Six black members of the Syracuse University football team returned Saturday to discuss their participation in the 1970 football boycott. The gathering was a part of Coming Back Together 8, SU's reunion weekend for black and Latino alumni.
The panel focused on how there were only 200 minority students at the entire university in 1970, and they were mainly isolated to themselves.
"It was culture shock for me to come from an all-black environment to a predominately white environment," said Dwayne Walker, one of the panelists. "I received no sort of socialization skills from the university."
Protests against national events such as the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, the Kent State shootings and Martin Luther King's assassination caused classes to be canceled.
Nine black players of the SU football team accused coach Floyd "Ben" Schwartzwalder of discriminatory practices in the spring of 1969. The athletes presented Schwartzwalder with requests of better medical care for injured players, stronger academic support, fair competition for starting positions and racial integration of the coaching staff.
The players submitted their request again in the spring of 1970 and vowed to not return until a black assistant coach was hired. Under pressure, Schwartzwalder did hire a black assistant that summer, and the players wanted to return, but they had been suspended for sitting out on spring practice.
The university would only allow the players to return if they signed a statement agreeing their suspension was justified. The players refused and boycotted the season.
"People really wanted to know why we did what we did even through the process of being told, 'Do you realize what you're giving up?'" said John Lobon, a defensive end in the Class of 1973. "We did not come here with the intentions of doing this. But when you're forced into a corner, you don't have a lot of options left. Our basis was this: no one should ever have to go through this again. Bottom line."
A committee of students and faculty held hearings to discuss the boycott. The committee worked for more than 10 weeks, hearing the testimony of over 40 people and meeting 28 times for five or six hours per session.
In the end, the committee published a report, entitled "Allegations of Racial Discrimination in the Football Program." The committee concluded that "racism in the Syracuse University Athletic Department is real, chronic, largely unintentional and sustained and complicated unwittingly by many modes of behavior common in American athletes and long-standing at Syracuse University."
The panelists said they felt "thrilled" and "vindicated" at the publishing of the report. Yet even with the report backing up their cause, no significant changes were made to the treatment of the black players.
"They were only given the power to make recommendations, they were not given the power to change it," said Ronald Womack from the Class of 1971. "The board of directors told the chancellor, 'You're right, but you're wrong. Ben Schwartzwalder brings money in here. He has too much power.'"
In the end, former Chancellor John E. Corbally was forced to resign for supporting the report.
But the panelists said the experience was worth their struggle.
"We lost football that day, but we also learned that we could do something else," said Womack. "We could do something in our professional years. We got ready for graduation day."
All six of the panelists graduated from SU, going on to have careers in business, government and education.
"If it was not for my educational opportunities at this university, I would not be in the position I am in now," said Walker, who received a degree in English from SU in 1980 and is now an expert in troubled housing recovery, traveling to major cities to help the housing authorities.
Panelists also reflected on changes to the SU football program from 1970 to today.
"The whole mindset of student athletes today is me, as opposed to we," said Walker. "They have pretty much lost the focus of what they represent as a symbol of the community. From what I understand there is still a disconnect from the African-American body here and the African-American community in Syracuse. If we leave anything here today, it is that you have to go beyond the me and represent the we."
Members from the audience, made up mostly of alumni, including more former football players such as Gregory Allen and Clarence "Bucky" McGill, both from the Class of 1972, spoke out about the boycott.
"From this experience here, you've made us honest," said Diane Weathers of the Class of 1971, who was the co-chair of the reunion event. "From what you've become, you've influenced us in so many ways. I want to thank you for that."
Weathers asked the panelists if SU has issued any formal apologies to the players.
"SU has done nothing," Walker said. "All of the stuff that came out of the commission, the university just smoothed over. They moved on like nothing happened. When you look at a video for Syracuse football, most parts of the 1969 and 1970 seasons have not been mentioned."
A. Alif Muhammad, Class of 1971 and former football player, also spoke about the effects of what happened to he and his classmates just a few short decades ago.
"We see ourselves as a link in a long chain to a struggle that is still going on; it will always go on," said Muhammad. "As long as there is repression and justice in the world, someone will always stand out."
Be the first to comment on this article!