ESPN story on GT and Pitt breaking the color barrier in 1956 Sugar bowl

YellowJacketFan2018

YellowJacketFan2018

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Georgia Tech in 1934 played a Michigan team with a black player Willis Ward who was a talented tight end. Michigan won that game 9-2 and Willis Ward sat out the game in a deal that Georgia Tech head coach William Alexander made with Michigan head coach Harry Kipke. The deal was Willis Ward(He sat in the Michigan radio booth) would sit out the game in exchange for a Georgia Tech player sitting out also. Georgia Tech went 1-9 in 1934 and Michigan went 1-7.
 

FightWinDrink

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Animal02 said:
"When he retired in 1966, Tech was still all-white."
Says nothing about the the roster....if that was the intent, it was poorly written.
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as in the Tech team because he was the coach is how i read it but they could have been more clear

it mentions earlier that Dodd didn't see integration as having black players on his team but being willing to play teams with black players

Dodd's version of breaking the racial barrier was to play opponents with integrated rosters. When he retired in 1966, Tech was still all-white.
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Supersizethatorder-mutt

Supersizethatorder-mutt

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YellowJacketFan2018 said:
Georgia Tech in 1934 played a Michigan team with a black player Willis Ward who was a talented tight end. Michigan won that game 9-2 and Willis Ward sat out the game in a deal that Georgia Tech head coach William Alexander made with Michigan head coach Harry Kipke. The deal was Willis Ward(He sat in the Michigan radio booth) would sit out the game in exchange for a Georgia Tech player sitting out also. Georgia Tech went 1-9 in 1934 and Michigan went 1-7.
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Truly a dark day in Tech history.
 
LibertyTurns

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I always enjoy reading historical accounts such as this. We can gripe about the pace of change, but at least we’re changing. Dodd is one of GT’s icons but nevertheless he was a man, and men have faults. History will undoubtedly look back at us now and will find fault with how badly we managed times when we had opportunity to drive change. My advice- do everything you can to make as much better because there will be a day when you no longer can.
 

Animal02

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LibertyTurns said:
I always enjoy reading historical accounts such as this. We can gripe about the pace of change, but at least we’re changing. Dodd is one of GT’s icons but nevertheless he was a man, and men have faults. History will undoubtedly look back at us now and will find fault with how badly we managed times when we had opportunity to drive change. My advice- do everything you can to make as much better because there will be a day when you no longer can.
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The problem is when you judge someone that lived in the past by today's standards.....which seems to be a trend these days.
 
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bobongo

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Animal02 said:
The problem is when you judge someone that lived in the past by today's standards.....which seems to be a trend these days.
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I agree with that. I give a lot of credit to those who bucked yesterday's standards for positive change - they are heroes - but those who didn't shouldn't be judged by today's standards. The societal norms should be judged, but not so much the individuals.

Standards change, generation to generation. What they did was wrong in many cases, but some things we are doing now as a society may be judged as wrong or misguided some day, too.
 
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