In 1966 the University of Alabama football team was undefeated

[cthulu2016]

They were the reigning national champion and were ranked #1 pre-season. They won every game. They ended the season by hammering highly rated Nebraska. It was among 'bama's most dominant seasons.

Alabama was the only undefeated major team but the crimson tide was voted #3 in the polls, behind Notre Dame and Michigan State. (Who tied each other when they played and thus were undefeated, but not unblemished.)

That result was understood by Alabama (and most everybody else) to be a national referendum on the fact that they were still an all-white team.

Alabama did not field a black player until 1971!

Thank of that... the Beatles broke up before Alabama had a black football player... We landed a man on the moon before Alabama had a black football player!

Joe Namath (who had starred at Alabama) won Superbowl III with the Jets two years before Alabama had a black player.

Everyone knows the University of Alabama was integrated in 1963. It was a famous, famous event -- the Wallace barring the door theatrics.

It is hard to believe that there were no black football players for Alabama seven years after that famous event. But it's true.

[Taverner]

1. They call Alabama the Crimson Tide, call me Deacon Blues...

[ProdigalJunkMail]

8. had to look that one up...

oddly enough, there is a post from 2009 with this exact line in it...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6661550&mesg_id=6661618

sP

[oldhippydude]

2. i remember too

Paul Harvey lamenting about them not being #1... without mentioning the segregation of the University..

[cthulu2016]

3. So much for "the rest of the story"!

[ProdigalJunkMail]

4. There is a great book about this

called The Missing Ring by Keith Dunnavant. Coach Bryant said that the '66 team was the best team that he ever put on a field. My father played on that team. He has the '64 ring and the '65 ring and we are having a '66 ring made for him...just for fun of course.

sP

[cthulu2016]

5. I was watching a recent HBO documentary about

the integration of college football and I think The Missing Ring was cited as a source.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

6. Mr. Dunnavant (I hope I am spelling that right)

interviewed my dad for a bit in the book. one of the most wonderful memories from my childhood was realizing that my dad was actually FRIENDS with Joe Namath and Ken Stabler. I remember going to the games and my dad showing me around the fields where he had practiced during his time at the university...how Coach Bryant came down out of his tower during one of those practices to shake hands with my dad and then, best of all, one of the practice refs actually throwing a flag on my dad some 15 years after he had had his last practiced...he even remembered his number!

sP

[ProdigalJunkMail]

7. thanks for the memories, Cthulu.

i never thought i would type such a sentence!

sP

[Upton]

9. The 1966 MSU/ND game was a regular season matchup...

not a bowl game..

[cthulu2016]

10. Thank you. I will fix that.

I also fixed the statement that they were not undefeated -- they were. But not with perfect records.

[piedmont]

11. Given that he was up against other teams that did not have such a limitation on their talent pool...

that 1966 team is a testament to Bryant's coaching abilities. He went on to absolutely dominate the 1970s, when he could recruit black players.

[cthulu2016]

13. Yes and no

Alabama was not playing a segregated schedule either, which is probably what bothered the poll voters the most.

SEC football was all segregated (except Kentucky, and maybe they still were in '66) and integrated teams did not come to the SEC territory to play, for obvious reasons, so it was starting to be felt that the SEC was not playing the best available teams in interconference play.

It was a big deal when integrated USC came to Birmingham in 1970. (They beat down the tide in that meeting)

[Dreamer Tatum]

12. Bear Bryant purposely scheduled USC one year to prove that Bama should be integrated.

USC beat the crap out of them. It worked.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

14. 1970 if I remember correctly...

and yes...it was a spanking that reverberated all over southern Alabama and the sports world.

One Night, Two Teams by Stephen Travers is a good book on this one.

sP

[Elwood P Dowd]

15. Actually, Alabama started integrating in December, 1969 when they signed Wilbur Jackson to play

starting with the 1970 season. Auburn started integrating in December, 1968 signing James Owens for the 1969 season. Tennessee and Kentucky started in 1966 or 1967.

The USC game just accelerated the integration process at Bama and all the other SEC schools. I also remember basketball players Perry Wallace at Vanderbilt in 1967 and Henry Harris at Auburn in 1968 helping start it in that sport.

This was also back in the day when freshmen couldn't play varsity sports their first year. Everybody had freshmen teams back then. I think it was 1973 when the NCAA finally started allowing freshmen to play their first year.

Edit to add: BTW, Sam Cunningham was the USC running back that was so impressive in that game.

[cthulu2016]

16. Yes, but did not field a black player (in a game) until '71

As you note, the young men they first signed up had to wait to be eligible