Black History Month: The Syracuse 8

It’s weird how we attach labels to things–and the labels are wrong or misleading. That’s the case with the Syracuse 8. You see, it wasn’t eight men involved, it was nine.

The 1960s were turbulent. America has never been perfect, there have always been warts, and the 1960s ripped a bandaid off of the issue of civil rights. 1865 saw the end of slavery, but by 1900, segregation was in place across the South–non-slavery slavery. Progress towards equality advanced in fits and stops…and pressure built which led to school desegregation, a lot of violence on the part of white law enforcement agencies in the former Confederacy, etc, until you get the Civil Rights Act and some actual progress. But on top of this, you had the Vietnam War which sent poor kids (and a lot of minorities) to fight across the Pacific while rich families sent no one. This led to protests on campuses and the summer of 1968–one of the most violent in modern American history.

Progress comes in fits–and unfortunately, there hadn’t been much at Syracuse University for black athletes. In 1969, a group of students (the nine above) decided it was their responsibility to take action–in a responsible fashion. They sent a list of demands to the school advocating requesting changes within the football program. Here’s the list of demands–and realize, these were considered pushy and/or outrageous: 1 – Integration of the Syracuse coaching staff (in the 71 years of the program’s existence, there had NEVER been a black member of the staff…and this was the school that produced Jim Brown, HOFer!) 2 – Proper medical care for ALL injured athletes…that the coaches pressure to play when injured endangered students. 3 – Starters should be chosen on merit. 4 – Black athletes deserved equal access to tutors and academics as white athletes.

None of these are outrageous. If I was an administrator, I’d ignore #3. If a coach is successful, chances are decisions have been made on merit–this is a complaint often made by people unhappy with playing time. But the others? Those are perfectly reasonable requests.

Wait–check out some extra details on the four points:

1 -With no minorities on the staff, the white coaches regularly referred to black athletes with the N-word and refused to permit more than ten black players on a practice field at any time.

2 – The doctor assigned to treat athletes was…*a gynecologist*. The solution for everything–ice. Everything…bruises, sprains, torn ligaments….ice.

3 – The coaches imposed a limit on the number of black athletes on the active roster and the head coach told more than one person “My team isn’t going black.”

4 – Black athletes were steered into classes that could not be used for graduation–intentionally. They were discouraged from going into certain majors (things like pre-med, anything STEM, business).

The problem–an entrenched coach permitted to run the program like a fiefdom. An administration that liked the coach and didn’t want to rock the boat (except for the few black faculty/admins who were pointedly aware of the issue). Shockingly (not really), the four demands were ignored.

To show their seriousness, the nine young men boycotted spring practice. When there was no change, they refused to play during the Fall, 1970, football season…and nothing changed. At the end of the year, the university released its evaluation of the situation. They found the athletic department was insensitive to black complaints about offensive behavior–note, that’s the athletic department, not just the football team! That means these nine men were standing up for other athletes as well. As a response to the report, the football head coach said it was ‘hogwash’ and that he didn’t pay attention to skin color–everyone was just football players to him.

And so nothing changed and eight of the nine never played football again. If there’s a saving grace in this, it is that Syracuse’s academic administration realized these guys were wronged and they were permitted to keep scholarships permitting them to graduate from the institution. Eventually, 35 years later, Syracuse brought the men back to receive their athletic letters and the institution’s highest decoration for their courage in standing up to obvious wrongs and maintaining their principles throughout. It should be noted that the men received the award with grace–and that their story eventually brought about change. Not fast, not perfect, but change nonetheless.

If you are interested in the full story, the nine men of the Syracuse 8 worked with author David Marc to write their story. You can find it at: www.syracuse8.com

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