Read more about the article Here are more reasons to understand Tommy Love’s moment unfairly lost to history

Here are more reasons to understand Tommy Love’s moment unfairly lost to history

PHOTO: Michigan State's Tommy Love was a Parade High School All-American, in 1966. More: The media is blinded by Bear Bryant Hagiography. More: Tommy Love was a game-changer on college football integration, in 1967 And more: The Tommy Love Story is compelling, but ESPN, Sports Illustrated, HBO, Showtime et al aren’t buying without adding a Bear Bryant myth – Tom Shanahan Report By TOM SHANAHAN Not so long ago, Tommy Love planted a 1967 flag symbolizing a tipping point to…

Continue ReadingHere are more reasons to understand Tommy Love’s moment unfairly lost to history
Read more about the article Bear Bryant’s Civil Rights wake-up call was 55 years ago this week — one year before 1970 USC-Alabama fairytale

Bear Bryant’s Civil Rights wake-up call was 55 years ago this week — one year before 1970 USC-Alabama fairytale

PHOTO: Tennessee's Jackie Walker returned a first-quarter interception for a 21-0 lead en route to a 41-14 victory. From Kirkus, The Right Thing To Do: "Fascinating read" ... "unexpected subplots" ... "A work of sports history that fill gaps" ... "prose is breezy" - Tom Shanahan Report By TOM SHANAHAN Bear Bryant was behind the times when integrated Tennessee arrived to play all-White Alabama at Legion Field in 1969. He was further behind when USC arrived at the…

Continue ReadingBear Bryant’s Civil Rights wake-up call was 55 years ago this week — one year before 1970 USC-Alabama fairytale
Read more about the article Jackie Walker’s true 1969 Tennessee story forgotten and unjustly overshadowed by 1970 USC-Alabama folklore

Jackie Walker’s true 1969 Tennessee story forgotten and unjustly overshadowed by 1970 USC-Alabama folklore

Although no one in the documentary says it, there seems to be a feeling that Southern Cal’s rout of Alabama was the shock that the University and a majority of the fans needed to support integration of the football program. But in fact, that same shock probably came the previous year when the Tennessee Volunteers, the team that Bryant always regarded as the Tide’s most bitter foe, thrashed the Tide 41-14 at Legion Field in Birmingham. (I know—I…

Continue ReadingJackie Walker’s true 1969 Tennessee story forgotten and unjustly overshadowed by 1970 USC-Alabama folklore
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