The ‘Time’ magazine face that launched a thousand Bear Bryant myths

Visit my homepage website, TomShanahan.Report — Part I: Did Bear Bryant protest facing Michigan State’s Horace Smith? — Part II: Bryant’s second deception and something missing from 1980 “Time” story — Part III: Scripted in Hollywood, unaware of South’s timeline — Part IV: Black Historiography --- More on Bear Bryant mythology: One year before USC arrived at Legion Field in 1970, integrated Tennessee, led by All-American linebacker Jackie Walker, embarrassed the all-white Crimson Tide 41-14 at Legion Field. Walker sparked the rout…

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September 12, 1970: STANFORD vs. ARKANSAS at LITTLE ROCK

Cover photo (L-R): Stanford's all-minority backfield in 1970: Jackie Brown, Hillary Shockley and Jim Plunkett. Visit my home page, TomShanahanReport *** “History writes people out of the story. It's our job to write them back in.” --- David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. BY TOM SHANAHAN We’ve been misled by myths surrounding the 1970 USC-Alabama game’s racial impact, but the deception doesn’t stop there. The revisionist history has cost the true 1960s pioneers of college football integration their due.…

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Jerry LeVias saw nooses on his path to desegregating Southwest Conference

By TOM SHANAHAN Jerry LeVias knows how it feels to see nooses directed at him. The College Football Hall of Famer and six-year NFL veteran spoke from experience on Bubba Wallace’s NASCAR crew finding a noose at his Talladega Speedway garage In 1966, a cluster of Texas football fans held nooses aloft to greet LeVias as the Southern Methodist receiver/return man took the field for a game Oct. 29 at Memorial Stadium on the state’s flagship campus. Many…

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