
experience required by state law.
It was impossible for university professors to live in a racist
society and not have an occasional slip of the tongue in the classroom.
Lowell Perry recalled a Civil War historian of national prominence
who concluded his discourse about the Emancipation Proclamation
saying, "Negroes thought it meant freedom from work, a false impression many still have today. They believe all they need is a pork chop
and a sunny beach."
"That really hurt," Perry remembered. "I wanted to go up after
class and express my contempt for such degrading stereotypic statements, but that isn't my nature. I'm sure if he made such a statement
in 1970 he'd really catch hell."
Even if it had been his nature to rebel, Perry would have been
wasting breath. Racism so permeated American society that blacks
who took issue with it were quickly branded misfits. The case of
Julian Witherspoon points this up very dramatically.
A varsity track man his freshman and sophomore years (1944 and
1945), Witherspoon recalls going to an English class and informing
the instructor he would have to leave early to make the track team's
train for an away meet. Midway through the lecture the unthinking
professor used the phrase "nigger in a woodpile" to illustrate a
point. The hair stood up on Witherspoon's neck as he challenged the




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT


93


use of such racist cliches. Whether he was tactful in rebuttal remains
unanswered, but the professor threw him out of the class. Detained
by the argument and emotionally distraught, he missed the team's
train.
Reared in an integrated neighborhood by parents with professional backgrounds, Witherspoon was a very sensitive, intelligent,
sometimes volatile young man who would not accept living in a racist
world. As an athlete he was ready to do battle with the restaurant and
hotel managers who humiliated him with refusals of service when
traveling to out of town track meets. His respect for coach Ken
Dougherty ended when John Roxborough lost the election for captain by "just one vote." He drifted away from the varsity program in
his junior year partly to protect an injury and partly because he could
no longer accept the racism he found there.
As a challenge to stereotypes about the intelligence of blacks,
Witherspoon selected the curriculum he thought most difficult,
physics, and was drawn to its toughest courses like a magnet. After
finishing a bachelor's degree, he spent two years in the University's
Medical School before being dismissed. The break apparently came
when a professor tried to introduce humor into a microscopic
anatomy slide-presentation by inserting a photo of a black youth
nose-deep in watermelon. Witherspoon, predictably, became enraged. Soon he was being marked down on tests. The first time, a
grade was lowered he went to the instructor, thinking a legitimate
error had been made. The hostile reception and a fellow student's
confidential advice let Witherspoon know discussions were being
held regarding his belligerent attitude. It was suggested he would do
well to be considerably less outspoken. Disregarding the caution, he
continued to rebel against what he discribed as almost daily instances
of racism. Test grades suffered even more.
"I began to feel like I was in an enemy camp," he said. "I was
battle weary, and not really surprised to receive a letter that summer
saying I was no longer acceptable in the Medical School. The problem was that the professors were used to dealing with blacks who
were either brutalized into thinking they were inferior or who would
overlook their racism."
Witherspoon refused to compromise on discrimination and
spoke out whenever blacks were demeaned. "They didn't act like
they had ever dealt with someone like that before," he said. Rebellion
in the 1960s to this kind of treatment was likely to prompt its correc



94 HAIL TO THE VICTORS


tion. In 1949 it only prompted Witherspoon's dismissal from
Michigan.
Not one letterman interviewed ever had a black professor at
Michigan, but the chief academic problem identified by athletes in
1970 was the lack of good counseling. The common practice had been
for one of the coaches to have the responsibility of counseling the
Michigan athletes, and some say eligibility, by the most expedient
means, receives top priority. Rather than advise an athlete into
courses where he might make a D, but fulfill a much-needed prerequisite, they are steered into courses where athletes have been known
to do well. If an athlete encounters difficulty (low grades) in the
academic major of his choice, he is frequently induced to become
another luke-warm physical education major. After all, he will eventually cost the Athletic Department over $10,000.
Despite these complaints about academic life at Michigan, the
impressive fact is that 75 percent of the black lettermen did graduate.
What kind of employment awaited these scholar-athletes? Until the
1960s the physical education majors found almost no openings for
black coaches. Business, engineering, and many other fields were
closed. The men found openings in education, law, and medicine, but
their practice was restricted almost exclusively to the black community. In the 1950s some were able to play professional sports, but not
until President Kennedy began pressing for wider opportunities in the
1960s did the Michigan lettermen launch successful careers in such
fields as business and engineering.
A physical education major, DeHart Hubbard became a "colored worker" in the Recreation Department of his native Cincinnati
in 1925. During World War II he joined the Federal Housing Authority, where he remained until his retirement.
Dan Kean began coaching at black schools in the South in 1935,
and then stayed in the region selling athletic equipment for several
years. In 1954 he was hired by Gulf Oil Corporation and now directs
their efforts to secure talented personnel from minority groups.
Julian Witherspoon found himself an employment oddity in 1949
-a black physics major. After selling insurance and working at
several jobs that were not suited to his interests, he took a high school
teaching position in Detroit. He soon became Head of the Mathematics and Science departments.
Horace Coleman received a bachelor's degree in health education from Western Michigan University and lacked one course at The




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT


95


Universtiy of Michigan for a master's degree in administration and
supervision of health education. He wanted very much to coach. In
1946 he and a former football rival applied simultaneously to the
Detroit Board of Education. The friend was white, had played football at Wayne University, and had a bachelor's degree. Vaughn
Blanchard, the Athletic Director for the Detroit schools, immediately
put the white graduate into a coaching position at a high school.
Coleman was told, "We can't put you in because you don't have your
masters."
Then came the delaying tactics, "Get everything straight on the
master's and you can start coaching." It wasn't his first encounter
with job discrimination.
Coleman remembers working for Ford Motor Company during
the summers of 1940-42. Each year he and a Western Michigan
teammate would go to Ford's employment office on Miller Road,
carrying identical letters of recommendation. "I'd be sent to the
foundry," said Coleman. "He'd be sent to tool shops, security, plant
protection -jobs making more money for easier work every time."
The teammate, obviously, had one important difference; he was
white.
The Detroit school system could find little room for black
coaches, so these men turned to elementary school teaching, the one
level of education willing to employ a few blacks. Coleman launched
what was to become a successful and satisfying career in guidance
and counseling of elementary school pupils. In 1970 he was publicly
cited for outstanding work in that area.
Joseph Hayden, Jr., left Michigan with a bachelor's degree in
physical education and aspired to coach. There were only two black
coaches in Detroit in 1948. Just as with Coleman, he learned there
were no more openings. He found work with the Health Department
in Detroit.
"The city had a large rat problem, and I assisted in their project
to kill rats," he said. "It was a job, but not very close to my professional preparation. Of course, I got no help from the University in
seeking employment."
After two years with the Health Department, an elementary
school teaching position opened, and Hayden took it. Successful
teaching and extensive graduate work led to his current position as
Consultant in Human Relations for the Michigan Education Association.




96  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


Charles Fonville fared much better in his first job offer. In the
spring of 1950 he had a medical check-up by Dr. Wilbur Dolfin, who
was associated with the medical department of Kaiser Aluminum. In
the course of conversation he learned Fonville had no job offers, but
would like to use his economics major in some way. At Dr. Dolfin's
urging, Fonville was offered a position in industrial relations at
Kaiser.
"It was one of the few job areas open in business to blacks," said
Fonville. "Caucasians would get into management training at various
levels. Even physical education majors could get into sales or public
relations."
Attending night school at Detroit's Wayne State University,
Fonville eventually was able to complete a law degree and now
practices in that city.
"Michigan didn't prepare me for my first job situation," said
Lowell Perry. "It was with the United States Air Force. Oh, I'd
taken the Air Force ROTC training and received my commission at
the University. That preparation was fine. But when I reported for
duty I was totally unprepared for my squadron commander's comments. I knocked twice on the door before he answered. Striding six
paces I saluted, 'Lieutenant Perry reporting for duty Sir!'
"He looked up and said, 'Lieutenant, I was born in Florida and
brought up not to like you and your kind, but if you do your job we'll
get along. That's all.' "
"Michigan didn't prepare me for that," he laughed.
Perry had wanted to major in business, but his father could see
this promised no job in the forseeable future. He was convinced that a
liberal arts degree, because of its flexibility, was a far wiser choice.
Heeding this advice, Perry finished the bachelor's degree, completed
a term of military duty, and played professional football with the
Pittsburgh Steelers for two seasons. Injury cut short his playing
career, but he stayed on another two seasons coaching wide receivers
and scouting. At the same time, he was able to finish a law degree,
paving the way for his current employment in labor relations with
Chrysler Corporation in Detroit.
"Only very recently," said Perry, "have blacks been considered
for attractive management promotions at Chrysler, and there is still a
heck of a lot of room for improvement."
Tom Johnson saw few black doctors and lawyers in Muskegon
Heights, Michigan. That offered no vocational lure. Unsure, he




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT


97


turned to physical education. Even there, he had little reason to
believe ajob would be available. At Muskegon Heights High School
all teachers had been white. In spite of this, in 1952 the opportunity to
return a hometown hero and become the first black on the high school
faculty was extended.
"Mr. Bolt, principal at Heights, spent three hours talking to me
and trying to convince me to join the school's faculty," said Johnson.
"I had just turned 21, and the thought of working with 18- and
19-years olds, many of whom I knew quite well, frightened me. I told
him I had just signed a contract to play pro football in Green Bay. He
said, 'After the season is over, come back. You can start the second
semester.' I got drafted into military service after that first season,
and never accepted his offer."
After two years in the service and three in professional football,
Johnson returned to Muskegon looking for a job. A friend knew of
one in the personnel department of a local company.
"When I applied, they told me no job was available. Their reply
really meant no job was available to a black applicant. This was the
first time I'd run into out-and-out white prejudice. It came as quite a
shock in my hometown. I went to Milwaukee, a city I'd gotten to
know while playing at Green Bay, and took the state civil service
examination. I then found work as a counselor in the state employment office there." Eight years later he returned home, and now
works in the Department of Social Services for Muskegon County.
Andy White finished his swimming career and music degree at
Michigan before serving two years in the military. Returning to
Detroit in 1958 he found no openings in music education. Few blacks
held school positions in music. The University of Michigan placement office sent his credentials to a large number of schools in the
Midwest. None needed a black music teacher. His father commented
sarcastically, "Now you spent all that time going to school and what
are you going to do?"
Finally an offer came from Sedalia, Missouri, and White accepted. One visit to the town revealed there were no black families.
Social and cultural oblivion would be inevitable. He promptly returned to Detroit.
Armed with news clippings he again visited the Board of Education and said, "I know you don't need any black music teachers, but I
understand you do need someone in drama and speech. This wasn't
my major area, but I've had quite a background."




98  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


Displaying all those clippings brought more questions about his
music background. They wanted to hear him play the viola. "We
went down to a music store," White said, "got a viola, and I auditioned. They put me to work teaching fine arts at five elementary
schools." Six years at this level, four in junior high, and his current
work at Northwestern High School have kept G. Anderson White
bubbling with enthusiasm about his Michigan education and the
impact fine arts instruction is having among black youth.
Not until the early 1960s, when America was rocked by civil
rights marches did the job market for blacks begin to improve significantly. Men like Richard Cephas were the beneficiaries of the
tumultuous social and economic revolution. Track coach, Don
Canham, got him a job at Chevrolet Motor Company in Detroit.
Cephas' degree from the College of Architecture and Design was in
industrial and advertising design. He had developed this interest in
high school and decided to continue it at Michigan, in spite of the fact
that it was a field closed to blacks.
"I didn't worry about whether there would be a job when I
graduated," said Cephas. "I studied what I enjoyed. The Michigan
degree opened the door for me." In 1970 he was part of Chevrolet's
search for talented blacks to manage automobile dealerships.
In 1963 Marshall Dickerson was employed by General Motors
Corporation in Detroit as a data processing project leader. He had
received a teaching degree with a major in math and minors in physical education and science, and had added a few graduate hours in
mathematics.
"I think landing this job was based mostly on my Michigan
degree," Dickerson said. "First, it has not been easy convincing
people I graduated from Michigan. Since I'm black, they assume I
mean Michigan State. I interviewed at Ford Motor Company and the
fellow kept saying, 'You're sure you attended Michigan, not
Michigan State? You know, Michigan. Uh, you went there the whole
time?' 'Yes,' I answered, 'the whole time.' He just wasn't accustomed to seeing black graduates from that University."
In spite of the fact that almost no openings for black chemical
engineers existed nationally, Dickerson had considered this as a
major before turning to mathematics. This again was evidence of a
changing job market. Young intelligent blacks were beginning to do
what whites had always done, prepare for vocations suited to their
interest and aptitude.




AT THE UNIVERSITY BUT NOT OF IT


99


In 1967 Keith Cooley completed an engineering degree at
Michigan. It had been a foregone conclusion that he would go to
college. His maternal grandfather was graduated from Michigan in
1926. His father held a M.D. degree, an aunt was a psychiatrist,
another aunt was a lawyer, and there was even a civil engineer in the
family. Growing up in this professional environment he developed
the boyhood dream of being an airline pilot.
"At the age of 13 I was talking to a cab driver, a black cabbie, and
said I wanted to be an airline pilot. He said, 'No, you can't do that.' I
was a little crushed, but began to look into it when I got to college. I
talked to one or two black pilots. It seemed that pilot training schools
were being pressured into accepting blacks, but had the attitude that
they didn't have to place black graduates. I have a friend who was in
engineering and dropped out to complete the commercial pilot's
license. I just saw him recently and he is still looking for a job."
Having studied nuclear reactor physics at Union College in
Schenectady, New York, Cooley returned to Michigan to complete a
master's degree and to work part-time counseling minority students
in the College of Engineering. In 1970 the part-time job became
full-time with his appointment as Special Counselor to the Dean's
Office. When Dan Kean visited Michigan in quest of black engineers
for Gulf Oil Corporation, he visited with Keith Cooley. Kean was
impressed that Michigan was ahead of many schools in its recent
efforts to develop black engineers. He indicated that Ohio State was
not doing nearly so well.
I asked Kean how unusual it was to find blacks in engineering.
Through the years he could remember only two or three engineer
friends, and they had a difficult time finding work. "One in particular," he said, "nearly starved to death." In 1970 there were only two
black engineers in the entire employee of Gulf Oil Corporation, a
situation he is determined to alter.
Perhaps the most common academic major for black athletes has
been physical education, and most of these men wanted to coach. As
we have seen, no profession had closed its doors more securely. In
1968 Ken Burnley was appointed to the half-time position of assistant
track coach, the first black ever to hold a coaching position at The
University of Michigan. Louis Lee was later made freshman football
coach, and Ken Maxey stayed on in 1970 as a graduate assistant
working with Michigan basketball. In 1967 Mike Willie began working as an assistant trainer at the University. He was a football all



10O  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


American in high school but never lettered at Michigan. He was cut
down by three knee operations.
"I was such a steady customer in the training room from my
freshman year on," said Willie, "that I decided to make a career of it.
Jim Hunt, the head trainer, counseled me on the proper courses to
take and hired me as an assistant after I'd graduated." Willie had only
the highest praise for Hunt, and his comments were supported by
others. Both John Codwell, Jr., and Lowell Perry described Hunt as
"completely unbiased - the greatest friend a tired, battered athlete
could have."
In the face of almost impossible conditions many of Michigan's
black lettermen made a substantial and material contribution toward
dispelling the stereotype most whites held of all blacks. Many of these
men now hold positions of considerable responsibility. The list of
Ph.D.s, M.D.s, and D.D.S.s includes M. C. Burton, Jr., John Codwell, Jr., Guy Curtis, Don Deskins, Gene Derricotte, Julius Franks,
Lovell Farris, Frank Howell, Leonard Johnson, Art Walker, and
Ernest Simms. Stan Broadnax is now a junior in the Medical School
at Michigan. The lawyers include Robert Evans, Charles Fonville,
Derrick Humphries, Louis Lee, Robert Mann, Lowell Perry, John
Roxborough II, and Willis Ward. Two of the lawyers - Evans and
Ward-are judges. Van Bruner is an architect, and Roderick Warren
is an engineer-architect. Several of the lettermen have distinguished
themselves in the field of education. In particular, Robert Marion and
Erwin Crownley are school principals; Joseph Hayden Jr. serves as a
Consultant in Human Relations for the Michigan Education Association; and Willie Smith is assistant to the President of San Diego State.
In athletics, Ken Burnley, Ken Maxey, and Louis Lee have coached
at the college level; William Hardy and William Harris have coached
at the high school level. Mike Willie serves as assistant trainer at
Michigan In professional sports, Oliver Darden and Bill Buntin had
brief basketball careers. Cazzie Russell has starred for several years
in the National Basketball Association. Mel Anthony, Mike Bass,
Tom Darden, Glenn Doughty, Lenny Ford, John Henderson, Ron
Johnson, Tom Johnson, Reggie McKenzie, Bennie McRae, Lowell
Perry, Dave Raimey, John Rowser, Billy Taylor, Mike Taylor, Art
Walker, Carl Ward, and Bill Yearby all have played, and many are
still playing, professional football. Elliott Maddox plays outfield for
the Texas Rangers of the American League. In spite of the many
hurdles faced, it is rare to find a black "M" man who has not
distinguished himself in his profession and in his community.




Charles Fonville, world record holder.




M. C. Burton, 1958-59 basketball co-captain.


Dan Kean, one of only two varsity tennis
players at Michigan.


Kent Bernard, 1965 track captain.




Dave Raimey (No. 19) and Ben McRae (No. 43)
with backfield coach Hank Fonde.


Lowell Perry, all-American.


Ron Johnson, all-American, with head coach Chalmers "Bump" Elliott.
Ron Johnson, all-American, with head coach Chalmers "Bump" Elliott.




Ron Johnson comes briefly to the sidelines for shoe repair.




Jim Hunt, trainer, prepares to tape ankle ot all-American oasKeioaii player kazzie,usseil.


All the coaches appearing in the back row of this photo of the 1929 football staff are mentioned in
this book. They are L. to R.: Franklin Cappon, Harry Kipke, Jack Blott, Cliff Kean, Ben
Oosterbaan, and Charles Hoyt.




Mike Willie, assistant athletic trainer.


Ken Burnley, assistant track coach.


77d
Phil Snowden, assistant basketball coach.


Don Canham, athletic director.




:::
-:::
~~a.:iil
si::::.:


w:   f
4i
I I


7Richard Cephas clearing ianother hurdle.:iii-i
Richard Cephas clearing another hurdle.




4'K
4M
The 1971 version of the Den of the Mellow Men. L. to R. Mike Taylor, Glenn Doughty, Alden
"Butch" Carpenter, Tom Darden, Billy Taylor, and Reggie-McKenzie.




CHAPTER 3
_LLPEI IT




110  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


At the University of Michigan today athletic ability rather than
race determines a young man's chances to play on a varsity team. Just
a short time ago it was not that way. Today, blacks are seen on the
Board in Control of Athletics, the coaching staff, the athletic trainers
staffs, and the equipment room staff at Michigan.
Things are happening in the Big Ten conference also. A black
assistant commissioner is soon to be named. Efforts are underway to bring black coaches, officials, team physicians, trainers, secretaries, and other personnel into the athletic organizations of
member schools. This is a dramatic departure from past practice.
The campus atmosphere has also changed at Michigan. The
percentage of minority students in the University has increased
sharply. Black faculty and staff have been added. The counseling
system has become much more sensitive to the needs of minority
students. A black culture center has been established, and a Center
for Afro-American Studies has been formed.
There was no blueprint to follow in making these changes, but
what has happened at Michigan and in the Big Ten over the past
decade may serve others as useful guidelines or even as a blueprint for
action. To understand what prompted these changes it is essential to
examine the mood of the country in the 1960s.
MOOD OF THE 1960s
Though civil rights had not been mentioned in John F.
Kennedy's 1960 inaugural address, it ultimately rivaled the Viet Nam
War as the dominant issue of the decade. The mood was for decisive
change in race relations NOW. During the summer of 1963 tens of
thousands of Americans, of all races, creeds, and economic levels,
marched on Washington, D.C., decrying racial injustice. They listened with millions of televiewers as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
described his dream for America:... In spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment I
still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American
dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out
the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be
self-evident: that all men are created equal.'




BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION  111


I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the
sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be
able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a
desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression,
will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin
but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose
governor's lips are presently dripping with words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where
little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with
little white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today...
He dwelt upon the words so familiar to Americans in the popular
and patriotic "My Country 'Tis Of Thee," and said:...When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every
village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we
will be able to speed up the day when all God's children, black
men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the
old Negro spirtual, 'Free at last! free at last! thank God almighty, we are free at last!'
Enormous progress was made during the decade, but at the cost of
enormous human suffering. A massive legislative commitment to
racial reform was codified in the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965
giving the country its blueprint for action. Upon passage of the first,
the late Senator Everett Dirkson quoted Victor Hugo, saying,
"Greater than the tread of mighty armies is an idea whose time has
arrived." Racial discrimination, like a cancerous disease, had been
eroding the nation's health for over 100 years. The disease could not




112  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


be cured overnight however strong the dosage of legislative medicine.
Yet, the patient longed for immediate rehabilitation. Many black
people began to feel a surge of power, Black Power, and were determined to demand full participation in American life now. In spite of
Dr. King's advocacy of non-violent protest, several cities erupted in
violent protest in the mid-1960s. (One of the bloodiest and most
violent occurred in 1967 in Detroit, just 45 miles from The University
of Michigan.)
Militancy was not confined to the cities. It became commonplace on college campuses, and some of the most dramatic headlines
were generated by black athletes. During the 1967-68 academic year
walkouts, boycotts, and other demonstrations against athletic departments were staged by black athletes on more than 30 major
college campuses. Many of these men poured out their hearts and
minds, risking scholarships and accepting public scorn. Sports Illustrated carried their story to millions with Jack Olsen's, "The Black
Athlete - A Shameful Story." It dominated all five issues for July,
1968.1 Like the Michigan athletes, black athletes across the country
had enjoyed privileges as varsity team members not ordinarily available to other black Americans. They stayed in fine hotels, ate in plush
restaurants, developed lasting friendships with white teammates,
received thunderous accolades, accumulated reams of newsclippings, sometimes completed a college degree, and, in some cases,
became national sports heroes. People wanted to know why these
men of privileged position, participating in one of the few shining
examples of racial equality in America, would rebel against the system.
The men knew that upon graduation the privileges were nearly
always withdrawn; the hotels and restaurants were placed off-limits;
the good jobs were reserved for whites; and the real world of racism
again bore down on them. The college athletes were exhorted to think
beyond personal goals and to think politically of the plight of all
blacks, to use their athletic skills as bargaining power to advance the
cause of their race.
The lists of demands served on athletic and other university
officials during the 1967-68 school year were similar on all campuses:
First, blacks wanted the appointment of black coaches, trainers,
or athletic administrators - someone in a position of responsibility to
insure that black athletes would be judged fairly. Seeing blacks in


See also Harry Edwards, The Revolt of the Black Athlete, N.Y.: The Free Press, A Division
of the MacMillan Co., 1969.




BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION  113


these positions would encourage those majoring in physical education to strive for the summit of their profession.
Second, they wanted coaches to cease dictating their dating
habits. While coaches were perfectly free to formulate team policies
that applied to their athletes equally, they had no right to dictate who
an athlete might date or marry.
Third, they wanted an end to discrimination in student housing
and support from the university against racist landlords.
Fourth, they called for an end to using an athlete's talents to
bring school championships and then discarding him without an education.
Fifth, they called for an end to preserving certain positions of
leadership, such as quarterback, team captain, or playmaker, for
white athletes only.
Sixth, they wanted coaches to cease preserving racial quotas by
stacking several good players at a single position and thereby avoiding starting too many.
Seventh, they called for an end to the racist policies of campus
fraternities and sororities.
Eighth, they called for the recruitment of more black students to
the campus, reasoning that if white, non-athletic students could be
educated, black non-athletes could be also. They saw this as serving
the immediate purpose of improving social life and the long-term
effect of upgrading the entire black community.
RACE MILITANCY AND MICHIGAN
Michigan athletes were well aware of the confrontations, especially those occurring on Big Ten campuses. Yet, the University had
no boycott by its black athletes. Why?
"I don't know," said Ken Maxey, the 1969 basketball captain.
"We had many of the same problems."
There were probably many reasons, but the chief one seems to
be the appointment of Don Canham to replace the retiring H. O.
"Fritz" Crisler as Director of Athletics in 1968. He was well aware of
the national unrest and moved quickly to avoid the bad publicity and
deep racial divisions being reported on many campuses. When the
athletes appeared on campus in the fall they would see black coaches.
Ken Burnley was immediately appointed assistant in track, the first
black ever to hold a coaching position at the University. A few weeks




114  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


later Fred Snowden was named assistant basketball coach. He had
long been one of the finest in the country, having built an impressive
winning tradition at Detroit's Northwestern High School. His appointment precipitated a rush of letters to the Athletic Department
from alumni and fans repulsed by the announcement. Louis Lee, a
recent graduate of Michigan's football program, was made freshman
football coach. When the athletes came to the training room for taping
or injury problems they would see a black assistant trainer; Mike
Willie had been employed in that capacity for a year already. When
they came to the equipment room for clean laundry or equipment
repairs they would see a black recently appointed to assist there. This
willingness to bring blacks into leadership positions at the lower
echelons of athletic administration received considerable publicity.
Some would call this tokenism, but as Dan Kean expressed it, "Even
a 'showcase' black is better than none. When one is added to the staff
meetings it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain effective prejudice." The blacks appointed took care to announce that they had no
intention of serving simply as coaches of the black athletes or as
apologists for racist policies. While they might have advantages in
addressing certain team problems, they intended to be team coaches
in the fullest sense. At some other Big Ten schools black coaches had
made these very mistakes.
To show his genuine interest in black youth, Canham launched a
summer program in which many were bussed from Detroit to Ann
Arbor and given sports instruction at the University by varsity
coaches. Some observers today believe the program would be more
effective if the travel were reversed and the coaches went to the inner
city schools and playgrounds.
Black students on the Michigan campus were pleased when
Canham allowed them to stage an all-Greek show in Yost Field
House in 1969 without charge.
All of these could be considered measures of expediency designed to reduce tensions, but there is every evidence that Canham's
motives were based on a more solid foundation. He had roomed with
Bill Watson and with Wes Allen when both were his track teammates
at Michigan. During twenty years as track coach he had left a clear
impression among blacks that race was of no consequence in his
dealings with athletes. In 1968 the black athletes saw an alert Director
of Athletics moving swiftly to avoid racial conflict at Michigan.
Almost as important as Canham's actions was the fact that 75




BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION  115


percent of all the black "M"' men graduate.2 (Eighty-seven per cent
of the white "M" men graduate.) Athletes on many other campuses
were much less fortunate, and some bitterly resented the evidence
that they had been used to advertise a university. At the University of
Washington between 1957 and 1967 seven black football players
graduated, thirteen did not. That's 35 per cent. At Michigan during
that period 16 graduated, five did not. That's 76 per cent. Minnesota
graduated four of nine black athletes in 1966 and 1967. That's 44 per
cent. Michigan graduated 19 of 25 in those two years. That's 76 per
cent. It wasn't that Michigan coaches necessarily demanded less of
an athlete's time than other coaches or worked harder to keep them
eligible. School admission policies forced them to start with a better
student. Consequently, they ended with fewer failures. Regardless of
the reasons, the fact remains that failure to graduate was not as
volatile an issue on the Michigan campus as elsewhere.
Other factors undoubtedly contributed to reduced tensions. The
1968 football team chose Ron Johnson as its captain. The honor had
already been extended to black athletes in track and basketball, but
Johnson's selection had the psychological effect of unjamming the
key log, freeing coaches and athletes in all sports to award leadership
without regard to race. In the area of housing, several "M" men
noted that in 1968 the University began supporting black students
against racist landlords. In 1968 athletes dated the lady of their
choice. If she was white, she attended team functions where dates or
wives were welcome. Coaches no longer penalized such action.
Black fraternities and sororities withdrew from the Intrafraternity
Council in protest of the racism traditional to the Greek housing
system, but this was never a visceral issue at Michigan. Black students have shown little enthusiasm for white fraternities and
sororities, but have fought hard for a black dormitory or house shared
by students of all races, but where black culture would predominate.
"I think Michigan was a bit ahead of other schools in race
relations," said Marshall Dickerson. "There was a good chance of
my going to Indiana on a track scholarship in 1958, and I'm glad I
didn't. Their campus trouble a short time ago indicate it would have
been a lot tougher." The trouble was a deep racial division within the
defending Big Ten champion Indiana football team of 1969. It ended
with nearly all the black athletes refusing to play, losing their scholarships, and sending the Hoosiers to the bottom of the Big Ten.


2 See Appendix D for the percentage of lettermen, both black and white, who have graduated
from Michigan during the 1891-1970 time period.




116  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


"Ohio State had some strange rules also," said Dickerson. "My
wife wanted to attend the Big Ten Indoor meet at Columbus in
March, 1960, to see me compete. One of her girlfriends was dating
someone at Ohio State and he said he couldn't find a black girl that
she could share a room with. A black girl was not allowed to room
with a white girl. I don't know if this was a convention or a written
rule. At Michigan I had a white roommate two years in the dorms."
Ken Burnley agreed with Dickerson's judgement that Michigan
coaches were a bit ahead of other schools. "It doesn't matter about
the numbers or per cent of blacks on any team," he said. "If you are
good enough you start. It wasn't always this way. I heard a lot of
locker room grumbling when I was here as an undergraduate from
1961 to 1964, but not now."
Jesse Rawls, captain of the 1970 wrestling team, thought race
kept Jim Betts from becoming Michigan's first varsity quarterback in
1969, but no one wanted to force the issue. It would have put tremendous pressure on Betts if fellow athletes had demanded he be
given a chance to lead the team. It was 1972 before Dennis Franklin
became the first black quarterback in Wolverine history.
"Black athletes had only one strong grievance," said Rawls of
the 1969 and '70 school years. "That was the small number of black
students on campus."
Canham was able to avoid serious conflict with the black athletes, but the entire campus in 1970 was the scene of a massive student
strike designed to increase the enrollment of minority students. It
might have occured several years earlier, but there was evidence that
the University was voluntarily moving toward larger minority enrollment. In September 1963, just after Martin Luther King's "I
Have a Dream" speech, Michigan's President, Harlan Hatcher,
delivered his State of the University address. In it he called for
programs that would increase the flow of racial minorities into the
professional and academic life of the University, the state, and the
country as a whole. His Vice-President for Academic Affairs,
Roger Heyns, then established the Opportunity Awards Program,
the first of its kind in the United States.3
The first step was to recruit more black students, and in 1964 the
first 70 Opportunity students were enrolled at Michigan. The task of
recruitment soon fell to Robert Marion, a black alumnus who had


3 Interview, Dr. William Cash, Director of the Opportunity Awards Program at The University
of Michigan, March 23, 1973.




BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION  117


lettered on the 1954 and 1955 football teams. Visits were made to
various high schools informing students of the program, so that they
could begin looking to Michigan and preparing to meet admission
requirements. The scope was soon expanded to include graduate
students, and then Michigan residents of every racial and ethnic
minority and those from low-income backgrounds. As part of the
effort to recruit minority faculty and staff personnel a bilateral exchange program was initiated with Tuskegee University.
For a variety of reasons many of the Opportunity students chose
not to continue their education at Michigan. Whatever their particular reasons it was generally felt that discontent was linked to the small
number of blacks in evidence throughout the entire University
students, faculty, and staff. When the Opportunity Awards Program
was initiated in 1963, black students comprised less than one per cent
of the University's graduates. In 1968 the total was one and one-half
percent. On April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated
and the sickening reality of the news summoned black students at
Michigan together. On the day of his funeral they occupied, in a
peaceful manner, the old Administration Building for a few hours.
The University pledged to increase black enrollments, and two years
later it reached an all-time high of three per cent. Since approximately
18 per cent of the state's college-age youth were black, the feeling
grew among black students at Michigan that efforts must be made to
press the administration into a greater sense of urgency in recruitment
of minority students. Representatives of several black student groups
began to meet and discuss the subject in January, 1970.
At the January 29 Student Government Council meeting Walter
Lewis, a member of the Black Students Union, announced that an
escalated drive called the Black Action Movement (BAM) was underway and would culminate at the February Regents meeting.
An open hearing was held by the Regents February 19. The
Regents listened as the BAM members read the following list of
demands:
(1) Increase the black enrollment at the University to 10 per
cent of the student body by fall, 1973.
(2) Admit 900 new black students by fall, 1971.
(3) Provide adequate supportive services, including financial
aid, counselors, and tutors for students having difficulty.




118  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


(4) Add nine employees to the Office of Admissions to actively
recruit enough undergraduate students to meet the enrollment goal. Add an unspecified number of graduate recruiters.
(5) Put a referendum on the March Student Government Council ballot to have students vote on assessing themselves
$3.00 for one year for the Martin Luther King, Jr., Scholarship Fund.
(6) Permit tuition waivers for minority group students who are
residents of the State of Michigan and admitted under
special programs.
(7) Establish a black student center in the Ann Arbor community.
(8) Halt all work of a permanent nature on the Black Studies
Program for re-evaluation and community input.
(9) Create an appeal board to hear cases of students who disagreed with the University's response to their financial aid
requests.
(10) Revamp the Parents Confidential Statement which determines, in part, a student's need for financial aid.
(11) Hire a Chicano (Mexican-American) recruiter to assure the
enrollment of 50 Chicano students by fall, 1971.
The Regents asked President Robben Fleming to bring a proposal for a five-year minority admissions plan to their March meeting,
and the meeting adjourned.
Fearful that the issue would lose its momentum if allowed to pass
into the summer without a commitment, BAM leaders appeared at
the Regents regular public meeting the next day. They asked for a
special meeting in two weeks, at which the administration would
report on its progress in finding money to fund this program. Honoring such a request would be "a show of good faith." The blacks
stormed out of the meeting when their request was denied. Students
both black and white had gathered outside on Regents Plaza. BAM




BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION


leaders leaving the meeting angrily informed them of the Regents'
"bad faith." Shortly thereafter, several thousand books were pushed
from the shelves in the Undergraduate Library, an action which was
to be repeated the next day, and food was thrown on the floor of the
Union Cafeteria.
On March 5, Fleming announced a proposal that included a goal
of seven per cent black enrollment by fall, 1973. Additional staff
would be provided to work toward this goal. Except for the seven per
cent, the Regents would not be held to numerical quotas. Most of the
other demands were ignored.
With the next Regents' meeting just two weeks away, support
began building for BAM. White students, faculty, and staff members
in increasing numbers cast their lot with BAM, and helped publicize
its goals. Tension filled the room as the Regents gathered for the
March 18 open hearing. The administration's plan was announced
and was met with stem opposition by BAM leaders, who repeated
their demands.
At their regular public meeting the next day, the Regents appeared to be in agreement with BAM on the major issues. They set a
goal of ten per cent by 1973. Enough funds were committed to assure
an enrollment of seven per cent. The additional three percent would
be contingent on whether individual schools and colleges within the
University voted to cut their budgets and provide funds. Efforts
would be made to secure aid from state and federal governments and
private donors. A two million dollar increase in the Opportunity
Awards Program by 1973-74 fiscal year was granted, along with
$100,000 for recruiters and supportive services in 1970-71. The Regents were on record as supporting the idea of a minority enrollment
program, and vowed to "intensify efforts" to raise the necessary
funds.
As the proceedings were announced by public address to the
crowd gathered outside the Regents' Room, they grew restive and
angry. Some believed the entire list of BAM demands had been
rejected. Others seethed at the thought that BAM's attempt to deliver
this blow at injustice was seriously compromised by the Regents. A
few bolted into classrooms, disrupting them. Police in riot gear arrived to arrest several rock-throwers, and to avert serious clashes.
The angry crowd dispersed.
Resentment against the Regents built through the night. A student strike was called by BAM. Placards across the campus called




120  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


upon students to "Shut it down, to open it up," and this chant echoed
from many doorways blocked by strikers. Standing in those BAM
picket lines were many of Michigan's black lettermen for 1970. They
were there with the blessings of their coaches. Each of the next five
days the strike gained momentum. Entrances to four parking structures used by students, faculty, and University staff were blocked,
and the strike was explained to the occupants of each car. The
Residential College voted to cancel all classes. Attendance in the
College of Literature, Arts, and Sciences, the largest undergraduate
unit, was reported to decrease by 50 per cent. One day later attendance was estimated at 40 per cent, with 60 per cent for the entire
University. Pickets began appearing at the power plant, residence
halls, and the Michigan Union food service.
After a series of special conferences, the deans and eventually
the entire faculty expressed general agreement with the idea of
foregoing some part of their budgets in order to guarantee funds to
meet the ten per cent goal. The faculty of the College of Architecture
and Design voted to assess themselves $100 each to assist in the fund
drive. President Fleming invited BAM to reopen negotiations. One
day later he announced that funding for the admissions goal had been
assured by pledges from budgets of the various schools. Hard bargaining on the other issues continued as the pickets were ordered to
standby. After BAM and Fleming had reached accord, the Regents
spent two days examining the pact.
On April 1, 1970, an overflow crowd jammed the Michigan
Union ballroom to learn that funding for the ten per cent goal was
guaranteed. Nine undergraduate and a number of graduate recruiters
would be added. The black student center was rejected, as was
additional support to the King Scholarship Fund. Some of the lesser
demands were granted.
Each of the eleven BAM negotiators recommended acceptance
of the agreement, and the crowd roared its approval. The nine-day
strike ended. It had been the first of its kind ever to succeed in the
University's history. To its supporters, it represented one of the few
bright chapters in the sordid narrative of American race relations.
"We've got a long road to walk; we've been walking it a long time, but
we're going to walk it a little faster now," said Dave Lewis, one of the
BAM leaders. "This is one strike the University of Michigan will
never forget," said Ed Fabre, another BAM leader.
Some of the interviews for this study were being conducted as
the BAM strike drew to its close. Many of the "M" men had followed




BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION  121


it closely, and a frequent first reaction was, "It's about time." Some
questioned the idea of fixing a quota, but generally all were proud of
the courage, leadership, and restraint characteristic of the strike.
"I don't know what methods they used, but I agree wholeheartedly with the need for a commitment to educate more blacks
there," said Hap Coleman. He expressed intense opposition to violence, the modus operandi of the Ku Klux Klan for so many years,
and conjectured that the success of BAM represented an idea for
which the University had been ready.
Henry Graham thought the increased enrollment of minorities
would provide an interchange of ideas and personalities immensely
valuable to all students at Michigan.
To many whites it meant denying their sons or daughters a place
in the University. Others envisioned a great University lowering its
standards to admit the unqualified.
"Standards for admittance are not free of subjective interpretation," said Joseph Hayden, Jr. "A better term than qualified is
qualifiable. It is about the time the University showed some leadership in the education of minority groups."
"We have been working with a black recruitment program at the
University of Detroit," said John Codwell, Jr. "With the proper
support systems a very high per cent of these students are surviving.
Systematic tutorial help, building communicative skills, study and
test-taking skills, are bolstered by counseling, summer enrichment,
and similar programs in the eleventh and twelfth grades. They are
succeeding and surviving at a higher rate than the average freshman at
the U. of D.," he said.
Unfortunately, many of the people in a position to control the
flow of money into the University, and thus into minority programs,
did not share the enthusiasm of the BAM strikers and the black
lettermen interviewed. They decried the student conduct as a
dangerous precedent in favor of mob rule. This view was heard
frequently at the state capitol in Lansing where the University's
educational budget is funded. Many potential donors to the University were repulsed by the strike and declined to contribute funds to
students who had showed what they considered a lack of respect for
property and authority. While the BAM strike was more disruptive of
campus routine than destructive of property, many of the alumni had
simply had their fill of national reports showing college students in
rebellion. Donations to the King Scholarship Fund dropped mar



122  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


kedly. Some University officials believed that nothing positive was
accomplished by BAM; that the proposals not thrown out by the
Regents were already being implemented.
Without question, the strike caused some polarization, but it
probably did more to generate state-wide awareness that Michigan
was deeply committed to the education of minority students than had
all the publicity of the Opportunity Awards Program since its inception. Both recruitment and retention of minority students have shown
marked improvement since the BAM strike. In August of 1971 the
National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges
said the Opportunity Awards Program at Michigan "stands as one of
the largest and most successful in the United States."
By the spring, 1973, black students made up 6.6 per cent of
Michigan's enrollment. The 10 per cent goal set by the BAM strike
was not reached by the fall of 1973.The major stumbling block has
been the lack of funds. Both the national financial crisis and the
attitude toward the strike by state legislators and potential donors
have militated against achieving the goal. A secondary stumbling
block is the weakness inherent in quotas. Often a department attaining its quota ceases to be interested in further recruitment of minority
students. This makes it essential for every department to meet its
quota if the overall 10 per cent goal is to be achieved. In defense of the
quotas, it must be admitted that blacks and other minority members
are far more visible in every element of the University than ever
before. The quotas may already have achieved their underlying purpose, which is, ironically enough, to make quotas unnecessary.
Retaining minority students and seeing them join the ranks of
Michigan's alumni has been even more challenging than the task of
recruiting them. Many minority students simply could not identify
with the University and withdrew, although their academic records
indicate they were doing well. No single-answer approach was taken
to improve the rate of retention, but a key factor was the system of
counseling (academic, social, vocational, etc.). Nearly every letterman interviewed for this book singled out counseling as the first
problem area they would attack if they could remake society as they
found it at Michigan during their undergraduate days. Today they
would find vast improvements. There are both professional and student counselors available for assistance. Those who need academic
assistance are provided tutorial service on an individual basis through
the Coalition for the Use of Learning Skills (CULS) study groups.
Study group leaders are expected to be knowledgeable in the course




BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION  123


material and help students translate theory into reality by using
examples from the student's culture with which he or she is readily
familiar. Students often feel freer to participate in these informal
discussions than in the classroom, especially with a tutor of the same
race. Many freshmen are expected to rejoin the program later as
tutors, perpetuating a tradition of mutual concern and assistance.
This counseling system centers on academic problems, but students
are encouraged to discuss many other problems as an initial step in
learning where help in resolving them can be obtained.
The University's Office of Student Services provides counsel in
matters of housing, career planning and employment, health needs,
and personal or social problems. Financial assistance based on need
is provided by the Office of Financial Aid. It is also available to
advise and assist students in budgeting funds during the academic
school year. There are black employees in these offices, but many
students would probably not avail themselves of these services were
it not for the peer counseling and the recently formed black student
center, Trotter House. It grew from student insistence during the
BAM strike on a black culture unit, and it serves as a means of
retaining cultural identification and reducing the vastness of the University. Officially known as the William Monroe Trotter House, this
stately home, which once served as a fraternity, was recently refurbished by the University with study and conference rooms and a
recreational lounge. Jazz concerts have highlighted social gatherings.
Faculty members, guest speakers, poets, entertainers, and various
distinguished campus visitors, especially those from the black community, have been invited to make formal presentations or to rap
informally with students. Counselors from the Office of Student
Services make regular visits to Trotter House, as does the Black
Advocate. The latter is another example of recent, innovative ideas
being tried at Michigan. The Advocate, a black student enrolled in
the University's Law School, is responsible for representing accurately the views of black students to the administration.
Perhaps one of the most encouraging signs of change at Michigan
for black students is the increasing number of gifted black educators
on the faculty. Approximately six per cent of the Michigan faculty are
from minority groups, half of them are black. The MichiganTuskegee exchange program continues and the University began
participating as an assisting institution with Virginia State University
in 1971.
In the area of new academic programs, the Center for Afro



124  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


American and African Studies was formed shortly after the BAM
strike.
Black lettermen at Michigan in the past felt more like on-lookers
than participants in University life, but this is changing. The sizeable
increase in the number of students of different cultural, racial, ethnic,
and income backgrounds has helped to create a more friendly and
supportive environment on campus than existed before. Efforts to
provide good counseling have been expanded. Cultural identification
in the black student center should ease the transition from high school
to university living. Many avenues of communication are open more
clearly than ever before, making it easier to solve problems while they
are still small. The increasing number of minority members visible in
faculty, administrative, and athletic coaching positions fosters racial
pride in a way that once only the deeds of all-American athletes
could. It also serves as assurance that blacks do indeed have a voice
in the University.
RACE MILITANCY AND THE BIG TEN
Today's athletes at Michigan find that not only the University
but the Big Ten Conference is far more sensitive to the urgings of
black people than ever before. At the March 7, 1972, conference
meeting several concerned blacks, led by Dr. Robert L. Green of
Michigan State University, submitted a report: "The Status of
Blacks In The Big Ten Athletic Conference: Issues and Concerns."
It charged that securing an education is far too often sacrificed to the
overriding concern for success in athletics by member schools, and
that black athletes were suffering the most, a high percentage leaving
school without degrees. It stated that discrimination is still very much
in vogue in the conference as evidenced by the paucity of blacks
employed in athletics. Of the 76 game officials employed at the time of
the report (40 in football and 36 in basketball only two were black -
one in each sport.). There was an almost total absence of black
clerical employees, publicity directors, team physicians, and other
personnel essential to an athletic department. The boards in control
of athletics at the seven Big Ten universities covered in the report had
a total of four black representatives, two of whom were recent appointments. The report did not study Michigan, whose board had
three black representatives.
Dr. Green's report strongly recommended a fifth year of financial support for athletes who have completed their eligibility but not
their degree; a black counselor, not controlled by the coaches, to




BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION  125


assist black athletes; the hiring of black officials; the hiring of blacks
as members of the athletic department staff; more equitable summer
job placement for black athletes; and a black associate commissioner
to implement these recommendations.
The following day, March 8, Commissioner Wayne Duke was
empowered to appoint a special Advisory Commission of approximately five distinguished black persons with a background in athletics. They were to make a study of various conference programs, and
report their recommendations. The directors of athletics were to
serve as a committee to review the selection and appointment procedures of black officials. All conference schools were to provide
information on black employees in the athletic department.
There were several reasons why the Big Ten representatives
wanted another study conducted. Green had summoned representatives of the various news media to a press conference, and dramatized
his appearance at the Big Ten meeting far beyond what had been
anticipated. Then, during his report, a photographer burst into the
room and began snapping pictures, again to the surprise of the representatives. Many of them viewed Green as politically ambitious
and preferred to do business with a group of their own choosing.
No immediate action was taken to have the advisory group meet,
and those who had agreed to serve on it soon faced embarrassing
questions. "What is your group doing?" "What is its purpose?"
Leroy Bolden, the Michigan State representative, interpreted the
delay as an absence of good faith and resigned. It was October, after a
seven-month wait, before the first organizational meeting was called.
Judge A. Dickson of Minnesota was elected chairman with George
Taliferro of Indiana as vice-chairman. It was determined that every
conference school should have at least one representative - a former
black athlete who had represented that school in intercollegiate competition. This Commission deliberated without knowing of Dr.
Green's March 7 report. Dickson later expressed his displeasure at
not being informed of the report, but accepted the explanation that
the conference wanted an independent evaluation by former Big Ten
athletes so that at the appropriate time the findings could be compared with Dr. Green's. Upon comparison, the two studies were
fundamentally the same.
Dickson's Commission reported to the Big Ten at its December
4, 1972, meeting. The most pressing problems identified were in the
academic area, where many of the athletes felt dehumanized, exploited, and accepted only as an athlete. Available statistics indicated




126  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


that a large percentage of black athletes in the Big Ten do not
graduate. The commission members recalled their playing days and
the practice among athletic department counselors of steering black
athletes into "Mickey Mouse" courses requiring minimum effort to
get passing grades and maintain eligibility. Rule 3 of the Conference
Rules of Eligibility was described as insufficient. It required that a
student (1) be making normal quantitative progress towards completion of the scholastic requirements for his degree, and (2) have a
satisfactory cumulative grade average. No mention was made of
curriculum content. Thus, an ill-advised or intentionally misadvised
student could consistently be scholastically eligible for competition,
yet at the end of his senior year wind up with a total number of courses
and credits that would not lead to a degree even though his grade point
average was high enough. The commission asked that content be
added as a third criterion for scholastic eligibility to insure that any
athlete who maintained his athletic eligibility would also be able to
graduate in four to five years.
As a further step toward placing a higher priority on the education of athletes, the commission requested that an office of athleticacademic counseling be established at all member institutions. It
would be under the control of the faculty representative, rather than
the athletic director or coaches, and would be responsible for coordinating the counseling of athletes on curriculum content and progress toward a degree.
A third point concerning academic success was that many students, especially those competing in varsity athletics, take nearly five
years to graduate. The Big Ten athlete was provided financial support
for four years. The commission deemed a fifth year to be essential if
graduation statistics were to be improved.
Another issue was the belief among black athletes that coaches
expected them to have a much higher tolerance for pain than other
athletes. To this insensitivity is added the lack of understanding of the
black pride movement. It leaves coaches deeply suspicious of any
ties that bind black athletes, and diminishes the respect and confidence of the athletes in their coaches. It was recommended that
educational programs or seminars should be established at all
member institutions to improve the coaches' ability to communicate
with blacks and to achieve a better person-to-person understanding of
their needs and sensitivity level.
The commission expressed deep concern over the lack of sincere
consideration given black candidates for coaching vacancies and the




BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION  127


sparse number of game officials. It asked that each school include
minority members in its searching and screening procedure for
coaches. It proposed that the Big Ten Commissioner provide
member schools with a list of interested and qualified minority candidates whenever there were openings. The Advisory Commission
volunteered to begin immediately to assist in compiling the list. Along
these same lines, the Big Ten Commissioner was requested to include
minority candidates in a search for black officials.
The Commission members eagerly awaited the response of the
Big Ten to their recommendations. They were being watched closely
by many blacks who were cynical of all who advocated working for
change within the system and eager to label them Uncle Toms.
"Because of our participation in the committee we are constantly
faced with such accusations," Dickson told those assembled for the
December 4 Big Ten meeting.
"... black people who are willing to speak out on such issues
are always subject to such criticism. This risk each of us is willing to
take in an effort to bring about very needed changes within the
Conference."
Then, hoping to convey the deep sense of purpose shared by his
Commission colleagues, Dickson added, "You must realize that
each of us has a deep personal stake in this whole subject matter. In a
sense, we are all on trial. We are right out there for all to see. Black
athletes on campus know of our existence and have adopted a 'waitand-see' attitude. Each of us has high self-esteem and a high selfimage and desire very much to maintain the credibility that we have
individually built up in our respective communities, professions, and
at our former campuses. We believe that a positive response to our
recommendations will be of benefit, not only to us, but to the Big Ten
Conference and all Big Ten athletes, especially black athletes."
The response of the Big Ten was a strong affirmation of the
Advisory Commission's work. Curriculum content was established
as a third criterion for eligibility, and a formula for its implementation
was agreed upon. The academic counseling program, to be financed
by the athletic department but to operate under the faculty representative, was approved. It will be interesting to see what happens to the
salary of this counselor if his advice proves unpopular with the
coaches. The Conference approved financial aid for those athletes
needing a fifth year to complete a bachelor's degree. With the assistance of the Advisory Commission the Big Ten Commissioner is
developing a list of blacks who could be employed as coaches, athle



128  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


tic administrators, game officials, trainers, and other athletic department personnel. Several football and basketball officials have been
brought into the Big Ten's training program. A black Assistant
Commissioner is to be appointed soon, and one of his major functions
will be to see that these policies are implemented.
Dickson and his fellow members of the Advisory Commission
have gained credibility among blacks, and they have demonstrated
that change can be effected by working through the system. Even
with the appointment of a black Assistant Commissioner this group
will very likely continue serving a valuable advisory role. They can
keep the Commissioner abreast of attitudes on each campus and help
diminish sensitivity problems as blacks enter the athletic departments
of those Big Ten schools unaccustomed to employing them.
As for its influence outside the Big Ten, the Advisory Commission has made a favorable impression on leadership within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and there is some
indication they may be planning to form a similar group, giving blacks
an effective voice in the formulation of national athletic policies.
Some findings of this study are critical of The University of
Michigan, and there is much that is negative to report, but this is
essentially a positive writing as its title "Hail To The Victors"
proclaims. There have been many victors to applaud - the black
athletes who won varsity letters and have risen to prominence in their
communities in spite of tremendous odds; the white coaches and
players who challenged the racism of their day; the University officials who produced imaginative programs and introduced a new era of
racial understanding at Michigan; and the Big Ten leadership who
have made the Conference exemplary in its sensitivity to the feelings
of all athletes, coaches, and fans.




vEI IAP




130  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


APPENDIX A
MICHIGAN'S BLACK LETTERMEN
1882-1972


Track and Field
1. Wm. DeHart Hubbard
'23, '24, '25
2. Booker Brooks '29, '30,
'32
3. Thomas Eddie Tolan '29,
'30, '31
4. Willis F. Ward '33, '34,
'35
5. William D. Watson '37,
'38, '39, Team Captain
1939
6. George W. Allen '38, '39,
'41
7. John W. Roxborough II,
'42, '43, '44
8. Orval W. Johnson '45,
'46, '47, '48
9. Bill Matney '43
10. Julian Witherspoon '44,
'45
11. Robert Mann '45
12. Archie Parsons '45, '46
13. Horace Coleman '46
14. Charles Fonville '46, '47,
'48, '50
15. Clay Holland, Jr. '48, '49
16. Joseph Hayden, Jr. '48
17. Roderick E. Warren, '49,
'50
18. Aaron Z. Gordon '50,
'51, '52
19. Van B. Bruner Jr. '51,
'52, '53
20. Horace Coleman Jr. '51,
'52


21. Robert Lee Evans '51,
'52, '53
22. Thomas Johnson '51, '52
23. Lowell W. Perry '51, '52
24. Grant M. Scruggs Jr. '53,
'54, '55
25. Thomas Hendricks Jr.
'54, '55, '56
26. John M. Johnson '55
27. James E. Pace '56, '57
28. Milton Robinson '57
29. Ernest L. Simms '57, '58
30. Mamon Gibson '57, '58,
'59 Team Captain 1959
31. Erwin W. Crownley '57,
'58, '59
32. Louis Williams '57, '58,
'59
33. Thomas A. Robinson '59,
'60, '61 Team Captain
1961
34. Anthony Seth '59, '60,
35. Lester B. Bird '59, '60,
'61
36. Richard A. Cephas '59,
'60, '61
37. Marshall L. Dickerson
'59, '60, '61
38. Benjamin McRae '60, '61,
'62
39. Richard M. Thelwell '61
40. Douglas O. Niles '61, '62
41. Tait L. Malone '62
42. David E. Raimey '62
43. Kenneth S. Burnley '62,
'63, '64




APPENDIX   131


44. MacArthur Hunter '62,
'63, '64
45. Leonard Johnson '62
46. David L. Romain '63, '64
47. Kent Bernard '63, '64, '65
Team Captain 1965
48. William M. Yearby '64,
'65
49. John F. Rowser '64
50. John W. Henderson '64,
'65
51. Marion C. Hoey '65, '66
52. Cecil J. Norde Jr. '64, '65,
'66
53. Dorie E. Reid, '64, '65
54. Roy D. Woodton, '64,
'65, '66
55. Carl D. Ward '65, '66
56. Willie L. Brown '66
57. Clive A. Laidley '66
58. Alexander McDonald
'66, '67, '68
59. George W. Hoey '67, '68
60. Clarence Martin '67, '68
61. Solomon Espie '68
62. Ira T. Russell '68, '70
63. Ron Clark '69
64. Thomas Flagg, '69, '70
65. Lorenzo Montgomery
'69, '70
66. Reginald Bradford '70,
'71
67. Eugene Brown '70, '71
68. Trevor Matthews '70
69. Godfrey Murray '70, '71
70. Robert Pincham '70
71. George Gilchrest '70, '71
72. Reggie Johnson '70
73. Mel Reeves '70, '71
74. Kim Rowe '70, '71
75. Greg Syphax '70, '71
Football
1. George H. Jewett Sr.
1890, '92


2. Willis F. Ward '32, '33,
'34
3. Julius Franks '41, '42
all-America 1942
4. Gene A. Derricotte '44,
'46, '47, '48
5. Leonard G. Ford '46, '47
6. Robert Mann '46, '47
7. Wesley E. Bradford '50,
'51
8. Frank Howell '50, '51, '52
9. Thomas Johnson '50, '51
10. Donald L. Oldham '50,
'51, '52
11. Lowell W. Perry '50, '51,
'52 all-America 1951
12. Arthur D. Walker '52,
'53, '54 all-America 1954
13. Thomas Hendricks Jr.
'54, '55
14. David J. Hill '54, '55
15. Robert L. Marion '54, '55
16. Earl Johnson Jr. '55
17. James E. Pace '55, '56,
'57 all-America 1957
18. Willie Smith '56, '57, '58
19. Alvin Van Groce '57, '58
20. Donald R. Deskins, Jr.
'58, '59
21. Benjamin McRae '59, '60,
'61
22. David E. Raimey '60, '61,
'62
23. Guy P. Curtis '59,'60,'61
24. Melvin Anthony '62, '63,
'64
25. John W. Henderson '63,
'64
26. John F. Rowser '63, '64,
'66
27. William M. Yearby '63,
'64, '65 all-America 1964
and 1965
28. Michael T. Bass '64, '65,
'66




132  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


29. Louis R. Lee '64,'65, '66
30. Carl D. Ward '64, '65, '66
31. William C. Hardy '65, '66
32. Raymond Phillips '65,
'66, '67
33. Thomas A. Goss '66, '67,
'68
34. Derrick Humphries '66
35. Ronald A Johnson '66,
'67, '68 all-America 1968
Team Captain 1968
36. Warren D. Sipp '66, '67,
'68
37. Stanley E. Broadnax '67,
'68
38. George W. Hoey '67, '68
39. Jim Betts '68, '69, '70
40. William Harris '68, '69,
'70
41. Henry Hill '68, '69, '70
Team Captain 1970
42. John Lynch, '68
43. Cecil Pryor '68, '69
44. Elijah Sanson '68
45. Marty Washington '68
46. Morris Abrahams '69
47. Alden Carpenter '69, '70,
'71
48. Thomas Darden '69, '70,
'71
49. Glenn Doughty '69, '70,
'71
50. Preston Henry '69, '70
51. Reginald McKenzie '69,
'70, '71
52. Michael Oldham '69, '70,
'71
53. Michael Taylor '69, '70,
'71
54. William Taylor, '69, '70,
'71
55. Greg Ellis '70, '71, '72
56. Tom Kee '70, '71, '72
57. David "Bo" Rather '70,
'71, '72


58. Tony Smith '70, '71, '72
59. Clint Spearman '70, '71,
'72
60. Harry Banks '71, '72
61. Gary Coakley '71, '72
62. Clint Haslerig '71, '72
63. Randy Logan '71, '72
all-America 1972
64. Paul Seal '71, '72
65. Ed Shuttlesworth '71, '72
66. Curtis Tucker '71, '72
67. Alan Walker '71
68. Dave Brown '72
69. Gil Chapman '72
70. Don Coleman '72
71. Dennis Franklin '72
72. Linwood Harden '72
73. John Pighee '72
74. Carl Russ '72
75. Walt Williamson '72
Basketball
1. Donald J. Eaddy '52, '53,
'54, '55
2. John E. Codwell Jr. '52,
'53, '54
3. Harvey A. Williams '54,
'55, '56
4. William D. Wright '56,
'57, '58
5. Memie C. Burton Jr. '57,
'58, '59 Team Captain
1959
6. Lovell L. Farris '59, '60,
7. John E. Harris '62, '63
8. Bill Buntin '63, '64, '65
all-America 1965
9. Oliver M. Darden '64,
'65, '66 Team Captain
1966
10. Cazzie L. Russell Jr. '64,
'65, '66 all-America 1964,
1965, 1966




APPENDIX   133


11. James A. Pitts '66, '67,
'68 Team Captain 1968
12. Dennis E. Stewart '67,
'68
13. Kenneth E. Maxey '67,
'68, '69 Team Captain
1969
14. Richard Carter '69, '70
15. Rodney Ford'69,'70,'71
16. Harry Hayward '70
17. Ken Brady '70, '71
18. Dave Hart '70, '71
19. Ernie Johnson '70, '71
20. Henry Wilmore '70, '71
21. John Lockard '71
Baseball


Swimming
1. G. Anderson White '55
Tennis
1. Henry C. Graham '28
2. Daniel G. Kean '34
Wrestling
1. Guy P. Curtis '60, '62
2. Jessie Rawls '69, '70 Team
Captain 1970
3. Tom Quinn '69, '70
4. Therlon Harris '70, '71
5. Jarrett Hubbard '70, '71


1. Moses Fleetwood Walker
1882, '83
2. Rudolph T. Ash '23
3. Donald Eaddy, '52, '53,
'54, '55
4. Frank Howell '52, '53
5. Wilbert Franklin '59, '60
6. Elliot R. Maddox '68
7. Reginald Ball '70, '71
Fencing
None
Golf
None
Gymnastics


1. Keith W. Cooley '66
Hockey


None




APPENDIX B
RATIO OF BLACKS AMONG ALL MICHIGAN LETTERMEN, 1890-1972
(Number of black Athletes shown in parenthesis)


Fb     Bk    H     Wr    Sw    CC    Tr     BsB


1890-91
1891-92
1892-93


12(1)
19
20(1)


11
13
12


GF   Tn     Gy     F
4


Ratio
1/23
0/32
1/36


1916-17
1917-18
1918-19
1919-20
1920-21
1921-22
1922-23
1923-24
1924-25
1925-26
1926-27
1927-28
1928-29
1929-30
1930-31
1931-32
1932-33
1933-34
1934-35
1935-36
1936-37
1937-38
1938-39


14    NO LETTERS W.W.I.          0/14
18       6
18       7
23        9
16       8
22        7
21        10      7
21        8       8       6
21        9       6      4
25        7       8      7
25        9       9      5
21        8       12      8
24        11      7       9
22        8       9       10
23        9       7       9
25        9       8       9
25(1)     9       9       7
25(1)     11      9       11
25(1)     9       8       5
26        9       7      6
25        8       9       11
26        9       11      10
28        10      10      8


0
1
4        0
7        2
9        2
12       2
15       3
14       5
15       6
15       4
12       3
13       4
10       5
12
17
13
14
16
14


13        13
12        10
18        16
21         14
18        14
24(1)      13(1)
16(1)      12
26(1)      15
20         13
16        14
18        13
16(2)      13
20(2)      13
19(1)      14
15(1)      13
17(1)      14
20(1)      13
25(1)      14
19        13
21(1)      16
25(2)      14
30(2)      14


5
4
4     4
4     5
5     5
5     5
5     7
5     8(1)
6     7
6     6
6     8
7     6
6     6
9     7(1)
8     8
6     7
7     7
9     7
8     7


0/50
0/47
0/66
0/64
0/66
2/87= 1/44
1/92
1/102
0/104
0/108
3        1/115
5        2/119=1/60
6        2/119=1/60
6        5        1/121
5        7        1/121
5        2        2/115=1/58
3/117=1/39
2/119= 1/60
0/106
1/118
2/127= 1/64
2/129= 1/65




I rr


1939-40
1940-41
1941-42
1942-43
1943-44
1944-45
1945-46
1946-47
1947-48
1948-49
1949-50
1950-51
1951-52
1952-53
1953-54
1954-55
1955-56
1956-57
1957-58
1958-59
1959-60
1960-61
1961-62
1962-63
1963-64
1964-65
1965-66
1966-67
1967-68
1968-69
1969-70
1970-71
1971-72
1972-73


25        10      11
25        10      11
25(1)     9       11
26(1)     8       9
43        11      11
30(1)     10      10
29        13      15
40(3)     8       14
35(3)     12      14
34(1)     10      16
35        10      17
40(5)     11      14
36(5)     9(2)    16
40(4)     9(2)    15
31(1)     10(3)   12
34(4)     10(2)   14
38(5)     11(2)   14
36(2)     10(2)   17
40(3)     8(2)    17
39(3)     10(2)   15
44(2)     10(1)   14
38(2)     9       17
40(3)     9(1)    15
38(2)     10(2)   14
37(4)     12(3)   20
39(6)     14(3)   19
44(7)     10(3)   18
42(10)    10(3)   20
42(6)     11(3)   18
57(12)    12(5)   20
58(13)    10(3)   19
48(16)    9(6)    19
54(20)    9(5)    17
51(20)


9        16
7        19
9        15
6        15
10       11
11       13
9        15
11       14
10       16
8        19
10       18
9        17
10       15
9        16
10       19
9        20(1)
11       13
8        16
9        18
10       26
11(1)    19
11       23
13(1)    18
13       19
16       18
15       17
13       19
13       18
15       15
15(2)    22
12(3)    19
12(3)    22
12(2)    18       8


28        15
27(1)     15
18(1)     15
18(2)     17
37(2)     16
23(4)     13
18(4)     15
15(2)     16
16(4)     17
16(2)     17
20(3)     17
27(6)     17
24(5)     15(2)
26(3)     18(2)
23(2)     16(1)
24(3)     20(1)
22(2)     17
19(6)     16
20(4)     17
25(8)     17(1)
24(6)     20(1)
25(7)     19
24(7)     18
25(4)     19
31(10)    20
24(8)     21
28(7)     19
23(3)     18
27(5)     18(1)
21(5)     17
26(7)     17
27(10     19(1)
21(8)     19(1)


10
7
8
6
6
6
6
9
7
7
6
7
6
7
6
8
7
8
6
6
6
6
7
9
7
8
8
8
8
7
7
8
8


8
8
8
7
7
7
7
7
6
6
7
6
8
7
7
8
7
8
8
7
7
8
7
7
8
8
8
6
7
8
11
13
12


7
9
8
9
9
6
9
8
9
10
12
12
8
9
11
12
13
15
15(1)
17
12
15
14
16
13


0/132
1/129
2/118=1/59
3/112=1/37
2/152= 1/76
5/123 = 1/25
4/127= 1/32
5/134= 1/27
7/140= 1/20
3/142=1/47
3/151=1/50
11/157=1/14
14/148= 1/11
11/153=1/14
7/143= 1/20
11/155=1/14
9/149=1/17
10/148=1/15
9/155=1/17
14/167= 1/12
11/163=1/15
9/165=1/18
12/162= 1/14
8/166= 1/21
17/182=1/11
17/180=1/11
18/182=1/10
16/175=1/11
15/173=1/12
24/194= 1/8
26/193= 1/7
36/193= 1/5
36/190= 1/5




136  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


APPENDIX C
RATIO OF BLACKS AMONG
MICHIGAN GRADUATES, 1916-1972


Year
19 12-13
19 18-19
1924-25
1930-31
1936-37
1942-43
1948-49
1954-55
1960-6 1
1961-62
1967-68
197 1-72


No. black grad- No. graduates
uates pictured  pictured      Ratio
3          946          1/315
1          660          1/660
8         1456          1/182
10         1648          1/165
5         1308          1/262
8         1382          1/173
25         3296          1/132
27         1928          1/71
NO PICTURES OF SENIORS
11         2105          1/191
30         1899          1/63
58         1522          1/26


APPENDIX D
GRADUATION STATISTICS
FOR MICHIGAN LETTERMEN*


Period
189 1-1920
192 1-1940
1941- 1950
195 1-1960
1961-1970
TOTALS


Black Letternmen Graduating
Yes    No     Percentage
-   2.00
5     4.56
16     3.84
27     8.77
53    17.76
135    34.75


White Lettermen Graduating


Yes
19
47
14
29
21


No     Percentage
7.73
8.85
2.88
0           1.00
2.91


130    19.87


*Statistics include all the black lettermen eligible for graduation by 1970 and a random
sample of 149 white lettermen.




APPENDIX   137


APPENDIX E
BLACK ALL-AMERICANS IN FOOTBALL
1940 - 1970*


1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956


0 of 11
None selected
0of 11
0of 11
2 of 11
0of 11
0of 11
0 of 11
0of 11
0of 11
1 of 22
2 of 22
1 of 22
1 of 22
1 of 22
4 of 22
2 of 22


1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970


1 of 22
0 of 22
2 of 22
2 of 22
4 of 22
2 of 22
4 of 22
3 of 22
7 of 22
5 of 22
3 of 22
2 of 22
3 of 22
6 of 23


* Based upon Look
magazine all-American.


APPENDIX F
BLACK ALL-AMERICANS IN BASKETBALL
1949 - 1970*


1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961


0 of 5
0 of 5
0 of 5
1 of 5
1 of 5
1 of 10
4 of 10
4 of 10
2 of 10
4 of 10
4 of 10
4 of 10
3 of 10


1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970


3 of 10
4 of 10
3 of 10
3 of 10
4 of 10
6 of 10
8 of 10
6 of 10
6 of 10


* Based upon Look
magazine all-American.




138  HAIL TO THE VICTORS


APPENDIX G
OLYMPIC MEDALS WON BY
BLACK TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETES
FROM THE UNITED STATES, 1904-1972.
Year              Medals Won
1904                 2
1908                 2
1912                 1
1916        CANCELLED-World War I
1920                 1
1924                 2
1928                 0
1932                 5
1936                 13
1940       CANCELLED-WORLD War II
1944        CANCELLED-World War II
1948                 13
1952                 19
1956                 19
1960                 18
1964                26
1968                20
1972                 12




I
















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10/2/89




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