Read more about the article September 12, 1970: STANFORD vs. ARKANSAS at LITTLE ROCK

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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Read more about the article Jerry LeVias saw nooses on his path to desegregating Southwest Conference

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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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 The Civil Rights icon explained to an SMU student senate leader that the Dallas school had rescinded an invitation a couple years earlier.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