This is the story of a group of honorable young men who played on the 1951 University of San Francisco Dons football team. On the field the '51 Dons were great. However, that is only part of the reason to tell this story. More important is that the Dons showed the whole world -- back then and even now -- that there's a lot more to sports than just winning. Here's what happened.
In the 1951 college football season the Dons had won all of their games. They defeated their opponents by an average score of 33-8. Among the hundreds of American college football teams, the Dons were: #1 in rushing defense, #3 in total defense, #8 in total offense, #9 in total yards rushing, and #14 overall.
Ollie Matson, the Dons fullback, was one of the best players in the United States. He was voted All America, an honor given only to the very best college football players. He also was ninth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy, which is awarded each year to the most outstanding player in college football.
Besides Ollie Matson, the 1951 Dons had many other talented players. After college, nine members of the team were chosen to play professional football in the National Football League (NFL). Five of that group played in the NFL Pro Bowl. This means they were voted the best at their positions by other professional football players, professional football coaches, and football fans. Three players from the '51 Dons team -- Gino Marchetti, Ollie Matson, and Bob St. Clair -- were chosen to be in the National Football League Hall of Fame. That means they are among the best ever to play football. No other college team in American history has placed three players in the NFL Hall of Fame.
The 1951 University of San Francisco Dons may have been one of the best college teams ever. Unfortunately, however, the team didn't get a chance to prove it. The way sports teams show how good they are is to play well against other good teams. In 1951, the USF Dons football team had trouble doing that because many other strong teams refused to play them fearing they they'd lose. In the 1951 season, the Dons could find only eight opponents; one team they played twice!
At the end of the 1951 regular football season, the Dons were invited to play Georgia Tech, ranked fifth in the country, in the Orange Bowl. As soon as they found this out, the Dons players and all of their supporters were thrilled. Except, there was a catch. The Orange Bowl Organization told the Dons they could compete in the game only if the team's two African-American players, Burl Toler and Ollie Matson, did not participate.
This shocked and angered the Dons players and they flatly refused to compete in the game. There wasn't even a team meeting to discuss it. Here's what some of the Dons players said:
Ollie and Burl were just brothers to us. It was all or nothing, that's the way we played.~ Bob Springer, Halfback
I wanted no part of going without them; I wanted no part of going even if they had to stay at another hotel. ~ Gino Marchetti, Defensive Tackle
We played in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1950. You couldn't believe what they yelled at us. I think it made us stronger. We weren't a football team, we were a football family. We didn't see black and white. We were close. There was never any question, we all go or nobody goes. ~ Ralph Thomas, Offensive End
When the Dons refused to play without all their players, the Orange Bowl Organization took back the team's invitation. They said it was because not many people would come to the Orange Bowl game to see the Dons play. They said that the University of San Francisco was too small (only 1,200 students back then) to have many fans go to the game. They also said that the Dons hadn't played enough tough teams, so people around the United States hadn't heard of them and wouldn't come to the game. Those weren't the only reasons. San Francisco sportscaster Ira Blue reported that all the bowls played in the southern part of the United States (the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida; the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas; the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana; and the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida) had decided not to invite teams with African-American players.
On New Year's Day, 1952, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets defeated the Baylor University Bears in the Orange Bowl, 17-14. The Dons stayed home.
Why did the Orange Bowl Organization tell the Dons they could play only if their African-American teammates didn't? The reason is that they feared that white football fans would not buy tickets to see the game if African-Americans were to play. Today we are accustomed to seeing African-Americans in college and professional sports, and it's hard to imagine an athlete not being allowed to compete because of her or his skin color, family background, or religion. It hasn't always been this way. For many years, including 1951, most colleges did not accept African-American students, and some would not compete against sports teams with African-American players. This was especially true in the southern part of the United States where local laws forced African-Americans to live separately from white people. African-Americans were not allowed to eat in the same restaurants as whites, stay in the same hotels, go to the same schools or movies, drink at the same drinking fountains, or sit on buses and trains in whichever seats they wanted.
To the Dons and their supporters, not allowing the team's African-American players to participate in the Orange Bowl was wrong. And it made no sense. African-Americans and other nonwhites had served with valor and distinction in the armed forces during World War II between 1941 and 1945, and racial segregation was stopped in the U.S. military in 1948. The Tuskegee Airmen, who were America's first all African-American military airmen was among the most highly decorated units of World War II.
Also, by 1951, after many years of not being allowed to, African-Americans were playing in major professional sports. In 1946, Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, outstanding players at UCLA, became the first African-Americans to play modern professional football. In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play major league baseball. Before then, major league baseball did not allow African-American players. Also, in 1946, Marion Motley and Bill Willis were hired to play for the Cleveland Browns of the NFL. Both are in the NFL Hall of Fame.
Some people believe that in sports, winning isn't the most important thing, it's the only thing -- not only your team winning but also each individual athlete doing almost anything to gain attention, fame, and perhaps a lot of money. Other people believe that the best thing about playing sports is that it makes you a better person. It teaches you to work hard so you can get good at anything you choose to do, not just sports. Playing sports also teaches you to be fair, to respect your opponents, to win humbly, and to lose gracefully.
Not many of us can be great at sports. However, the members of the 1951 University of San Francisco Dons football team show us a kind of greatness that all of us can achieve. All of us can support our teammates, family members, friends, andneighbors even if it means passing up an opportunity to get something we might want for ourselves.
Many years after the 1951 season, the University of San Francisco gave the team an award, called a Doctor of Humane Letters. The award said: The men we honor today paid a price for their integrity. They refused a bowl bid rather than compromise their values. They sacrificed glory for honor and character. In 2001, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its memorable season and heroic decision, the United States Senate honored the team.
In 2001, looking back 50 years, San Francisco mayor Willie Brown noted thay by standing up for fairness and equality two years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, and several years before college students from all over America demonstrated in support of racial equality, the 1951 Dons football players were, indeed, ahead of their time.
Cover Tamsen Bryon. ISBN: 978-0-9842644-0-7 Copyright © Eric Golanty, 2009 All rights reserved.
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