MLK helped Jerry LeVias and Hayden Fry change the Southwest Conference

By TOM SHANAHAN Martin Luther King Jr. initially hesitated to accept an invitation to speak at Southern Methodist University in 1966, a time and place where resistance to integration persisted. The Civil Rights icon explained to an SMU student senate leader that the Dallas school had rescinded an invitation a couple years earlier. Bert Moore, who won election as student senate vice-president despite opposition campaign posters labeling him an “integrationist,” appealed to SMU president Willis Tate. Tate assured…

Continue ReadingMLK helped Jerry LeVias and Hayden Fry change the Southwest Conference