My lengthy catalogue of 1970 USC-Alabama myths and Bear Bryant fairytales
PHOTO: The complexion of Alabama football from 1958 through 1970 under Bear Bryant. The same was true of his rosters at Maryland (1945), Kentucky (1946-53) and Texas A&M (1954-57).
Visit my homepage: TomShanahan.Report.
Click here for THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s
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The stories listed provide an accurate timeline of college football integration’s transformative moments. Alabama coach Bear Bryant dragged his feet, but fairytales that were popular misconceptions worked their way into the national folklore with the aid of poorly researched sports writing.
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“What happens in history is often a slippery business. And as ever, depends on who is doing the telling, when they are telling the tale and why.”
— Doris Kearns Goodwin
By TOM SHANAHAN
Bear Bryant’s legend is a fraud.
Well, put it this way: Fraudulent folklore casts the Alabama coach as an integration advocate based on 1970 USC-Alabama game myths.
He wasn’t, dragging his feet into the 1970s. Bryant was the seventh of 10 Southeastern Conference coaches to recruit his first Black player in is 1970 recruiting class. By then, 33 of 37 major southern programs included a Black player.
But that’s not the story told on ESPN, The Athletic, Sports Illustrated, HBO and Showtime.
If you don’t want to believe me, here’s what Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam wrote in a 2002 ESPN article:
“But the Bear was very late to the dance, especially because people are always talking about football coaches as leaders. In this case, he did not lead very well.”
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MY FIRST-PLACE STORY ALABAMA, THE 1962 ROSE BOWL AND SEGREGATION
Jim Murray and the threat of UCLA’s eight Black players to boycott the Rose Bowl forced the Rose Bowl to back down, ending Bear Bryant’s backroom maneuvering.
My FWAA first-place story on the 1962 Rose Bowl and segregation – Tom Shanahan Report
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Bo Knows: Matthews bares his thoughts on Bear Bryant’s 1970 recruiting audible – Tom Shanahan Report
WAKE FOREST, HOUSTON, AND SAM CUNNINGHAM CAME TO BELIEVE AND WHAT KEITH JACKSON DIDN’T SAY
Three Black teenagers written out of history by Bear Bryant apologists
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Duffy’s 1985 Knoxville response to Bear Bryant – Tom Shanahan Report
“We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Duffy” — for telling his Bear Bryant jokes – Tom Shanahan Report
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MY DINNER WITH THE BEAR
Imagine my surprise when a letter arrived at my house inviting me to dinner at the Bear Bryant Hilton with college football’s most celebrated segregationist coach
My Dinner with The Bear – Tom Shanahan Report
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MY LETTER TO TOM SELLECK ABOUT 1970 USC-ALABAMA MYTH
The myths selling Bryant’s false narrative were first in print stories, books and later documentaries. I wrote this tongue-in-cheek letter to Tom Selleck, a USC alumnus who narrated the 2013 Showtime film, “Against the Tide.” The film was based on the 2006 book “Turning of the Tide.”
So far, he hasn’t written me back. Not even to talk about Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammel and the Detroit Tigers.
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WHY IT MATTERS
This story is about more the falsehood of crediting Bear Bryant for leadership he did not demonstrate. It’s about the injustice of the true pioneers of college football integration in the 1960s lost in the shadows of Bryant hagiography. They can’t receive their credit without debunking the Bryant myths coopting their place in history. Some of them played through death threats.
My books:
— “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.”
— “THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.”
My website:
Our documentary in development:
— Game Changers of the Century
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I exposed Bear Bryant’s 1961 backroom scheme to replace the Big Ten representative in the 1962 Rose Bowl in a story that won first place from the Football Writers Association of American for Enterprise, in 2022. Bryant wouldn’t have gotten away with the plan if not for Jim Murray exposing the plot in the LA Times. He confronted Bryant about UCLA’s eight Black players’ plan to boycott the game. The story was included as Chapter 25 in my second book, THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
— My FWAA first-place story on the 1962 Rose Bowl and segregation – Tom Shanahan Report
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I first exposed Bear Bryant myths in RAYE OF LIGHT, but then I dug deeper. This is the first length story I wrote and tried to pitch as a freelance piece. The Undefeated (now Andscape) wrote me back that because of budget cuts it wouldn’t be fair to “pay me pennies on the dollars” (I posted for free on my website). A Deadspin editor said Bryant gets too much credit but didn’t use the story. The Atlantic didn’t respond.
— Time to reexamine Bear Bryant and 1970 USC-Alabama myths and fiction – Tom Shanahan Report
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What I find amazing about exposing Bryant myths is I continue to find new stories. It’s seemingly a bottomless well — largely because the media has failed miserably for so many years to expose Bryant’s darker side.
The most recent story I’ve posted — as of early March — was this one on Bo Matthews. He knocked on history when he signed a SEC letter of intent with Bryant as one of his first two Black recruits.
— Bo Knows: Matthews bares his thoughts on Bear Bryant’s 1970 recruiting audible – Tom Shanahan Report
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Bryant mythology also includes false credit for players to northern schools. The myth has been at the expense of Michigan State coach Duffy Daugherty’s legacy leading college football integration. Daugherty’s Underground Railroad was built through a unique network of Black high school coaches in the South. Bryant was unaware of Black players in the South during segregation
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In the Bryant and 1970 USC/Alabama myths, the game is positioned as a singular moment in college football history. Well, USC wasn’t the only integrated Pac-8 team to play in the South that night. Stanford, with an all-minority backfield, upset No. 4-ranked Arkansas at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
The star of the game was a Black fullback, Stanford’s Hillary Shockley. He finished with 149 total yards and three touchdowns — more yards and scores than Sam Cunningham (135, 2) at Alabama. But you never hear about Stanford, which went on to win the Pac-8, while USC failed to make a bowl game.
Here’s my story, which also notes Stanford-Arkansas was the ABC TV national game of the week. USC-Alabama was limited to local radio networks.
September 12, 1970: STANFORD vs. ARKANSAS at LITTLE ROCK – Tom Shanahan Report
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— More stories to come to fill out this post. Check back.
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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.
Tags: Alabama, Bear Bryant, Shane Gillis, USC
