I heard an interesting lecture at Central College on MLK Day. Jaime Schultz, professor of kinesiology at Penn State, talked about the perils and triumphs of black football players in Iowa during the time of segregation. Since I’m from a family of football and rugby players and fans, this story caught my attention.

Although school segregation ended in 1954, it wasn’t until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that segregation became illegal. The black players I’m going to highlight were at Iowa colleges between 1918-1951. During this era, players wore soft leather helmets or sometimes wore no helmet at all. Pads were made from quilted materials. (Here is a source.) Football has always been rough, but we’ve made strides in safety.

To even be allowed to play at a white school, black players had to be the best so it’s no surprise that you may have heard some of these names.

Slater Hall at the U of Iowa was named for Iowa’s first black All American. Ironically, he wouldn’t have been allowed to live on campus at the time due to segregation. He and his brother had to live in an apartment near campus.  Fred Slater, from Clinton, Iowa, went on to play in the NFL and later graduated from the U of Iowa law school. He became an attorney and a judge in Chicago. He played for Iowa 1918-1921, leading Iowa to a Big Ten Championship and earning All-American Honors.

Jack Trice was a star player who was trampled to death during a football game between Iowa State and Minnesota in 1923. Did racism contribute to his death or was it a lack of safety rules and equipment? No one would say. Iowa State students and a journalist, Donard Kaul, kept his name and memory alive until Iowa State named their stadium after him. It wasn’t an easy task and took until 1997 to become reality. Click the link for more.

Ozzie Simmons was an Iowa running back, 1934-36. He was black so his own team wouldn’t block for him. (My son and some grandsons were/are running backs and this horrifies me.) He was often punched by opposing players during games.  Despite lack of support from his team, Ozzie lead After Ozzie took a beating in a poorly refereed game against Minnesota, Iowa Governor Clyde Herring wouldn’t let them forget it. He brought it up before the next game and urged Iowa fans to take matters into their own hands: “if the officials stand for any rough tactics like Minnesota used last year, I’m sure the crowd won’t.” The two governors traded barbes until the Minnesota governor promised a clean game and decided to wager a hog on the game. Iowa lost and the hog, Floyd, from Rosedale, Iowa, was given to Minnesota. Sadly, Floyd died of hog cholera and was replaced by a statue. Ozzie wasn’t allowed to play in the NFL because it of racial prejudice. Ozzie Simmons went on to become a PE teacher in Illinois and by all accounts lived a long and happy life..

In 1951, Johnny Bright,  a star player at Drake, was assaulted on the field. Fortunately, the media was there to capture it all. Bright’s jaw was broken by an Oklahoma player even though he wasn’t carrying the ball.  Bright he refused to play football in the Unites States after this, moving to and playing in Canada. The man who hit him still denies it was racially motivated and says it was legal but the facts don’t back him up. He even cursed about the media. Bright became a Canadian citizen, a teacher, a principal and a coach. Drake stood by their player and withdrew from the conference over the incident. The university later retired Bright’s jersey and named the football field after him. This incident also prompted the addition of faceguards on football helmets. Bright said he was glad his injury made the NCAA more concerned about player safety, but he personally never felt that the United States was a safe place after this. Twenty-two years after Bright’s death, Oklahoma State apologized to Drake for the incident.

Even as little as five years ago, Iowa football suffered from racist culture.  How fair is racism to your team?

I didn’t know much of this history. My dad and his father were football players during the time period of the players mentioned and were keenly aware of and spoke out against racial injustice. As the speaker, Jaime Schultz, said, the first step towards equality is awareness of inequality. Not to mention, it’s good for all of us to know that not everyone in this world plays fair. As Johnny Bright pointed out, being alerted to the toxic prejudices helped everyone in football. Do we really want to erode Civil Rights?