Johnny Bright incident - October 20, 1951

On this day in 1951, a white football player for Oklahoma A&M assaulted a Black player for Drake University named Johnny Bright in an incident that was suspected to be racially motivated.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hi everyone, I'm Eves and welcome to This
Day in History Class, a podcast where we one day
ship nugs of history straight to your brain through your
ear hole. Today is October. The day was October ninety one.

(00:27):
During a college football game between Oklahoma and M and
Drake University, a white player named will Banks Smith assaulted
a black player named Johnny Bright. The incident was indicative
of the racial discrimination and violence prevalent at the time.
Oklahoma State University didn't formally apologize for the occurrence until
more than fifty years later. The Oklahoma A and m

(00:50):
Aggies were set to play against the Drake Bulldogs and Stillwater,
Oklahoma at Louis Field in nineteen Bright was reportedly the
first African American to play on the field. He was
the star of Drake's football team, and he was pegged
as a contender for the Heisman Trophy, an award given
annually to the most outstanding college football player. Going into

(01:13):
their game against Oklahoma and M in the Missouri Valley Conference,
the Drake Bulldogs were undefeated with five wins. Bright led
the nation in total offense and was skilled in rushing
and passing, largely contributing to the team's success. If Drake
won the game against Oklahoma, they would get the conference title.
But word went around before the game that Oklahoma and

(01:35):
M's coach Jennings Brian Whitworth was telling his team to
target Bright and get him out of the game. In
the first quarter, Oklahoma and M's defensive lineman Will Banks
Smith hit Bright several times. One of those times, Smith
forearmed Bright in the face, breaking Bright's jaw. Bright was
not wearing a face mask, which was not mandatory at

(01:56):
the time. Bright stayed in the game for se rule
more plays after the blow, but he was eventually in
too much pain to continue playing. Drake lost the game
to fourteen. The day after the game, the Des Moines
Sunday Register published a six photographs sequence of the incident.
The photographs showed that Smith through the blow after Bright

(02:18):
had handed the ball to fullback g mccomber. Photographers John
Robinson and Don Altang won the nineteen fifty two Surprise
for Photography for their captures of the incident. Smith got
hate mail for assaulting Bright, but he also got letters
of support from white supremacists. The incident led to a
rule change that required players to leave the game if

(02:41):
they were caught striking an opponent with a forearm, elbow,
or locked hand. Flagrantly. Rough play and unsportsmanlike conduct was
also penalized with a mandatory suspension. The n c double
A Rules Committee also made it mandatory for players to
wear helmets with face masks made up nonbreakable molded plastic
with round edges. After the nineteen sixty one season, the

(03:05):
rules committee recommended that players wear mouth protectors. Bright was
playing football again in two weeks after having a tooth
removed and his jaws wired together. Bright didn't win the Heisman.
He finished fifth in the balloting for the trophy, and
though he was the number one pick for the Philadelphia
Eagles in nineteen fifty two, he decided to play in

(03:26):
the Canadian Football League instead. Drake University withdrew from the
Missouri Valley Conference because Oklahoma A and M refused to
discipline Smith, the conference did not acknowledge the incident. Oklahoma
returned to the conference for football in nineteen seventy one.
Decades after the incident, Smith maintained that the assault was

(03:48):
not racially motivated and that people were making those kinds
of plays against star athletes in mini games. In the
nineteen eighty interview, Bright stated his belief that the incident
was racially motivated it. Bright died of a heart attack
in nineteen three. In two thousand five, Oklahoma State University
President David Schmidley wrote a letter to Drake University apologizing

(04:11):
for the incident. I'm Eve Jeff Code, and hopefully you
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