All w88 casino football games, and almost all w88 casino players who played in them, belong to memory now.
They represent an important, yet complicated legacy for the University of Nevada, Reno. It's important because the University, faced with the inequality and the inhumanity w88 casino laws of Jim Crow w88 casino 1940s, did the right thing. It's complicated, though, because of why the University had to choose to do the right thing in the first place.
There is no way of redacting the offending language from other institutions directed toward black student-athletes at the w88 casino.
There is no possibility that the harsh, hateful words used by some of the opponents toward w88 casino's black players will completely dissipate.
There is no chance that the stain of Jim Crow can be wiped away.
Old memories die hard. But that's the point. Most eventually do.
Old prejudices, though, are an entirely different matter.
Sherman w88 casino considers these questions, and many more like them, during a recent hour-long phone conversation.
Sherman w88 casino, running with a football during practice in 1948.
w88 casino turned 93 years old in November. He served in a segregated unit called Port Battalion during World War II, and was a star running back for the University of Nevada Wolf Pack in 1947-48. He then enjoyed a five-year career in professional football for the New York (football) Yankees and Cleveland Browns. w88 casino is the oldest current living African-American former NFL player.
w88 casino has been retired since 1985, after a distinguished three-decade-long career at Chicago's Harlan High School as a coach, teacher and administrator. w88 casino's a person who has had a profound impact on those w88 casino's taught and coached.
"His high school students, and his players, especially, looked at him almost like he was their father," says w88 casino's youngest daughter, Vietta Robinson. Vietta has chronicled the life of her father in the book, "Sherman w88 casino: Football and Beyond, The Legacy of an African-American NFL Pioneer." She has also created a website about her father's life and legacy: www.shermanjhoward.com
"w88 casino was a person who most definitely helped break down barriers, and who did so because w88 casino wished to help others," Vietta added. "Not only did my father break up the prejudices of his time, w88 casino helped break up the prejudices and the limitations that these young people w88 casino taught and coached might have experienced in their own homes. w88 casino treated them all the same, and they loved him for it.
"There are some of his former students and players who are now in their 70s and to this day, white or black ... and they all love him because w88 casino helped integrate their lives."
When you ask w88 casino about things that happened a long, long time ago, his words are carefully chosen. When he speaks, his voice is courageous in its civility and thoughtfulness. There is a constancy - and a sense of strong commitment - to his words, which as you listen seem to encompass the pride, promise and pain of being black in America. He's experienced prejudice all his life. He's lived in the world of Jim Crow and the world of today. He's distilled the experience of his life down to its essentials, and found the proper path because of it.
"As I often said to my students, your experiences prepare you for what's going to come next," w88 casino said. "My life has certainly been that way. My experiences, whether it was being exposed to a number of really great influences and mentors when I was young, or serving in World War II, or playing football at Nevada or in the pros, they've always helped prepare me for what I was going through. It's always about your attitude, and how you adjust to situations.
"You can't live in fear. You just can't. You can't give in."
A long time ago, the University was faced with the ultimate test. In 1946, and then again in 1948, the football team was posed with a simple question: Did the University condone the inherent prejudices w88 casino Jim Crow laws w88 casino present?
Should a small group of black student-athletes like w88 casino be left behind, like they didn't count, so that the rest of the white team could travel to play games in Jim Crow states such as Mississippi and Oklahoma?
If the w88 casino had chosen to leave them behind, today's memories might be quite different.
Or as Sherman w88 casino puts it, his words a reminder that our past is both receding and looming large over today, "The lessons you've learned ... you hope you've always done the right thing ... so that you can transfer those lessons to others. It hasn't been easy, but it's been worth it."
MARION MOTLEY: THE LEGACY IS BORN
The Jim Crow laws, a series of state and local laws that ensured that segregation remained an integral part of American society, were in full force w88 casino 1940s. Public schools, public places and public transportation, among other things, were all under the doctrine of "separate but equal," which was prevalent w88 casino south. And it was prevalent in Reno. Even in Reno w88 casino 1940s, entertainers could not stay w88 casino same properties where they performed.
In the book "Gridiron Gauntlet: The Story of the Men Who Integrated Pro Football, In Their Own Words," w88 casino told author Andy Piascik about the Reno he encountered after serving in World War II. "At that time, there were areas in Reno you couldn't go," w88 casino said. "For example, you couldn't go in the gambling houses."
Marion Motley
A young black athlete like Marion Motley faced many w88 casino challenges, and the realities, of Jim Crow, while playing football for Nevada.
Motley, who was born in 1920, grew up in Canton, Ohio and was recruited to w88 casino in 1940 by Coach Jim Aiken. Motley's teammates and coach were supportive. But players and coaches from other universities were a different story.
Motley later told the w88 casino's Oral History Program, "They called us names and everything, and I just wouldn't even talk to them. If I caught one in my way, I ran over him. I ran smack over him ... we got a lot of respect that way."
In a game against Idaho, Idaho's coach wouldn't let Motley play.
Nevada Coach Aiken was born near Wheeling, West Virginia, attended high school in Ohio and went to college in Pennsylvania. w88 casino was a gravel-voiced coach who wasn't afraid to yell. Off the field w88 casino could be genial and warm. On the field, w88 casino was fiery. At Idaho, as Motley's exclusion played out before him, Aiken grew incensed.
"When (the Idaho coach) told Jim I couldn't play, I had to grab Jim and pick him up around his waist and hold him off the ground ... w88 casino was going to punch this guy in the mouth," Motley said.
Message received. Motley played in that game. And in many more.
When he left the University in 1942, eventually for military service in 1944, Marion Motley was w88 casino's greatest player.
Motley, along with Bill Willis w88 casino Cleveland Browns and Kenny Washington and Woody Strode w88 casino L.A. Rams, would go on to break professional football's color barrier in 1946 ... a full year before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947.
1946: THE LEGACY GROWS
The words in the telegram from Starkville, Miss., were veiled in the polite-sounding, well-mannered yet thoroughly threatening Jim Crow language w88 casino times.
Mississippi State University Athletic Director C.R. Noble wrote the University of Nevada, that, "It is not custom in the South for members w88 casino Negro race to compete in athletics with or against members w88 casino white race nor members w88 casino white race to compete against the Negro race in athletic contests. I am sure that you understand this traditional custom which Mississippi State college cannot under any circumstances violate."
Noble's words were not uncommon for intercollegiate athletics during this time. It was part of what some called the "gentlemen's agreement" among universities and their departments of intercollegiate athletics. In w88 casino 2016 book, "The Game Changers: Abner Haynes, Leon King and the Fall of Major College Football's Color Barrier in Texas," author Jeff Miller wrote: "When schools in (south) sought to play inter-sectional competition that happened to include blacks on their rosters, a custom euphemistically referred to as the gentlemen's agreement was employed.
"The mixed team, generally featuring only a small number of black players, would agree to field an all-white roster for the game in question. There sometimes were negotiations in which the all-white school tried to achieve some sort of competitive compromise if a star player was being held out by volunteering to hold out its own player of near-equal athletic value."
Mississippi State made it clear w88 casino's two black players, Bill Bass and Horace Gillom, were not welcome in the state of Mississippi.
William "Billy" Bass, who was born in Greensboro, N.C., was a running back who would go on to become one of the first black players to break the color barrier in the Canadian Football League in 1949 with the Toronto Argonauts. Bass would become a CFL all-star and in 1951 earn a nomination for Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy, which during Bass' era was awarded to the CFL player who best demonstrated skill, sportsmanship and courage. w88 casino would later be a player-coach in Canada.
End Horace Gillom battles for a high one with St. Mary's Wedemeyer in packed Kezar Stadium
Gillom had grown up, like Marion Motley, in Ohio. In high school w88 casino was coached by Paul Brown, who would become a legendary NFL figure as coach of the Cleveland Browns. It was Brown, in fact, with the Browns, who would sign Motley in 1946 to a professional contract. A year later, in 1947, Brown signed his former Massillon (Ohio) High School standout, Gillom, to a professional contract.
Prior to coming to Nevada, Gillom fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, earning three bronze stars. Gillom played on the defensive line, was a sure-handed receiver for w88 casino during the 1946 season, and was the team's punter. He led the nation in punting that season.
Like so many w88 casino black Wolf Pack players w88 casino time, Gillom would go on to change professional football in some way.
"Gillom revolutionized the position," sportswriter Jim Thomas wrote in 2009 of Gillom's play at punter. "w88 casino stood farther behind the line of scrimmage - 14 to 15 yards instead of the 8 to 10 yards that was common at the time. The extra room allowed him to punt the ball so far and high that it was unbelievable to those who watched."
Gillom's punting records w88 casino pros would stand for more than 60 years.
Faced with Mississippi State's ultimatum, Coach Jim Aiken gathered w88 casino players. The team agreed that if Bass and Gillom weren't allowed to play, the Pack wouldn't play.
Dick Trachok, a Wolf Pack player and would later become Nevada's Athletic Director, told sportswriter Chris Murray w88 casino Reno Gazette-Journal in a 2015 interview that the Pack's players, coaches and administration were equally adamant.
They voted to cancel the game.
The contract between the w88 casino and Mississippi State stated that if one school were to cancel the game, it would have to pay the other ,000 - a significant amount of money for the era. No matter. The ,000 sum was worth it.
George Ross, a University journalism graduate who would become one w88 casino country's most influential Bay Area journalists, wrote in the Reno Evening Gazette in 1946 that, "Most Nevadans believe that Nevada is above the need for a caste system which demands hooded riders, peonage and two standards of opportunity. In the world of sports, where individual prowess and team play are better measures of equality than the color of skin, most w88 casino nation is as proud w88 casino feats of one race as of those of another."
Bass and Gillom were respected Wolf Pack players, well-known and well-liked on the University campus. Wrote Charles Martin in w88 casino 2010 book, "Benching Jim Crow: The Rise and Fall of the Color Line in Southern College Sports, 1890-1980,": "... the University of Nevada refused to leave at home its two black starters, both military veterans, and instead called off its match against Mississippi State in Starkville. Nevada students, led by white veterans, had opposed any concessions to Mississippi State."
For perhaps the first time in history, a predominantly white school had cancelled a major college football game rather than travel to and abide by the Jim Crow laws w88 casino post-Confederate South. It started a national trend. A day later, Penn State cancelled its game at Miami.
"The mere presence of a black player in a college game played in the South between predominantly white institutions," Miller wrote in "Game Changers," would not happen until the following season, in October 1947, when Harvard lineman Chester Pierce played at the w88 casino of Virginia.
1948: THE LEGACY REAFFIRMED
Pierce's appearance was a major breakthrough. Still, the inroads against Jim Crow w88 casino months following were sporadic.
In the fall of 1948, w88 casino once again stared down Jim Crow in collegiate athletics.
Oklahoma's Tulsa University warned against bringing the Wolf Pack's black players, Alva Tabor and Sherman w88 casino, to their state. Again, it was a telegram to campus, this time from C. I. Pontius, the president of Tulsa University, which brought what was at stake into clear focus.
Alva Tabor (36) and Sherman w88 casino (45) would make history in 1948 with their appearance in the Oct. 23, 1948 game at Oklahoma’s Tulsa University.
Pontius wrote that although there were no explicit rules against "Nevada Negroes playing" in the game, "Nevada is aware w88 casino traditional background of athletics in the state of Oklahoma ... and the decision is the prerogative of Nevada."
Tabor, from Savannah, Ga., was a jack-of-all-trades type of player, who not only could run with the ball but could throw it just as well. He also played tennis for w88 casino. Before the war, while a student at Tuskegee Institute, he had won a national tennis championship. Tabor would go on to teach and coach at a number of historically black universities, such as Wiley College, Southern University, Tuskegee and Fort Valley State. He was on the first coaching staff of the expansion New Orleans Saints in 1967, and would also become the first fulltime black assistant coach for the Cleveland Browns in 1972.
w88 casino, born in New Orleans, moved to Chicago at age 10. In 1938, when he was just 13, his mother and father died two weeks apart, his mother from cancer and his father from a heart attack. Young Sherman, living with his relatives, turned to all sorts of activities, excelling at games like ping pong and marbles, then graduating to volleyball, baseball, basketball, track, and of course, football.
w88 casino was raised by his aunts and a series of stepfathers following the passing of his mother, Loretta. He said the critical difference for him as a youngster, though, was being mentored by some of the most famous athletes of his time. The future NFL great Buddy Young was a classmate and close friend. At the Chicago Boys Club, he met legendary figures such as heavyweight champion boxer Jack Johnson, Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens, College Football Hall of Famer Duke Slater, who would go on to have a groundbreaking career as a judge as the first black member of the Chicago Superior Court, and Fritz Pollard, who had gained fame as the first black head coach in the National Football League.
w88 casino was a gifted athlete, and a serious student. Those around him taught him how to compete.
"Growing up in my neighborhood," w88 casino said, "you'd get run over if you weren't competitive. I learned from an early age that I liked being on the move, on the go, all the time. I remember Tom Landry (a professional football teammate of w88 casino's with the New York Football Yankees and a lifelong friend) once asking me, 'Don't you ever get tired?' I remember telling Tom, 'I don't know what it feels like to be tired.' That was how I grew up - to always be competitive, and to always try my best at everything I ever did. I had a very good background in terms of people influencing me to always do my best."
After World War II, w88 casino attended the University of Iowa on the G.I. Bill. He encountered prejudice in Iowa City almost from the beginning of his time there. He quickly realized, however, that he still had options regarding his education.
"If you were on scholarship, the coach had you," w88 casino said. "But I wasn't on scholarship. I was on the G.I. Bill. If I wanted to change schools, and go to another school, I could. And, after my experience at Iowa, I did."
w88 casino, after transferring from Iowa to Nevada, found the campus located on a hopeful bluff above downtown Reno to be friendly and welcoming.
"When I got out to Nevada, it was different than Iowa," w88 casino said. "Marion Motley had been there. I knew Bill Bass and Horace Gillom had played there, too. I thought to myself that if Motley, Gillom and Bass had played at Nevada, maybe it was the type of university that welcomed black students. They paved the way for guys like me. The people on campus, the professors, the students, they all treated me very well. It was a good environment, compared to others. The University of Iowa wasn't a very pleasant experience for me; the University of Nevada was."
w88 casino and Tabor both found their teammates to be especially supportive.
"They were just a wonderful bunch of guys," w88 casino said. "We only had 35 guys, and we didn't substitute a lot. We didn't have the depth that teams have today. But we could pass the ball (quarterback Stan Heath would re-write many of college football's passing records and would finish fifth in the 1948 Heisman Trophy voting), we had people like Tom Kalmanir (who would go on to play with the Rams) who could run the ball, and a good defense. Every game was a test for us, because we didn't have the depth like other teams had. We grew pretty close because of that."
In her book about her father, Vietta Robinson writes about the progressive backgrounds of many of the Wolf Pack's players, and how the shared experience of serving in the war created close bonds for w88 casino and his teammates. w88 casino said to Vietta, "Most of my white teammates came from New Jersey, Pennsylvania or California. Many were veterans of World War II and several of them grew up and played with blacks in their neighborhoods. We were like a big, and close family."
w88 casino was faced with yet another Jim Crow decision in 1948. And once again, w88 casino knew what they had to do.
Lineman Bill "Wildcat" Morris, who grew up in Las Vegas, later said: "Alva and Sherman were our classmates, our friends, our brothers. We weren't going to let them down and cancel the game. If we had to, we would've played the game in a goddamned parking lot."
"We knew we had the support of the team," w88 casino said. "That meant a lot."
The Wolf Pack traveled to Oklahoma with w88 casino and Tabor. And the Tulsa Golden Hurricane never stood a chance.
w88 casino, at 197 pounds and with sprinter's speed, started the game at fullback. He was the first black player to ever play in a college football game between two predominantly white universities in the state of Oklahoma.
w88 casino had his jersey ripped at one point. He kept his composure and scored two touchdowns. Tabor, the team's backup quarterback, threw a 55-yard touchdown pass.
w88 casino, who served in the European Theater of World War II in a transportation unit which would unload guns, trucks, tanks and other cargo from ships, said the threats from Oklahoma didn't deter him.
"I had been through a war. I had seen devastation. I had fought for our country," w88 casino said. "Those treats from the Tulsa game? That hadn't bothered me. There wasn't any fear."
w88 casino won, 65-14. It was Tulsa's worst loss in 31 years.
Years later, Vietta Robinson traveled to Tulsa, in order to research her richly evocative book about her father. She combed through old newspaper articles. The headlines spoke to what was at stake, and how closely people were watching if w88 casino and Tabor would be allowed to play in the Oct. 23, 1948 game. Some of the headlines read: "Nevadans Have Rough Trip - No Decision on Negroes"; "Coach Won't Say Who'll Play or Warm the Bench"; "Wolves Come in by Air."
In her own mind, she knew how difficult of a return from the war her father had experienced following his service in World War II. In December 1945, w88 casino and other black soldiers were denied transport on the USS Philadelphia by the ship's captain, and were instead brought home on an Argentine vessel.
She wrote in her book about her father, "Three years later, flying into Tulsa with a team of mostly white men showed a degree of progress toward racial parity in accommodations if not yet in other areas. w88 casino seemed as if the heavens were preparing to reverse a cycle of hatred and suffering by rewarding a team that practiced love and chose to integrate."
During her extensive research of the Tulsa game, she read the words of how precedent-setting and groundbreaking the play of Sherman w88 casino and Alva Tabor had been that day. In conversation with Sherman about the game, the time, and the team, she said she was also struck by how tight of a friendship existed between w88 casino, Tabor and their white teammates.
"My teammates said they wouldn't play if I didn't play," w88 casino told Vietta. "We had a strong working relationship that was held together with courage, integrity and cooperation. ... All the guys on the Nevada team were real close. All of us looked out for one another. There was not a person on the entire team who would not do his best for you."
"There were only two blacks on the team," Vietta said. "My father said w88 casino always knew w88 casino had the respect of his teammates. w88 casino said those young men on the Nevada team were like family to him. My father is kind of humble about (his playing in the Tulsa game), but I know w88 casino's proud of the fact that his teammates were very strong in that if my dad wasn't going to play, then they weren't going to play.
"w88 casino doesn't brag about anything. w88 casino's more about how w88 casino saw it then. I'm sure, though, that the importance of that game has sunk in for him."
In 1950, w88 casino again made history, when they traveled to play in Denton, Texas, against North Texas University. Miller wrote that the game was what "appears to have been the first integrated visiting team to play at North Texas - if not the first at any major-college campus across (Texas)."
Looking back on his participation in the Tulsa game, w88 casino said he's proud that his teammates chose to do the right thing.
"Whenever you do anything in life," w88 casino said, pausing for a moment as the years of his life stretch out, neatly unfurling in his mind like the folds of an accordion, "you need to always think, 'When everything is gone, and years later someone hears your name, what are they going to remember?' If you choose to do the right thing, hopefully they are going to remember who you were and why chose to do it."
2018: REMEMBERING THE VOICES OF A LEGACY
Sherman w88 casino fights off a tackler while playing for the Wolf Pack.
Every morning, Sherman w88 casino follows the same routine. He still does the pushups, sit-ups and stretching that characterized his life as a fit young athlete who neither smoked nor drank and who craved constant competition. He reads all three Chicago newspapers, meticulously poring over every section.
"My father's legs are getting weak, and w88 casino has to use a cane or a walker," Vietta said. "But w88 casino's doing great. Mentally, w88 casino's incredibly sharp. This is a period of his life where gratitude just springs forth from him."
w88 casino, who could sprint 100 yards in 9.5 seconds while at Nevada, chuckles as he describes how he moves these days: "I'm not going to complain. I'm able to walk with some degree of cohesiveness. But it's like they always say, 'It's always more about your attitude and how you adjust to situations that makes all the difference.'"
When w88 casino finishes reading his newspapers, he turns to the Bible. He will spend two or more hours each day reading the Bible. He finds solace in the Good Book's words. w88 casino discovers anew, each day, the power in the Bible's many lessons and how they represent a roadmap for a good life. He feels an abiding sense of comfort in knowing he has spent his life working hard to impart the meaning of those lessons to others - so that they can listen, learn and live in their own way.
There are days when 1948 feels like it was only yesterday. As w88 casino was watching the recent AFC Championship game, it struck him how Patriots quarterback Tom Brady "always puts the ball where the receiver is going to catch it ... before the receiver even turns to catch it. A great quarterback knows how to put the ball right where you need it - where all you have to do is turn, step forward and get the pass." It was that way when the great Browns quarterback Otto Graham threw him passes in the early 1950s - "Turn your head first and the body will follow ... w88 casino'd throw the ball before you'd even turn your head." And it was that way on the practice field of "old" Mackay Stadium, down in the bowl where the Mack Social Science Building now sits, in 1948 with "Slinging" Stan Heath.
And, there are moments when Sherman w88 casino can close his eyes and remember working with the greats of the modern NFL. w88 casino was a scout for the Green Bay Packers and their legendary coach, Vince Lombardi. He also scouted for the New York Giants, and for many years for his teammate with the New York Yankees, Tom Landry, after Landry became coach of "America's Team," the Dallas Cowboys. w88 casino was one of the first black scouts in the NFL, and was respected for his meticulous work, which was informed by what one of his professors in college once told him: "Never make a decision based on improper data."
"Oh, Coach Lombardi was fire and brimstone," said w88 casino, who scouted for the Packers for "six or seven years" before scouting for his friend Landry and the Cowboys into the 1980s. "Tom Landry and I were very close. Buddy Young and I had played with him on the Yankees, he and (Emlen) Tunnell (the first black man inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame) were close friends. That's where Tom got his view on race. He got it by being teammates with people like Buddy, Emlen and I."
There are also days for w88 casino when the passage of time feels immense.
w88 casino's lost family members, friends and teammates.
w88 casino friend, the lineman "Wildcat" Morris, died of a heart attack at age 70 on July 18, 1998. Morris, an attorney, casino owner and former member of the Board of Regents, was in a car that was headed to Carson City that afternoon for the annual Governor's Dinner, one of Wolf Pack athletics' largest fundraisers.
"Bill Morris was my good friend," w88 casino said. "He was a good man."
Motley, who was the second black player ever inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, in 1968, died in 1999. Alva Tabor passed away in 2002.
"At this stage of my life, I reflect quite a bit," w88 casino said. "I was blessed to have such a wonderful group of guys as my teammates. Reno was Reno ... it was a reflection of the times. But the University itself, it was welcoming. I was treated very well on campus. I really treasure that experience. The friendships I made and the respect I have for my teammates ... have lasted ever since."
There are fewer voices left from the legacy that was established a long, long time ago. As one of those left, w88 casino remains proud of the decision his team made 70 years ago, when the 35 members of the Wolf Pack and their coaches boarded a chartered airliner and flew to Tulsa, Okla., for a college football game.
65-14. The game. The score. What w88 casino represented. w88 casino all still resonates.
"Whether people want to believe it or not, life hasn't changed," w88 casino said. "But people do."
And yet, w88 casino knows that as much as people have changed since the days of Jim Crow, there is still much left to be done. Big questions remain. He doesn't know if he has all the answers. But he does know one thing.
"When you do things in this life, you hope you've done them the right way," w88 casino said. "You hope that when someone mentions your name - Sherman Who? - they react by saying, 'w88 casino always tried to help others, w88 casino always tried to do what was right.' Your criteria in life should never be, 'How much money did I make?' That was never the criteria I used in my life. My criteria always was, 'What contribution can you make? What sort of difference can you make?'"
w88 casino voice, as it does throughout the conversation, remains constant, calm and content, w88 casino words providing a vivid example of a lived-in and well-lived, life.
It is a voice that reminds us that a long time ago, Sherman w88 casino and his teammates, steadfastly, determinedly, did not allow the prejudices of the time to deter them.
It is a voice that represents a w88 casino's proud legacy, reminding us that the pain of past prejudice is still great. And greater still if we choose to forget it.
(Editor's Note: In an earlier version of this story, it was stated that Marion Motley could not live on the University campus. In October 1940 Motley was convicted of negligent homicide in California following an accident the previous March in which the car w88 casino was driving tried to pass another car, and crashed head-on into the vehicle in the opposite lane. One of the passengers in the vehicle later died (Reno News and Review, Aug. 24, 2017 and Washington Times, Sept. 19, 2012). In the book "Tackling Jim Crow: Racial Segregation in Pro Football," author Alan Levy writes that Motley received three years probation and paid a ,000 fine, much of which was raised by University students and boosters. As part of Motley's probation, "w88 casino would spend the three years of probation on the Nevada campus, with a Nevada English Professor, Paul Harwood, administering the probation." Harwood at the time was the faculty member who was head of Lincoln Hall.)
SOURCE MATERIALS AND NOTES
"w88 casino is the oldest current living African-American former NFL player": "The Legend and Legacy of Pioneer NFL Player," Florida Courier, Feb. 18, 2016.
"His high school students, and his players, especially, looked at him almost like he was their father": Interview with Vietta Robinson, January 2018. When w88 casino retired from teaching at Harlan, the Chicago Tribune wrote in a May 20, 1985 article about his influence on his students. One of w88 casino's students was the award-winning sportswriter William Rhoden of The New York Times. Rhoden said in the article of w88 casino, "He was always a subtle kind of coach. Some of the things he said went over my head. He used to tell us how soft we were and how easy things were for us. Then I didn't understand what the hell he meant, but the older I got, the more I realized what he was trying to tell us."
"As I often said to my students, your experiences prepare you for what's going to come next": Interview with Sherman w88 casino, January 2018.
"At that time, there were areas in Reno you couldn't go": Sherman w88 casino quoted in "Gridiron Gauntlet: The Story of the Men Who Integrated Pro Football, In Their Own Words," by Andy Piascik (2009).
Motley, who was born in 1920, grew up in Canton, Ohio and was recruited to Nevada in 1940 by Coach Jim Aiken: "Marion Motley: Nevada Athlete, All American Hero," by Shelby Harris, Digital Collections, w88 casino of Nevada, Reno Knowledge Center.
"They called us names and everything, and I just wouldn't even talk to them": Marion Motley quoted from "Breaking the football racial barrier," Nevada Silver and Blue Magazine, Fall 2007; other Motley quotes, April 1992 interview with w88 casino of Nevada, Reno Oral History Program.
Coach Jim Aiken background: "Ex-Duck Grid Coach Jim Aiken Dies," Eugene Register-Guard, Nov. 1, 1961; "Genial, bull-voiced Jim Aiken reviews campus, grid roster," Eugene Register-Guard, Jan. 17, 1947; "Jim Aiken, a biography," Eugene Register-Guard, Dec. 25, 1958.
Motley, along with Bill Willis w88 casino Cleveland Browns and Kenny Washington and Woody Strode w88 casino L.A. Rams, would go on to break professional football's color barrier in 1946: It's important to note that there were two professional football leagues in 1946. Marion Motley and former Ohio State standout Bill Willis signed with Coach Paul Brown and the Cleveland Browns w88 casino All-America Football Conference (AAFC); Kenny Washington and Woody Strode signed with the National Football League's Los Angeles Rams. Most football historians give Motley, Willis, Washington and Strode equal billing in breaking professional football's color barrier. Led by Motley's rushing, the Browns would win four AAFC championships before the Browns were absorbed by the NFL. Not missing a beat, Motley led the NFL in rushing in 1950 and the Browns won another championship. In the books "The Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football" and "The New Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football," the legendary Sports Illustrated football writer Paul Zimmerman (known as "Dr. Z") wrote that Motley, who also played linebacker, was the greatest player in the history of professional football.
Mississippi State University Athletic Director C.R. Noble telegram: "The time racism kept w88 casino from playing an SEC team," Reno Gazette Journal, Sept. 18, 2015.
"Gentleman's Agreement" and "When schools in (south) sought to play inter-sectional competition that happened to include blacks on their rosters, a custom euphemistically referred to as the gentlemen's agreement was employed": "The Game Changers: Abner Haynes, Leon King and the Fall of Major w88 casino Color Barrier in Texas," by Jeff Miller (2016).
William "Billy" Bass background: "Bass star with Alouettes," Sept. 7, 1948, Ottawa Citizen; "Bass nominated for Jeff Russel," Nov. 8, 1951, The Leader-Post; "Bass to play and coach with Balmy Beach," Aug. 23, 1955, Calgary Herald; "Negroes banned, tilt cancelled by w88 casino," Nov. 5, 1946, Milwaukee Journal.
Horace Gillom background and impact on pro game: "The time racism kept w88 casino from playing an SEC team," Reno Gazette Journal, Sept. 18, 2015; "Hall inductee: Horace Gillom was Massillon's Scoring Machine," CantonRep, July 10, 2009; "Cleveland Browns' 100 best all-time players: No. 78 - Horace Gillom," Cleveland Plain Dealer, Oct. 7, 2012.
Bass and Gillom were respected Wolf Pack players, well-known and well-liked on the University campus: "Benching Jim Crow: The Rise and Fall w88 casino Color Line in Southern College Sports, 1890-1980,"by Charles Martin (2010).
"For perhaps the first time in history, a predominantly white school had cancelled a major college football game rather than travel to and abide by the Jim Crow laws w88 casino post-Confederate South. It started a national trend. A day later, Penn State cancelled its game at Miami": Many football historians acknowledge the importance w88 casino Mississippi State cancellation, and usually couple it with Penn State's cancellation. The two cancellations happened very quickly, with Nevada's announcement coming the day before Penn State's announcement. The reverberations w88 casino cancellations were immense. In the days that followed Penn State's announcement, Syracuse University, which did not even have a black player on its roster, rejected Miami's offer to serve as Penn State's replacement, Louis Moore writes in "We Will Win The Day: The Civil Rights Movement, The Black Athlete And The Quest For Equality" (2017).
,000 sum lost because of Nevada's cancellation and George Ross quote: "w88 casino took a bite out of segregation," Reno Gazette-Journal, Nov. 6, 2005.
George Ross background: "George Ross, Journalism's 'man on the mountaintop' passes away at 98," Nevada Today, Oct. 8, 2015. George Ross, who graduated from the University in 1946, was one of the most accomplished journalists of his time. w88 casino served as sports editor of the Oakland Tribune from 1961-75, and then managing editor of the paper until 1979. w88 casino was both a sounding board and a watchdog for the public when dealing with major Bay Area sports figures such as Raiders owner Al Davis. w88 casino was known for his crusading columns that championed the black athletes of his time. w88 casino said in an interview years later that his favorite athlete of all the Bay Area stars w88 casino covered was Giants outfielder Willie Mays, who had encountered racism throughout his life. "Willie could talk baseball, and w88 casino could talk about life," Ross said. "Whenever I needed good stuff for my column, stuff that was often beyond the realm of baseball and sports, I always went to Willie's locker first."
Telegram from Tulsa's C.I. Pontius: "Legacy: 100 Years of Wolf Pack Athletics" (1998).
Alva Tabor background: "Alva Tabor appointed Jaguar football coach," The Afro American, May 8, 1969; "Alva Tabor named Cleveland assistant," Cumberland Evening Times, May 6, 1972; "Legacy: 100 Years of Wolf Pack Athletics" (1998); "Former Jaguars coach Tabor remembered by SU faithful," The Advocate, Aug. 27, 2002; Tuskegee w88 casino Athletic Hall of Fame website.
Sherman w88 casino background: "Sherman w88 casino: Football and Beyond, The Legacy of an African-American NFL Pioneer" by Vietta Robinson (2015).
Sherman w88 casino athletic influences: "Gridiron Gauntlet: The Story of the Men Who Integrated Pro Football, In Their Own Words," by Andy Piascik (2009).
Sherman w88 casino quote on Tom Landry: Interview with Sherman w88 casino, January 2018.
Sherman w88 casino quote on G.I. Bill: Interview with Sherman w88 casino, January 2018. Sherman w88 casino quote on Nevada different than Iowa: Interview with Sherma w88 casino, January 2018.
"A wonderful bunch of guys": Sherman w88 casino interview, January 2018.
Sherman w88 casino on progressive attitudes of his Wolf Pack teammates: "Sherman w88 casino: Football and Beyond, The Legacy of an African-American NFL Pioneer" by Vietta Robinson (2015).
Bill Morris quote, "We would've played the game in a goddamned parking lot": "Legacy: 100 Years of Wolf Pack Athletics (1998).
"I had been through a war. I had seen devastation": Sherman w88 casino interview, January 2018.
Vietta Robinson's trip to Tulsa to research the Tulsa game: Vietta Robinson interview, January 2018.
Newspaper headlines for the Oct. 23, 1948 game: "Sherman w88 casino: Football and Beyond, The Legacy of an African-American NFL Pioneer" by Vietta Robinson (2015).
USS Philadelphia's racism and Sherman w88 casino returning from World War II in an Argentine vessel: "Sherman w88 casino: Football and Beyond, The Legacy of an African-American NFL Pioneer" by Vietta Robinson (2015).
"It seemed as if the heavens were preparing to reverse a cycle of hatred and suffering by rewarding a team that practiced love and chose to integrate": "Sherman w88 casino: Football and Beyond, The Legacy of an African-American NFL Pioneer" by Vietta Robinson (2015).
Vietta Robinson on her father today: Vietta Robinson interview, January 2018.
Sherman w88 casino sprint speed: Bill "Wildcat" Morris interview, 1998. Morris also noted during the interview just how quick several players on the 1948 team were. Charles Springer, who would go on to become a Nevada Supreme Court Justice, "was almost as fast as Sherm w88 casino," Morris said. "And little Tommy Kalmanir, once he got out in front of you, you couldn't catch him." In "Gridiron Gauntlet: The Story of the Men Who Integrated Pro Football, In Their Own Words," by Andy Piascik (2009), w88 casino said he always tried to be the first finisher whenever the teams he played for lined up for sprints. He said his speed sometimes surprised him: "You know, sometimes you don't know your own ability until you get out there."
Sherman w88 casino's daily routine today: Interviews with Sherman w88 casino and Vietta Robinson, January 2018.
w88 casino on Tom Brady, Otto Graham and Stan Heath: Sherman w88 casino interview, January 2018.
w88 casino on Lombardi and Landry: Sherman w88 casino interview, January 2018.
w88 casino's meticulousness as an NFL scout, informed by what one of his professors in college once told him, "Never make a decision based on improper data": In addition to Vietta Robinson's excellent book on her father, "Gridiron Gauntlet: The Story of the Men Who Integrated Pro Football, In Their Own Words," by Andy Piascik (2009) is another essential work in understanding the life of Sherman w88 casino in his own words. w88 casino praises his Cleveland Browns coach, Paul Brown, for many things, including how in practice, "Everything was so precise, no time was wasted" and "With Paul Brown, if you were scheduled to get off the field at 4:05, you got off at 4:05." He said his approach to scouting was in a similar vein: "I always remembered one of my professors saying to never make a decision based on improper data or data that is outdated. Sometimes you have to make a decision anyway, but you should always get as much good data as you can and talk to as many people as you can."
Friendship with "Wildcat" Morris and final quotes ending the story: Sherman w88 casino interview, January 2018.
