The first blacks to play at a white college in Texas were Leon King and Abner Haynes who enrolled at North Texas State (now the University of North Texas) in Denton in 1956. Even though Haynes and King had scholarship offers from the University of Colorado, Abner's father influenced his son to walk on at NTSU to stay close to the family home in Dallas. A court order in 1955 had opened the doors to black undergraduate students at NTSU.
Haynes had a good career in the pros, playing with the AFL Dallas Texans and the Denver Broncos. Haynes is currently a player agent living in Dallas.
This opened the doors for blacks in the smaller Texas schools as well. By the early 1960s schools like West Texas State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&I, Texas Western (UTEP) were all adding blacks to their rosters. West Texas State was particularly open to blacks and featured a player from Massachusetts -- of all places --named "Pistol Pete" Pedro who gained some national notoriety as a running back.
Though the smaller schools in Texas featured blacks, the Southwest Conference schools stayed away from recruiting negroes. Even after ditching the rule barring blacks from the rosters in 1963, SWC schools remained lilly white. Rice Coach Jess Neely openly scorned the idea of blacks ever playing for him.
In 1964 Warren McVea from an integrated HS in San Antonio was one of the hottest football prospects in the nation. Schools from all over the country, particularly the West Coast, recruited McVea. Texas' Darrell Royal even looked into breaking the color barrier by offering McVea a scholarship. However after finding that the kid had a statutory rape conviction, Royal backed off. Texas would not have a black player win a varsity letter until Julius Whittier did so in 1970.
Instead, McVea went to the University of Houston which was an up-and-coming independent in 1965. McVea was one of several blacks on the UH roster.
After graduating from Houston, McVea played for the Cincinnati Bengals and KC Chiefs. These days he is a drug addict with a long criminal record.
The SWC broke the color barrier in 1966 when SMU recruited Jerry Levias from Beaumont. Levias, however, was not the first black in the SWC to see varsity action on the gridiron. John Westbrook, a walk-on halfback, played for Baylor a week before Levias made his debut. As the first black player in SWC history, Westbrook played in a nationally televised upset of Syracuse. After Westbrook's first carry, the press box announcer blared out to the crowd in Baylor Stadium "Colored football for color TV!"
Levias, who once said of his situation, "I'm not an angry black man, I'm a hungry black man," had a good career at SMU and went on to a decent career in the NFL with the Houston Oilers and SD Chargers. Levias is a successful businessman living in Houston today. Westbrook's years at BU were injury plagued. He later became a Baptist minister in Houston but died of a heart attack in 1979.
After Levias and Westbrook, blacks began to trickle into the SWC. By 1969, about half the teams in the conference had at least one black player on their roster. The exceptions were Texas, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Rice, where Neely refused to even consider blacks, had the conference's first black QB that season, Stahle Vincent, in 1969. Of course, Jess Neely was nowhere near the school, having retired as football coach after the 1966 season and taken the AD job at Vandy.
The University of Texas actually had two black players on its roster in 1968, but neither made an impact and both left the squad after the season. Royal was spurred on to recruit more black players in the 1970s by the success of black Texans at the University of Oklahoma. OU Coach Barry Switzer blatantly played the racial card in his dealings with black recruits and openly taunted both Royal and UT about his success. Of course, money and shady dealings played a factor in Switzer's recruitment. The case of Galveston HS star Kerry Jackson (a black QB at OU) is a case in point. OU coaches literally altered Jackson's HS transcripts to get him into OU and paid him a stipend. For this OU was placed on NCAA probation.
Texas A&M was the last school in the SWC to integrate its squad, doing so in 1972.
In 1976 Houston joined the SWC. Between Warren McVea in 1965 and joining the conference, UH had included a significant number of black players on its roster. It had a black QB guiding its veer in 1973 (D.C. Nobles) and had a black QB leading its first SWC team as well.
Haynes had a good career in the pros, playing with the AFL Dallas Texans and the Denver Broncos. Haynes is currently a player agent living in Dallas.
This opened the doors for blacks in the smaller Texas schools as well. By the early 1960s schools like West Texas State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&I, Texas Western (UTEP) were all adding blacks to their rosters. West Texas State was particularly open to blacks and featured a player from Massachusetts -- of all places --named "Pistol Pete" Pedro who gained some national notoriety as a running back.
Though the smaller schools in Texas featured blacks, the Southwest Conference schools stayed away from recruiting negroes. Even after ditching the rule barring blacks from the rosters in 1963, SWC schools remained lilly white. Rice Coach Jess Neely openly scorned the idea of blacks ever playing for him.
In 1964 Warren McVea from an integrated HS in San Antonio was one of the hottest football prospects in the nation. Schools from all over the country, particularly the West Coast, recruited McVea. Texas' Darrell Royal even looked into breaking the color barrier by offering McVea a scholarship. However after finding that the kid had a statutory rape conviction, Royal backed off. Texas would not have a black player win a varsity letter until Julius Whittier did so in 1970.
Instead, McVea went to the University of Houston which was an up-and-coming independent in 1965. McVea was one of several blacks on the UH roster.
After graduating from Houston, McVea played for the Cincinnati Bengals and KC Chiefs. These days he is a drug addict with a long criminal record.
The SWC broke the color barrier in 1966 when SMU recruited Jerry Levias from Beaumont. Levias, however, was not the first black in the SWC to see varsity action on the gridiron. John Westbrook, a walk-on halfback, played for Baylor a week before Levias made his debut. As the first black player in SWC history, Westbrook played in a nationally televised upset of Syracuse. After Westbrook's first carry, the press box announcer blared out to the crowd in Baylor Stadium "Colored football for color TV!"
Levias, who once said of his situation, "I'm not an angry black man, I'm a hungry black man," had a good career at SMU and went on to a decent career in the NFL with the Houston Oilers and SD Chargers. Levias is a successful businessman living in Houston today. Westbrook's years at BU were injury plagued. He later became a Baptist minister in Houston but died of a heart attack in 1979.
After Levias and Westbrook, blacks began to trickle into the SWC. By 1969, about half the teams in the conference had at least one black player on their roster. The exceptions were Texas, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Rice, where Neely refused to even consider blacks, had the conference's first black QB that season, Stahle Vincent, in 1969. Of course, Jess Neely was nowhere near the school, having retired as football coach after the 1966 season and taken the AD job at Vandy.
The University of Texas actually had two black players on its roster in 1968, but neither made an impact and both left the squad after the season. Royal was spurred on to recruit more black players in the 1970s by the success of black Texans at the University of Oklahoma. OU Coach Barry Switzer blatantly played the racial card in his dealings with black recruits and openly taunted both Royal and UT about his success. Of course, money and shady dealings played a factor in Switzer's recruitment. The case of Galveston HS star Kerry Jackson (a black QB at OU) is a case in point. OU coaches literally altered Jackson's HS transcripts to get him into OU and paid him a stipend. For this OU was placed on NCAA probation.
Texas A&M was the last school in the SWC to integrate its squad, doing so in 1972.
In 1976 Houston joined the SWC. Between Warren McVea in 1965 and joining the conference, UH had included a significant number of black players on its roster. It had a black QB guiding its veer in 1973 (D.C. Nobles) and had a black QB leading its first SWC team as well.
