When Michigan athletic director Fielding
Yost (suit) acquiesced to Georiga Tech's
policy of racial exclusion, Willis Ward (#61)
was forced to sit out a 1934 home game.
Introduction
Unlike professional baseball, no universal color line was ever established in college football. As far back as 1889, African-American players played on predominantly white university football teams in the Northeast and Midwest. Although they represented a small minority of the nationwide pool of players, the presence of black football players on predominantly white college football teams was constant from the 19th century to the 1970s, when the last schools in the Southeastern Conference finally desegregated. Yet, the constant presence of black players on the college football landscape should not suggest universal acceptance. Rather, hostility toward black participation in the sport was prevalent throughout much of the country for many years.
This hostility was most apparent in games between integrated and segregated schools. In such encounters, the racial concerns of the segregated schools generally ruled the day. It became customary for black players to be forced to sit out home games on the bench, and be barred from accompanying their teammates on road trips to segregated institutions. This practice of benching and exclusion would become known as the “gentleman’s agreement.” The gentlemen's agreement essentially became standard practice in college football until the 1950s. However, there were several noteworthy cases in which university officials, students, or coaches protested the gentleman’s agreement on behalf of the black player(s) involved.
This Site
This site examines the historical evolution of the Gentlemen's Agreement. It highlights important games in which African-American players were excluded because of the agreement, as well as episodes in which integrated schools refused to concede to the demands of a segregated opponent, and cancelled a scheduled contest. By exploring this site, you will come to understand the history behind college football's unofficial policy of racial exclusion.
