Purchase links and review: From Kirkus, The Right Thing To Do: “Fascinating read” … “unexpected subplots” … “A work of sports history that fill gaps” … “prose is breezy” – Tom Shanahan Report

By TOM SHANAHAN

Thanks to Dexter Henry at the New York Post sports video on YouTube for the opportunity to discuss my book, THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football in the 1960s.

Shining a light on the real heroes who led the way for integration in college football (youtube.com)

This is one of the few examples of a national media outlet recognizing the many holes in the Bear Bryant myths and the folklore about the 1970 USC-Alabama game.

I’ve found the media is comfortable with myths that promote Bryant at the expense of the true pioneers of college football integration. They’ve been unjustly overshadowed.

In reality, under Bryant, Alabama was the seventh of 10 Southeastern Conference schools to integrate. By the time of the 1970 USC-Alabama game, 33 of 37 major southern programs were integrated.

The fairytale of Bear Bryant scheduling USC as a game to lose so Sam Cunningham could run over his all-White team and shocked Alabama’s bigoted fanbase into allowing him to recruit Black athletes lacks supporting evidence beyond the final score and statistics. The myths were made up 20 years after the game was played in Los Angeles to obfuscate USC’s poor role on integration until the late 1960s. Alabama fans, naturally, embraced a tale that whitewashed Bryant’s segregationist history as a coach from 1945 to 1970 .

I’ve presented this case to national media members you’d all recognize — ESPN, Sports Illusatrated, The Athletic and others. But they are comfortable with Bear Bryant myths that grew from sloppily researched sports writing.

There is something curious about how the sports media doesn’t want to take on Bear Bryant myths. I’ve had more than one editor, including Deadspin, tell me Bear Bryant gets too much credit, yet the website didn’t use my freelance pitch. An editor at The Undefeated — before it changed its name to Andscape — told me because of budget cuts it wouldn’t be fair to pay me pennies on the dollars.

Those were the reasons given for rejecting this 2020 freelance pitch: Time to reexamine Bear Bryant and 1970 USC-Alabama myths and fiction – Tom Shanahan Report

The 2020 season was the year ESPN, The Athletic and others celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1970 USC-Alabama game. Our leading media institutions promote a myth over the untold true stories of the 1960s.

This is a past story I wrote reveals a few of the many holes — a full accounting requires a longer story — in the Showtime film, AGAINST THE TIDE, about the 1970 USC-Alabama game. Part IV: College football integration lore, in the form of traffic, was steered down a fairy tale exit – Tom Shanahan Report

This story shows that Stanford played Arkansas at War Memorial Stadium in Fayetteville on the same night USC was at Alabama. In other words, college football integration was a fair accompli by 1970: September 12, 1970: STANFORD vs. ARKANSAS at LITTLE ROCK – Tom Shanahan Report

A premise of the myth was Bryant wanted to shock his bigoted fanbase into allowing him to recruit Black players, so he scheduled USC as a game to lose. That ignores integrated Tennesse — led by Jackie Walker, the SEC’s first Black All-American player — routed Alabama 41-14 a year earlier at Legion Field in Birmingham: Jackie Walker’s true 1969 Tennessee story forgotten and unjustly overshadowed by 1970 USC-Alabama folklore – Tom Shanahan Report

I will debate these facts with anybody, anytime, anywhere.

So far, no takers.

There is so much misinformation out there, I posted this video about Bear Bryant celebrated for recruiting Black players to win games in the 1970s, but Duffy Daugherty was cynically questioned for recruiting Black players in the 1950s and 1960s to win games.

Correcting ESPN on Duffy Daugherty’s legacy – Tom Shanahan Report

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Tom Shanahan is an award-winning sportswriter and frequent contributor to Spartanamag.com. His new book on Michigan State leading college football integration is, “THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.” His first book was “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.”

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @shanny4055

Below are links to click on to purchase my books focused.

My books tell the true story of college football integration in the 1960s and address the myths and fiction that allowed a false narrative surrounding the 1970 USC-Alabama game to usurp the credit from the true pioneers. As I said when I spoke at the National Sports Media Association book festival, no two books provide an accurate portrayal more than RAYE OF LIGHT and THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

I’ll put my facts up against anybody, anytime, anywhere. Watch here.

Click here for my story on the 1962 Rose Bowl and Segregation awarded first place by the Football Writers Association of America. I tell untold stories on Michigan State’s leading role and the true pioneers of college football integration. Click here to read the summary as a first-place story.

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Click here to purchase The Right Thing To Do

THE RIGHT THING TO DO

The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s

Foreword by Ruffin McNeill

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Click here to purchase Raye of Light.

RAYE OF LIGHT

Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the 1ntegration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans

Foreword by Tony Dungy

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Click here to purchase my children’s book, Bubba’s Dad, Duffy and College Football’s Underground Railroad

The book for now is only a Kindle version on Amazon. Print and audio platforms available soon.

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My next children’s book coming soon: How Duffy Put Hawaii on the Football Map