Jerry Levias

[OldPony]

Many might remember my posts extolling Jerry as the best reciever ever to play at SMU and saying that he was talented enough to play against anyone before or since. I have continually said he should be in our Ring of Honor. Our ring is too selective compared to others anyway and there is no way that Jerry, Rote and Dandy Don shouldn't be in anyones ring but that is another subject.
I am, though, somewhat disturbed by the way Jerry has handled his induction into the CF Hall of Fame. I was in school when he was there and don't remember any students spitting on him etc. Jerry, I'm sure , was lonely and felt ostracized in his freshman year. In his talks with the press though, he makes it sound as if he were continually insulted while he was at SMU. "I never had a roommate" type quotes are now hurtful to those of us who supported him and, I'm sure, to the other African-American athletes who came to SMU the following years and played with Jerry. Only his first year was he the only African American at SMU but he makes it sound as if he were the lone African American his entire time and that he had no friends. I remember Jerry as quite popular with most students and we all thought he was the best player we ever saw. I remember the student body being pi$$ed at the idiot who was making death threats before the TCU game and the support Jerry got from nearly the entire student body at the time. It was a different time and maybe the years have erased some of my memory of bad things. I've never heard Rufus Cormier who came in the next year (I believe) talk about his mistreatment. Maybe he would express the same thoughts but somehow I doubt it. I wish Jerry could be a little more positive about his experience and become a positive force for rebuilding SMU football to the glory that he and his teammmates enjoyed. I also wish SMU would reach out to the players of the past to help revive the memory of how great it was to play at SMU and help Bennett rebuild.

[EastStang]

I thought he talked about other team's players spitting on him, not SMU's. He did say in the Fox program that students used to avoid sitting by him and that one professor would make student's who hadn't done their homework sit next to him as sort of punishment. He also remarked about how some students would ask the professor whether blacks had smaller brains than whites? I imagine it was tough his freshman year which seems to be the period in which he had most problems with SMU students. In his sophomore year and beyond, his problems were with opponants.

[Stallion]

Come on grow up-SMU is and always has been rife with prejudice-I was in the stands that first game against Illinois and I remember quite clearly as only an 8th year old that he was being referred to in a derrogatory manner. The story should be told truthfully and in an unvarnshed manner so that future generations of kids like my son truly understand the sickness and hate involved in prejudice. Its still relevant today as the Courts weigh the importance of equal opportunity between person who may not have directly been involved in discrimination vs. the effects of 400 years of oppression. Don't whitewash Mr. LeVias' story to make it more palitable to your own tastes.

<small>[ 12-10-2003, 08:46 AM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>

[OldPony]

He was a year younger so I didn't have classes with him but I doubt seriously that a professor made sitting next to him a punishment. I think I had one class with him my senior year but he never showed up and got a B. That is my fading memory anyway but maybe he dropped the class. Jerry and many of the players got special treatment in classes. Alums were quite generous to Jerry also- ask his teammates. There may have been some jealousy there because of that. And as tough as it may have been for him, SMU did give him the chance while most other schools in the south wouldn't have even talked to him. I am sorry that there has been and still is discrimination because of skin color but I believe that the minorities who accomplish the most are tough and able to put things into perspective of the times and succeed because they don't dwell on the negatives but the opportunites that openend up to them. I hope that Jerry can someday do the same.

[OldPony]

Stallion- Thanks for being the moral guardian of this board and telling everyone that there is prejucice at SMU and in the world. We would never figure that out without you.
There are many sides and many facets to a story. I was not saying for the truth to not be told but I am for the entire truth to be told, not just your 8 year old mind's version of it. Maybe your folks needed to sit with a better class of friends when exposing your young mind to football.
You may not believe it but professors tend to be amoung the most liberal in our society so I doubt the punishment story. Jerry is also getting old so things may not be quite as fresh in his memory either but SMU gave him a chance.

[PK]

Originally posted by OldPony:
I wish Jerry could be a little more positive about his experience and become a positive force for rebuilding SMU football to the glory that he and his teammmates enjoyed. I also wish SMU would reach out to the players of the past to help revive the memory of how great it was to play at SMU and help Bennett rebuild.

Here is an excerpt from Chip Brown's article in the Sports section of todays DMN:

LeVias and Fry both still follow SMU and want to see a united front, including reaching out to former lettermen, in shaping the direction of the program.

"It's a shame what SMU has become," LeVias said. "If [SMU athletic director] Jim Copeland and the president of the university will reach out to former players, I know we can turn it around. We can no longer blame the death penalty as an excuse for not having a good program."

[MrMustang1965]

Did you WATCH the documentary, "Jerry LeVias: A Marked Man"???? I watched it last night (taped it). Get the story right, folks. LeVias NEVER said that a professor would make students sit next to him as punishment. What he said was (and I'm paraphrasing here) that IF a student was late to that class then they knew they MIGHT have to sit next to him since the other students had usually taken seats elsewhere in the lecture hall away from him. And the incident involving him getting spit in the face was during a football game against Texas A&M, not with a fellow Mustang. I was at almost every home game that LeVias played in...and I remember him catching and running with the ball up and down the field at the Cotton Bowl with tremendous speed and agility! Of course, as a child of only 8 I was oblivious to skin color and racial prejudice...all I knew was that Jerry LeVias was a Mustang...and he always will be in my book! If you taped the documentary, please go back and watch it again...and remember what was said by LeVias at the end of it: "I've forgiven...but not forgotten." Jerry LeVias is a man of class and dignity, raised by his parents and grandmother with a faith in God and we're damn lucky to have had him at SMU. Thanks, Mr. LeVias! I hope we see more of you at SMU football games this next year and in the years to come!

[Hoop Fan]

Mr Mustang is right, it was not that the professor punished anyone at all, it was just a matter of first come first serve on seats. Levias also recounted a strong reprimand that the professor gave the stupid moron who asked about smaller brains.

[MrMustang1965]

I got a nice little surprise at the end of "Jerry LeVias: A Marked Man"...when they were showing him at an SMU game earlier this year waving to the crowd from the field at Ford Stadium, there was a shot of the crowd and THERE I AM! with my arms raised in jubilation of seeing one of my boyhood heroes again! Just had to brag a bit. And my girlfriend, BornRed&Blue, and her twin 10-year old daughters are in the shot with me, too!

[No Cal Pony]

Hearing all this is interesting. I think of the man as a great player. Yes, the are those with prejudice in this world. Back then and today. The main point for SMU is to get it together. Reach out to its past Lettermen. I may have grown up in Los Angeles, but that didn't mean I knew only about usc and ucla. SMU has a wonderful tradition, more than ever we need to tap into it. I am tired of people asking me, "when is SMU going to get their progam back on track?" NOW is the time. No more excuses.

Everyone ought to be demanding only the best. I feel our AD and coach understand. We need the faculty and administration to understand. AND get the current students also.

Lets get Jerry Ball to help. Michael Carter. Russell Carter. Ron Morris. Lance. Romo. Mitchell. (And on and on.)

Go Ponies!