Chron: Racial pioneer LeVias kept dignity under fire

[RE Tycoon]

I usually can't stand a Richard Justice article, but this one is very much worth reading.

Link

[NomAnor]

Just another artical making SMU look bad

[Stallion]

Just another artical making SMU look bad

Its an important story of historical importance that many want to whitewash and pretend never happened. Obviously guys like you don't get it. You are probably about the age that ought to shut up and pay attention.

[Water Pony]

SMU, like much of college football in the sixties, was white. I was a classmmate of Jerry and ate in same Lettermens Cafeteria. He showed dignity and class and the challenges game from other teams, not just teammates. Despite the complex history, SMU, with a special thanks to Hayden Fry, should take pride in our role as the first SWC team to have a black FB scholarship athlete. We should not ignore the past, since America was confronting its racial past from coast to coast.

Thanks, Jerry.

[AusTxPony]

Wow! What a wonderful and touching article. Thanks for the link. We whities will never understand what Levias went through.

[NomAnor]

Just another artical making SMU look bad

Its an important story of historical importance that many want to whitewash and pretend never happened. Obviously guys like you don't get it. You are probably about the age that ought to shut up and pay attention.

your right of course but this story goes for every school in the south from florida to UT and this is the fourth story by this guy in a week showing SMU s bad past when he hasnt even talked about them 4 times in the last decade.Thats all im saying

[PoconoPony]

I was a year ahead of Jerry and knew him well enough for casual conversations particularly in line at the training table and would eat with him on occasion. I never heard him complain or voice anger at anything at any time. I am aware that members of the football team were aware of the many problems surrounding Jerry. The athletic department reviewed all of his mail and he got many hate letters through out his entire time at SMU particularly his frosh year. He was called everything imaginable with various threats. The same situation existed with his phone wherein the number was kept very restricted. His frosh year UCLA Coach Tommy Prothro kept trying to get him to leave SMU immediately and transfer. I recall that when he finally became eligible to play varsity ( frosh were ineligible until 1968 ) he was the special target of virtually every SWC team. Every attempt was made to really injure him. It got so bad that Hayden Frye finally ordered everyone on offense to literally knock down any opponent that was standing after Jerry got tackled to prevent them from spearing him and taking cheap shots as they were out to really hurt him. Texas and Arkansas were teams of note. The spitting, name calling and trash talking on the field was very real and you could even on occasion catch some of this if you were close to the field. Unfortunately, not enough of the other SMU players really steped up for him. Most of the time Jerry pretty much kept to himself and it really helped when Fry immediately recruited several other black athletes in the next class including the amazing Rufus Cormier which help deflect some of the pressure. Rufus and his then girlfriend ( now wife ) also enrolled and they were brilliant students ( 4.0 students for most of their time at SMU) which became quickly known and helped quell some of the sterotype issues.

( On a side note; I can reassure you Jerry was as athletic as many of you may have heard. I hooked up with him in several flag football games his frosh year and he was the quickest and fastest human being I have ever met. He left me sucking wind and reaching for air. Jerry was a legit 9.4 guy in the 100 yard dash and I frequently saw him do a 2 hand basketball dunk with only 1 step to the basket which was incredible to me as he was only 5' 9". Verticle jump was not a standard measurement in those days, but I will venture a guess he was over 40 inches.)

I am glad that Jerry stuck it out at SMU and I am proud that he was the right person to break the racial barrier which was particularly tough in football. Hayden Frye was the right coach and Willis Tate was the right President. Let me also point out the when SMU first started what was then called the Distinguished Lecture Series in 1965/6 that one of the first guest lecturers lined up that first year was Dr. Martin Luther King. This is where/when Jerry had his secret meeting with Dr. King. ( I could write an entire segment on his lecture at McFarland with problems surrounding the appearance including the Nazi Party...etc. as I was there) At any rate, SMU guided by Willis Tate was trying to do the right thing at a very difficult time ( riots, sit-ins, church burnings, church bombings, lynchings ) in this nation's history. I just hope Jerry comes to the full realization of what he really accomplished both on and off the field.

[Water Pony]

Thanks, Pocono and teammate. Well said. No one would call SMU a hotbed of liberalism or radicalism in the sixties, but this type of leadership at the top was unusual at the time and at any university, especially in the South and Texas.

[Charleston Pony]

amazing to think how long it took for SMU to recruit it's 1st black basketball player; as I recall it was Ruben Triplett and that was the early 70's. Oscar Roan and Sammy Hervey followed shortly thereafter. I know Oscar was a 2 sport guy; can't remember whether Sammy was or not.

[Bergermeister]

artical

[One Trick Pony]

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