A LOOK BACK: KAPPA HISTORY
Johnny D. Bright College Football and Cana- dian Football Hall of Fame Inductee
By Aaron Williams
In the May 1951 issue of the Kappa Alpha Psi Journal includes an article entitled Johnny Bright – Great Athlete. The article began “Truly one of America’s great athletes is Johnny Bright, Drake University’s brilliant left halfback,” and was Kap- pa’s introduction to this neophyte All-American football player. The previous fall, he was a fall semester initiate of the Omega Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and was president of Omega Chapter’s Scroller Club.
Johnny Bright
H e was one of the great stars of college football in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He and Brother Ollie Matson (Gamma Alpha 1950) were the first two African-Americans included on a eisman Trophy ballot. Regrettably for all his brilliance and recognition on the grid iron, Bright was the victim in the most unfortunate and ugly incidents in the history of college football. “The Johnny Bright Incident” had reper- cussions in the sports world, changed college football and, more importantly, provided the nation with an appalling instance of bigotry and violence in intercollegiate sports. Born June 11, 1930 in Fort Wayne, IN, Bright graduated from his hometown’s Central High School where he led the football team to the 1945 city championship. He was an outstanding all-around athlete in track as well as boxing. Despite his athletic prowess, Bright received no scholarship offers from the large in-state universities including Notre Dame which did not have African American football play- ers until 1953. He accepted a track scholarship at Drake University in Des Moines, IA only with the condition that he could play football and basketball teams.
Game Background
Bright set a NCAA Division 1 record as a sophomore when he led the nation in total offense in 1949 and led the country the following year. After two outstand- ing years, Bright was a preseason favorite for the 1951 Heisman Trophy for his senior year. Playing halfback and leading the NCAA in rushing and passing, Bright led his undefeated Drake Bulldogs into Stillwater, OK for a big matchup with conference rival Oklahoma A&M Univer- sity Aggies.
Atmosphere in Stillwater
In 1949, as a sophomore, Bright became the first African- American to play on the Oklahoma A&M field and game was without incident. Upon returning to Stillwater for the 1951 game, Bright was forbidden from staying with the team at the team hotel and instead stayed with the family of a local Black minister. Author Russell Cobb wrote in a 2012 blog for This Land Press overviewing the circumstances of the game:
“Although the Civil Rights movement had begun, things
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