Latest finding. Hot off the YAHOO press. No racial intent but the President of the State U. will not require woke athlete or band members to sing the school song. Great. Here is the real problem. Not sure it’s the right answer. As an alum, not just undergrad, but yes fans, I also have a graduate degree in business from the 40 acres in the center of Austin Texas, so it’s safe to say I spent a lot of time at the University of Texas. It was a long, long time ago. In fact, in my freshman year the football team won the national championship. No, it wasn’t 2005 and Vince Young. No, it wasn’t against Alabama and Joe Namath in 1963. It was the next one in 1969 with James Street and the team that made the Wishbone formation famous. That team had zero black athletes on the team. Well, there was one black freshman. But freshmen didn’t play varsity in those days. I even knew him and played one on one basketball with him. That was easy to remember when the person you’re playing is the only black scholarship athlete in a school of 40,000 students! I suppose he might have felt a bit out of place being the first black football player in a sea of melanin challenged red necks, but I don’t recall anyone showing him anything other than respect. To be on the football team at Texas was a big deal. Bigger than being a politician, mayor, governor or even the president – especially the president – then as now. Maybe right there with being a famous movie star. Football players, especially these winning football players, were treated like the demigods they were.
I digress. As I said, I played Julius Whittier in a game of one on one basketball, one day in the old Gym later replaced by one that essentially was a replica of Madison Square Garden (and now I hear it has been replaced by an even fancier gym; yes, Texas had some big donors back then and now and though football was king, they wanted to attract big time players like Kevin Durant – who unfortunately only spent one year before he became one of the top stars in the NBA).
Again I digress. Though I was at least three inches taller than Julius, he could jump, and what a great athlete. Naturally he won easily. Ok, stereotype. White men can’t jump. All that aside, he was a very nice guy. I liked him. I think he’d be incredibly sad by what’s happening today in this cancel culture. I am pretty sure he’d want everyone to sing the Eyes of Texas and stand together. Black and White. How can we have unity with this divide? The answer is simple. We can’t. There are evil forces that don’t want us unified. They want us divided. It is sad – especially for the great healing that has happened in sports and all across America, especially in the segregated South in the last almost 60 years since the Civil Rights Act. In his own words:
“I came to Texas because it was big-time football 80 miles from home. And I loved central Texas. I was in the right place at the right time. I think it was divine – of God – because there were enough white people up there, if they’d wanted to kick my ass, they could have done it. Coach Royal was the right coach; Mike Campbell was the right recruiter; and the group of guys that was there was the right group. A few of my colleagues let their tongues slip, but I was comfortable that they didn’t mean me any harm. I didn’t care that some had ideas that were antithetical to integration. I didn’t care.
“The kids on campus were a delight. I enjoyed going to class. The profs let me raise my hand and spout out my ideas. I blew my Afro out and majored in philosophy. In those days, no one on the football team took anything past philosophy 101. That was an introductory course, and while everyone else thought it was just a grade, it blew my mind, so I decided to major in philosophy.
“I had to do my study halls because all of my philosophy classes required an average of five papers a semester. I was blessed with a great tutor. The athletics department provided tutoring for difficult courses, and since I was the only one majoring in philosophy, I had my own tutor whenever I needed him, Peter Ayo. I learned more from him about constructing a paragraph than I ever learned in English. That’s what got me into law school, the fact that I did so well in philosophy. I didn’t do well in much else.
“As a sophomore, I subbed for Mike Dean and Bobby Mitchell. I had to move from linebacker to guard to do that, but I was trying to move up the charts so I could get on the field. I knew the roughest part of football would be two-a-days, so I committed myself to being in shape. I told myself I was not going to be dragging butt during two-a-days.
“When I got up there, I was at the top of the fitness chart out of everybody – running backs, wide receivers, everybody Mike Presley and I were first and second in the testing every year he was there – push-ups, sprints, quarter-mile sprints, running stadium stairs, doing weight circuits, whatever. By the time we got to practice, it was easy.
“By the time I was a sophomore, I’d developed a relationship with the quarterbacks. After every play we ran, we had to make the right blocks and then sprint down the field for 25 yards. I played part of the time as a linebacker and part of the time as an offensive guard. After every play, I’d ask Alan Lowry or the running backs to throw me the ball. We were playing catch. By the time I was a senior, the coaches had noticed that I could catch the ball, plus I was in shape, so they moved me to tight end.
“When I was a senior, in 1972, I caught all the touchdown passes that year. Every single one. And I caught it in the A&M game. We had one touchdown pass the entire year. I was the leading receiver that season in touchdown receptions.
“They were all decent people. It was not really a difficult time for me. When I went there, I told myself, as long as I get to play based on my skills, then I’m fine. Nobody gave me a hard time in the dorm or in the dining hall. In fact, I believe I was the only one on the team who had a personal relationship with the cook. Of course, he was black, and I’d come in through the kitchen when everybody else was out front, waiting at the door.
“Kids those days were active in everything: ecology, civil rights, Vietnam, the draft, segregation versus integration, divestment of UT’s investments in South Africa – that was the fun thing about UT. It seemed to be a real university. Many different viewpoints were tolerated. If there were racists on that campus, I didn’t know it. They didn’t find me, anyway. I remember walking on the west mall, with all the different booths students had set up to recruit and promote their various interests. That was one thing that made me understand how small San Antonio was. When I got to Texas, it seemed like the whole horizon got pushed back 5,000 miles. It told me San Antonio wasn’t the only town on the earth.
“That was a great time to be in college, not only because we were kicking butt in football but because the kids on that campus were genuinely and sincerely involved in more than just partying and sex and drugs.
“The most memorable thing for me is not even football-related. My academic experience at UT was more than just getting the grades to graduate. It was waking up and appreciating the opportunity to go to a school like Texas and thinking, ‘How much is there that I don’t know and don’t understand?’ That was the most amazing feeling.
“Had I not gone to UT, I don’t believe I’d be able to converse with as many different people as I am able to today. There’s so much here – if you just let yourself experience it – that opens you up to many other realms of life that can be hidden from you if you have no clue how to act. UT is like a key; it opens doors.
“The University is part of a state that was its own country at one point. There’s no other state in the union like it. Texans are a lot like the institutions they created – for instance, the Texas Rangers. Texans are forthright – those who are true to it – they know what to stand up for, how to stand up, and when it’s time to stand up. The University, aspiring to be a university of the first class, is a symbol of that spirit. Even though we come from a racist past, we should be proud that we have created this University that attempts to collect all of what is known about us, our lives, and the world we live in and to preserve the thought and reflection of it for future generations. I’m proud of that. I’m proud to have gone to The University.
“To be a starting athlete on one of the best teams in the country – there’s just no comparison. Football was my vehicle to become a Longhorn. Being a Longhorn is not simply about playing sports, it’s about being part of The University life. There’s far more to that in my life than just being a football player. I enjoyed pleasing my coach, and I enjoyed playing football. But the bigger thing is that Coach Royal turned me on to a quality University in my own state. When that group of men declared our independence in 1836, it was done with guys – whatever their thoughts on race – who had big ideas about the real world and the future. I’m proud of that.”