By Robert J. Romano, J.D., LLM, Assistant Professor of Sport Management, St. John’s University
Like everyone during this COVID-19 lockdown, I have been receiving numerous emails, Facebook posts, Twitter notifications, and Instagram hits from the various professional sport properties: NFL, MLB, NBA, etc. These continued contacts are the various leagues’ way of keeping me and other fans engaged while the teams and athletes stay sidelined.
A recent Facebook post from the NFL was entitled “Every NFL Team’s All-Time Leading Rusher.” Taking notice, I reminisced while reading the names of the great Walter Payton, leading rusher for the Chicago Bears, (second alltime with 16,726 yards), the Detroit Lions’ tough to tackle Barry Sanders (third with 15,259 yards), Oakland/Los Angeles Raider Marcus Allen (17th with 8,545 yards) and the all-time great Jim Brown, whose yardage still tops the Cleveland Browns’ list 60 years after his retirement (fifth alltime with 12,312 yards). There were other greats such as Larry Csonka (Miami Dolphins), Emmitt Smith (Dallas Cowboys), and Franco Harris (Pittsburgh Steelers), but one name, the last name on the list, made me raise an eyebrow. Way down on the bottom, last, with only 5,453 yards gained for the New England Patriots was Sam Cunningham. Yes, after all of these years, Sam ‘Bam’ Cunningham was still the all-time leading rusher for the Patriots. But even though his name was last on the NFL’s list his name certainly ranks as one of the most significant. Why? Because Sam Cunningham, together with the USC Trojans, helped transform the game of college football.
In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the matter of Brown vs. Board of Education, overturned the long-standing “separate but equal” doctrine established in the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision and therefore symbolically ended an era of segregation known as “Jim Crow.” Ten years later, taking a long overdue cue from the Court, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the purpose of ending public racial discrimination. Interestingly, however, these federal holdings and laws did very little to persuade a number of southern colleges and universities to integrate, a number of which were members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and segregation continued to be a significant part of college life and in particular, college athletics.
One university epitomized the attitude of the SEC. The University of Alabama, buried in the heart of the South, became the Flagship for Segregation in that it had rarely, if ever, accepted a person of color.[9] In fact, then Alabama Governor George Wallace, in defiance of the Civil Rights Act, used his gubernatorial powers to keep many segregation laws in place, which included an attempt to ban all people of color from attending the University. This ban resulted in the entire student body, together with the entire football team, remaining predominately white throughout the 1960s. To make matters worse, the Crimson Tide football team won national championships in 1961, 1964, and 1965, so therefore they, the University and the people of Alabama, didn’t see the need to integrate. Why should they when the football team was winning championships with all white teams?
A university on the West Coast, however, had an entirely different perspective. The University of Southern California (USC) had diversified in the early 1920s and the football program had already featured black athletes for decades. In 1960, USC hired John McKay as its head coach. Teams under the leadership of Coach McKay earned No. 1 rankings in both 1962 and 1967, a Rose Bowl appearance in 1968, and an undefeated season and Rose Bowl win in 1969. As the fortunes of the USC Trojan football team continued to rise throughout the latter part of the1960s, those of the Crimson Tide where heading in a different direction. After an 8-2 season in 1967, the team went 8-3 (4-2 in the SEC) in 1968 and by 1969, the University of Alabama endured a subpar season going 6-5 (2-4 in the SEC). Calls to fire legendary coach, Paul “Bear” Bryant, were heard from the Pensacola panhandle, all the way to Huntsville. Was the Tide’s decline because Bear Bryant lost his ability to coach college football, or was it because college football excellence was passing by the University of Alabama because its state was stuck in its segregated, racist ways, not allowing Bryant to recruit talented black athletes to be part of the football team? Before it was too late, Coach Bryant needed to find out.
With the unsolicited help of the NCAA, which coincidentally had changed the rules to allow its member institutions to play an 11-game regular season instead of the traditional 10, Coach Bryant got his chance.[10] Needing to find an 11th-game opponent, Bryant contacted McKay and offered USC $150,000 to bring its Trojan team to Tuscaloosa in the fall of 1970 to play his Crimson Tide team in front of 70,000 mostly white fans.[11] After some horse trading, and a promise by Coach Bryant to travel to California the following season to play USC on its home turf, an agreement was made.[12] What came of this agreement, however, forever changed the game of college football.
On Sept. 12, 1970, the USC Trojans lined up against the Crimson Tide in one of the first integrated college football games played on the University of Alabama’s home field. Notably, Cunningham, only a sophomore, was not the starting running back. Senior Charlie Evans was given that privilege, but after a couple of offensive plays McKay put Cunningham into the game to test his skills against what was considered a high-caliber defense. Cunningham rose to the occasion, annihilating the Tide’s defense by running for 135 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries, all while leading the Trojans to a 42-21 victory.[13] Spectators stated that Cunningham exhausted the Tide’s defense both physically and mentally.
More important, however, Cunningham proved to the people of Alabama that athletes of color can compete at the highest level of college sport. And not only compete, they can excel, or in this case, single-handedly destroy. He, together with his fellow USC teammates,[14] showed a racist fan base that black and brown athletes have the skill, athleticism, and brains to compete against their white counterparts.
The USC victory on that September evening in 1970 was the catalyst for Bryant and the University of Alabama, together with other colleges and universities throughout the SEC, to recruit and incorporate African-Americans and other people of color into their football programs. It began to change the mindset, however slowly, of the Crimson Tide fans and as Cunningham himself stated years later, “What they saw was the future. Their team was eventually going to be integrated.”
So, the Patriots’ Cunningham may be the last name on the NFL’s “Every NFL Team’s All-Time Leading Rusher” list, but his name ranks much higher on the list of most important running backs to ever play the game.
[9] Autherine Lucy Foster enrolled in the University of Alabama in 1956. She first applied to the school in 1952, but her acceptance was rescinded because she was not white. Four years later, she became the first African American to attend a white school or university in the state of Alabama. Three days later, she was expelled.
[10] 1970 was the first season the NCAA allowed member institutions to schedule 11 regular season games. “Grid squads get 11 games” Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. January 15, 1970. p. 14
[11] Note – Alabama did have a black player on its team in 1970, freshman Wilbur Jackson. However, Jackson did not suit up for this game because the NCAA, at that time, did not allow freshmen to play at the varsity level.
[12] There is a debate as to whether or not Coach Bryant got together with Coach McKay (a close friend) in order to show his fans the self-interested advantages of integration. Though it’s difficult to imagine Bryant was eager to schedule a loss to make a point, it is notable, however, that he would go on to win three national titles with integrated teams.
[13] In fact, the Trojans dominated in every aspect — its 559 total yards being nearly 300 more than Alabama’s output.
[14] The USC Trojans starting quarterback, Jimmy Jones, was/is a person of color.
