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Posted

This HBO sports documentary is due to air on Dec. 16. I've seen previews for it and plan on watching it. From what I understand Hayden Fry and Jerry Levias are featured in this documentary. (because Levias broke the color barrier in the SWC when Hayden was coach there).

That's great. But sadly, I bet there is nary a mention of Abner Haynes and Leon King. Maybe, but I doubt it. And I don't really blame the producers. Maybe our school doesn't and hasnt' ever, promoted the fact often enough that our teams were integrated 9 years before the SWC was.

Anyway it should be a good documentary, and maybe we are mentioned in it:

http://www.hbo.com/events/breakingthehuddle/

Posted (edited)

According to Barry Horn (DMNews), SMU will have a screening of this documentary next Tuesday:

SMU plans a Tuesday screening of the upcoming HBO Sports documentary Breaking the Huddle: The integration of College Football. Jerry LeVias and Hayden Fry will be there. LeVias was the first African-American scholarship athlete in the Southwest Conference, leading Fry's Mustangs to the 1966 conference title.

Edited by SUMG
Posted

According to Barry Horn (DMNews), SMU will have a screening of this documentary next Tuesday:

SMU plans a Tuesday screening of the upcoming HBO Sports documentary Breaking the Huddle: The integration of College Football. Jerry LeVias and Hayden Fry will be there. LeVias was the first African-American scholarship athlete in the Southwest Conference, leading Fry's Mustangs to the 1966 conference title.

I have always believed that Baylor was the first SWC school to integrate, with John Westbrook being their first black athlete. Here is a link to the story in the Baylor History review.

http://baylorreview.blogspot.com/2005/06/b...integrates.html

Here is the pertinent quote.

"Bridgers' Baylor football team ended up being the first Southwest Conference squad to field a black player in a game. That player, halfback John Westbrook, carried the ball twice in Baylor's victory over Syracuse on Sept. 10, 1966. Westbrook beat SMU's Jerry Levias by one week to become the Southwest Conference's first black player."

Posted (edited)

I have always believed that Baylor was the first SWC school to integrate, with John Westbrook being their first black athlete. Here is a link to the story in the Baylor History review.

http://baylorreview.blogspot.com/2005/06/b...integrates.html

Here is the pertinent quote.

"Bridgers' Baylor football team ended up being the first Southwest Conference squad to field a black player in a game. That player, halfback John Westbrook, carried the ball twice in Baylor's victory over Syracuse on Sept. 10, 1966. Westbrook beat SMU's Jerry Levias by one week to become the Southwest Conference's first black player."

In today's DMNews...sports media writer Barry Horn writes about this upcoming HBO documentary. In it...he mentions that Levias was the first black scholarship athlete in SWC history. So maybe that's the difference---Levias was on scholarship...maybe Westbrook wasn't. (I'm just guessing, btw). Anyway, that's the first time I had ever seen it written that way---that Levias was the first black scholarship athlete.

Edited by SUMG

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