Good morning Prag Obots:
Today we take a look at the game that broke racial barriers — USC at Alabama (1970).
After Darryl Hill integrated the ACC (1963), The South West Conference soon followed the ACC’s lead. The SEC, home to perennial national powers like Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Tennessee stubbornly maintained their “white only” traditions.
That all changed in 1970. Alabama was unable to play a number of teams from the North because many of those schools did not want to play a team that was still entrenched in segregation. So Bryant looked out west, and USC agreed to travel into the Deep South for a match up of two of the best programs in the nation.
When game day arrived the black population in Birmingham was rooting for the road team. Alabama players and fans were surprised to see the number of black players on USC’s roster. USC had an all black backfield, which included Jimmy Jones, a black quarterback.
Alabama players and fans were even more surprised to see running back Sam Cunningham run right over and right by Alabama defenders as if they did not belong on the same field with him. The all white Alabama defenders were no match for the size, strength, and speed Cunningham possessed. On only 12 carries, Cunningham rushed for 135 yards and he had two touchdowns in the first quarter alone.
The final score was 42-21 in favor of USC, but that game was over from the first half, and the all white crowd at the game could only sit there in shock, watching what black athletes were capable of doing.
In a roundabout way, Cunningham single handedly ended segregation on Alabama’s football team. After the game was over, Bryant said to USC head coach John McKay, “I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me today.”
Bryant briefly met with Cunningham on the field, and although recollections on what exactly transpired are inconsistent, the upshot is that Bryant reiterated, time and time again – to his players, to the media, to Alabama fans – that ‘This is what a football player looks like.’ ‘
In a Los Angeles Times interview he said black players were the difference in the Trojans’ win. Every touchdown was scored by a black player. He went on to say that next year two black players, who turned out to be Wilbur Jackson and John Mitchell, would be on Alabama’s squad and three more black players would be on the freshman team.
By 1973, one third of Alabama’s players were black.