SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 34,337
- Like
- 66,950
Dino Babers is our first black head football coach. It's actually a good thing that people aren't discussing that- it's a sign of progress that that isn't considered remarkable. But it needs to be noted.
We were one of the schools that advanced the cause of integration back in the 30's, 40's and 50's by using black players like Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, Bernie Custis, Avatus Stone, (all of whom were black quarterbacks), then the three 44's- Jim Brown, the first black Heisman winner, Ernie Davis and Floyd Little. We had John Brown, Art Baker, John Mackey and Jim Nance and others. It wasn't altruistic: the use of black players enabled this mid-size private school in the snow capital of the country to become a national power. One of the reasons we later slipped is that because of that, our rivals started doing the same thing. And it wasn't all smooth sailing, If you read Jim Browns auto-bio and Ernie Davis' bio and read about well the black player's revolt. But those racial conflicts happened here because we had more than once race here - Alabama didn't. (Although 'race' is a poor word: as Edward James Olmos said "We have many cultures but just one race- the human race").
It's about time we had a black head coach. And now that I've said it, I won't be saying it again. Now he's just our football coach and hopefully will have a great career here. Progress is wonderful.
We were one of the schools that advanced the cause of integration back in the 30's, 40's and 50's by using black players like Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, Bernie Custis, Avatus Stone, (all of whom were black quarterbacks), then the three 44's- Jim Brown, the first black Heisman winner, Ernie Davis and Floyd Little. We had John Brown, Art Baker, John Mackey and Jim Nance and others. It wasn't altruistic: the use of black players enabled this mid-size private school in the snow capital of the country to become a national power. One of the reasons we later slipped is that because of that, our rivals started doing the same thing. And it wasn't all smooth sailing, If you read Jim Browns auto-bio and Ernie Davis' bio and read about well the black player's revolt. But those racial conflicts happened here because we had more than once race here - Alabama didn't. (Although 'race' is a poor word: as Edward James Olmos said "We have many cultures but just one race- the human race").
It's about time we had a black head coach. And now that I've said it, I won't be saying it again. Now he's just our football coach and hopefully will have a great career here. Progress is wonderful.
