15 years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the University of Texas national champion football team still didn't feature a single black player. OnlyAGameNPR
Asher Price was one of approximately 97,000 fans in the stadium when the University of Texas played Kansas in October of last year.
, an African American running back who played for the Longhorns in the mid-to-late '70s, not long after the University of Texas finally integrated their football team. It's not surprising maybe that these institutions did everything they could to resist integration. But there is real power in these documents in illuminating how people behind closed doors tried to maintain segregation, and how they went about in a very methodical manner to try to keep the status quo.
AP: That's right. Marion Ford wants to be a chemistry major at the University of Texas. And the dean of admissions writes him back, saying,"You can take chemistry and the introductory courses at an all-black school in Houston." And Marion Ford writes him back, saying — I think he says,"I want to be, actually, a chemistry engineering major. And there's no such course available at this school in Houston.
And with that, Marion Ford became one of about a half dozen African American students who were admitted to the University of Texas in the summer of 1954.AP: He's interviewed by a Houston reporter about being one of the first black students admitted to the University of Texas. You can imagine, it’s a big deal. And so he gives this interview. And one of the things he says is,"I would love to try out for the Longhorn football team.
As a consequence of Marion Ford telling a reporter that he wanted to play football for the UT Longhorns, the school placed a moratorium on black student admissions. Ford was told to enroll in one of the state’s all-black schools instead. He could apply to UT again once he’d finished his introductory courses.
AP: I mean, these documents are delicate. They're in this onion skin paper. And, in a perverse sort of way, they're beautiful documents. They're kind of carefully written, handsomely written. But they're also stomach-turning and disturbing, of course. It makes me think of the heroism, actually, of these black students who are trying to enter the University of Texas.
And, that fall, USC was scheduled to come to Austin to play the Longhorns. They had a running back named Cornelius Roberts.Asher Price Marion Ford is now in the stands as part of this first group of students who are finally allowed to enroll in the university. And he goes down to the beleaguered UT football coach, a guy named Ed Price, and says,"You know, you really could use me out there. Let me try out for the team." And he says,"No dice. It's not going to happen. It's not in my hands." He doesn't allow Ford to try out for the team.
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