Interesting tidbit on the 1959 food poisoning incident....

[Plainosooner_rivals54053]

I'd agree unless the stories are true that Royal actually told white Texas recruits not to go to OU because the Sooners have black football players.

In fairness, this is the best article I've read on the subject. It's 24 years old, but quite relevant to the subject of whether Royal was racist. The article seems to say, "yes, and no."

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/1996-10-04/524684/

 

[CTOkie]

I don't think there is any direct evidence of DKR bigotry. It's mostly inferred by those who disliked him.

The African American high schools in Texas had their own, segregated organization for competition until the late 60's. I believe it was called PVIL.

There were certainly intergrated schools before that. Warren McVay became a legend in San Antonio before going to UHouston.

But Royal's personal views had less impact on how Texas recruited, than the school's academic leadership. The same accusations were made against Bear Bryant. There was likely some justification for the accusation for both. But both would have preferred the best players they could recruit. But there were a multitude of other factors.

Maybe most important was the sad fact that black kids in Texas, for a variety of reasons, received inferior public educations in that time frame.

In Plano, integration at the high school level came in 1964. It's not a coincidence that the school's first state title came a year later. We had several high quality black athletes. The first to get a football scholarship went to OU, after a year at juco. He started his first game, didn't perform up to expectations, didn't play much after, and left school shortly after the 1968 season. Because of a poor elementary education, he never really caught up academically. That was a very common tale.

Prentiss Gautt jumped through a lot of hoops, starting without a football scholarship at OU. He was chosen by African American professionals in OKC for an academic ship to attempt to integrate OU's football program. Gautt was successful at both football and academics, because he was a very bright man.

Texas recruited Whittier because he was a quality student. Same with Jerry Levias earlier at SMU.

The inherent racism at UT in the 60's and before had a whole lot more to do with Texas not recruiting a black athlete until the late 60's. Accusations of racism get tossed around way too often. If you want to call Royal a racist, you ought to have specific evidence of a personal racist act, rather than your personal inferences based on the institutional racism of his employer.

Royal came from a place and time where bigotry was commonplace and it's what he had known all his young life, so his form of bigotry wasn't one of hatred and fear, but more about ignorance. Texas, Oklahoma and the South in general were not a safe or friendly places for blacks during Royal's early years and Royal was influenced by what he heard and saw early on.....as were the players he recruited, and personal beliefs were instilled long before Royal recruited them.
I believe Royal outgrew and evolved from his early beliefs (like many of us have or should) and his recruitment of Earl Campbell in 1974....and the father-son relationship that followed...is the prime example.
It is sad that black kids throughout much of this country's history received inferior education under the guise of "separate but equal" learning....but it wasn't for a variety of reasons. Only one....racism.

 

[WP76]

In fairness, this is the best article I've read on the subject. It's 24 years old, but quite relevant to the subject of whether Royal was racist. The article seems to say, "yes, and no."

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/1996-10-04/524684/

In reading the article, it appears that Royal's views on race in the 1960s and 1970s reflected prevailing contemporary attitudes which, by any metric, would clearly be racist using today's standards.

That said, I believe that he was afflicted with complacency that prevented him from making necessary changes. He was the king of the college football world in the 1960s and was held hostage by the extraordinary success he had gained with all-white football teams.

That led to his other major problem which was a lack of moral courage. Nobody can convince me that Oklahoma was any less racist than Texas when OU integrated its football team in 1958. However, Bud Wilkinson had (1) the guts to do what needed to be done in spite of the opposition he would inevitably face, and (2) built enough good will in Oklahoma that very few people (racist or not) would push back against integrating OU's football team e.g. "if Bud wants to do it, I guess it's ok by me."

Royal's lack of moral courage and lack of vision of the future of college football led to his downfall IMO. Throw in a dash of underlying racism and the entire picture begins to emerge.

 

[virgie76712]

The black girl that sat behind me in Lawton High English class in 1960 would have had acid thrown on her at Little Rock High or Waco Richfield. Same for Comanche brother Pohosicutt. Both chose Lawton High over Lawton Dunbar and Fort Sill Indian School. Lawton High took anybody.

 

[CTOkie]

In reading the article, it appears that Royal's views on race in the 1960s and 1970s reflected prevailing contemporary attitudes which, by any metric, would clearly be racist using today's standards.

That said, I believe that he was afflicted with complacency that prevented him from making necessary changes. He was the king of the college football world in the 1960s and was held hostage by the extraordinary success he had gained with all-white football teams.

That led to his other major problem which was a lack of moral courage. Nobody can convince me that Oklahoma was any less racist than Texas when OU integrated its football team in 1958. However, Bud Wilkinson had (1) the guts to do what needed to be done in spite of the opposition he would inevitably face, and (2) built enough good will in Oklahoma that very few people (racist or not) would push back against integrating OU's football team e.g. "if Bud wants to do it, I guess it's ok by me."

Royal's lack of moral courage and lack of vision of the future of college football led to his downfall IMO. Throw in a dash of underlying racism and the entire picture begins to emerge.

Great post, 76 !

 

[Schoonerman_rivals49058]

From last June too; apologies. Everyone shows their a$$ sometimes. Don’t remember why but it must have been my turn

No worries my friend. I've been known to show my *** on more than one occasion on this board too! Stay safe and Happy Easter to you and your family.

 

[CTOkie]

There was a story in Sports Illustrated on the recruitment of Mildren that mentioned him being told that he would have to play with black players at OU by fans and others.
Hard to believe that at least one coach wasn’t involved in this kind of negative recruiting as well.

 

[Plainosooner_rivals54053]

There was a story in Sports Illustrated on the recruitment of Mildren that mentioned him being told that he would have to play with black players at OU by fans and others.
Hard to believe that at least one coach wasn’t involved in this kind of negative recruiting as well.

Well that's more than a stretch. It's close to a lie. And to take that and use it to assign a racist tag to DKR is deceitful.

The article was written by Dan Jenkins, whom I believe was the best college football writer ever at SI. Here's the link:

https://vault.si.com/vault/1968/09/09/pursuit-of-a-big-blue-chipper

The article is quite long. It made one reference amongst a list of a half dozen objections to those in the state. Among those objections, included one that was a feigned letter, in embarrassing English claiming, "I is gonna be yo roommate at Oklahoma." And signed with a name more likely to be African American. One could certainly conclude that the composer was racist.

It's a good article and worth the read. It shows that even 52 years ago, that high school players dealt with a ton of pressure from recruiters. Hard for me to imagine that it was that long ago.

 

[CTOkie]

Well that's more than a stretch. It's close to a lie. And to take that and use it to assign a racist tag to DKR is deceitful.

The article was written by Dan Jenkins, whom I believe was the best college football writer ever at SI. Here's the link:

https://vault.si.com/vault/1968/09/09/pursuit-of-a-big-blue-chipper

The article is quite long. It made one reference amongst a list of a half dozen objections to those in the state. Among those objections, included one that was a feigned letter, in embarrassing English claiming, "I is gonna be yo roommate at Oklahoma." And signed with a name more likely to be African American. One could certainly conclude that the composer was racist.

It's a good article and worth the read. It shows that even 52 years ago, that high school players dealt with a ton of pressure from recruiters. Hard for me to imagine that it was that long ago.

Stop with the overreactions and misinterpretations and the accusations, Plaino.
I have not stated that Royal was a racist and that when he early on lived in an era and place where racism was the norm, Royal ultimately rose above it.
I have been a lifelong fan of Royal both as an OU player and as coach of OU's biggest rival. He will always be the coach I wished had succeeded Wilkinson.

 

[Plainosooner_rivals54053]

In a thread where recent posts were discussing whether Royal was racist or not, you wrote

There was a story in Sports Illustrated on the recruitment of Mildren that mentioned him being told that he would have to play with black players at OU by fans and others.
Hard to believe that at least one coach wasn’t involved in this kind of negative recruiting as well.

Sounds to me like you were the one jumping to conclusions.

 

[CTOkie]

In a thread where recent posts were discussing whether Royal was racist or not, you wrote


Sounds to me like you were the one jumping to conclusions.

Where is Royal's name in the post of mine you refer to ? "Some coaches" are not directed at Royal.
And it's not far fetched to believe that some coaches, some fans and some players had tried to sway Mildren....and other white kids from Texas....away from OU for racial reasons.