Friday Open Thread: African American Firsts, College Football

Good morning Prag Obots!

The series concludes today with the late Sandy Stephens — the first black consensus All-American at quarterback.

Sanford Emory Stephens II was raised in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. The oldest of four children, Sandy and his younger brother Raymond both excelled in sports.  Before graduating  from high school, he received scholarship offers from fifty-nine colleges and tryouts with the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates.

He chose to attend the University of Minnesota because it was  a Big Ten school and he wanted to compete for the right to go to the Rose Bowl, the oldest bowl game with the finest reputation and the biggest arena.

Stephens was the first black man to play quarterback at the University of Minnesota, and remains the only quarterback to take the Gophers to the Rose Bowl (1960 and 1961). “I was going to be more than a Big Ten quarterback who was black,” Stephens said. “I was going to be a Big Ten quarterback who took his team to the Rose Bowl.”

He was one of the stars on Minnesota’s national championship team as the Gophers went from last to first in the Big Ten Conference. In 1961, he was named Big Ten MVP and finished fourth in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy. Stephens capped his career by being named MVP of the Rose Bowl after scoring two touchdowns in a 21-3 victory against UCLA.

After a short stint with the Toronto Argonauts, Stephens tried out as a walk on with the Minnesota Vikings. The night he made that decision he was involved in a near fatal accident. Doctors were not sure how he survived the crash and were certain he would never walk correctly again.

Two years after the accident Stephens signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as a fullback. He was willing to play any of the back positions and continued to dream of playing as a quarterback in the NFL. However, the writing was on the wall when the Chiefs signed another quarterback to back up Len Dawson. Sandy ended his active football career in 1968.

Sandy Stephens died June 6, 2000 at age 59. In a letter read at Stephens’ memorial services, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. recalled, “(Sandy) made us feel so proud, with his poise and dignity, as well as his athletic ability.… I am convinced his dreams of having an even playing field for his skills to be demonstrated were broken, but his non-negotiable dignity and private pride were never broken.”

In the introduction to his still unpublished memoirs Sandy expresses his perspective on the change in atmosphere. “As a pioneer in the field – First black Consensus All-American Quarterback. My experiences leave me feeling like the Moses of Black quarterbacks – able to see the Promised Land, but unable to enter it.”