SEC historians rewrite Bryant’s segregation track record

CHAPTER 7: REVISIONIST HISTORY FROM GEN. LEE to COACH BRYANT USC’s 1970 team started only five Black players: Cunningham, Jones, tailback Clarence Davis, linebacker Charlie Weaver and defensive end Tody Smith. The Trojans didn’t resemble Grambling, the Historically Black College and University football powerhouse, another element the myth purports. USC’s five Black starters were only three more than Tennessee at Alabama in 1969 -- or 17 fewer than Grambling. Smith was a transfer from Michigan State, so it…

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Conjecture drives the 1970 USC-Alabama narrative

CHAPTER 6: CONJECTURE + ALTERNATIVE FACTS = MYTHS If Mark Twain were alive today as a college football fan, he might have said, “There are lies, damn lies and conjecture.” But if there had been a kernel of truth to the USC-Alabama myths, the highlighted Trojans player for Bryant to educate his bigoted fans was USC quarterback Jimmy Jones. Unlike Cunningham, Jones was a returning starter; he made a 1969 Sports Illustrated cover. In 1970, Condredge Holloway was…

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