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Johnny Bright Incident
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The "Johnny Bright Incident" was a violent, and most likely racially motivated, on-field assault against African-American player Johnny Bright by White American player Wilbanks Smith during an American college football game held on October 20, 1951 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The game was significant in itself as it marked the first time that an African American athlete with a national profile and of critical importance to the success of his Drake University team had played against Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) on their home turf. Bright's injury also highlighted the racial tensions of the times and assumed notoriety when it was captured in what was later to become both a widely disseminated and eventually Pulitzer Prize winning photo sequence. The event later came to be known as the "Johnny Bright Incident."
The event had much in common with the death of African American footballer Jack Trice from Iowa State University thirty years earlier.
Contents
- 1 The Incident
- 2 The Photographic Sequence
- 3 The Aftermath
- 4 References
- 5 Sources
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The Incident
Johnny Bright's participation as a
halfback/
quarterback in the collegiate football game between
Drake University and Oklahoma A&M on
October 20,
1951 at
Lewis Field was controversial even before the players took the field. Although Bright had been the first African-American football player to play at Lewis Field two years prior (without incident); in 1951, Bright was a pre-season
Heisman Trophy candidate from Drake, and led the nation in total offense.
[1] Bright had never played for a losing team in his college career, and on the day of the contest, Drake University carried a five game winning streak into the contest. Drake's record owed much to Bright's superior
rushing and
passing abilities. During the first seven minutes of the game, Bright was knocked unconscious three times by blows from Oklahoma A&M defensive tackle, Wilbanks Smith. While Smith's final elbow blow broke Bright's jaw, he was still able to complete a 61-yard
touchdown pass to Drake halfback
Jim Pilkington a few plays later.
[1] Soon afterward, the injury finally forced him to leave the game. Bright finished the game with less than 100 yards, the first time in his three year collegiate career at Drake. Oklahoma A&M eventually won the game 27-14.
[1]
Bob Spiegel, a reporter with the Des Moines Register, interviewed several spectators after the game, eventually publishing a report on the incident in the October 30, 1951 issue of the newspaper. According to Spiegel's report, several of the Oklahoma A&M students he interviewed overheard an Oklahoma A&M coach repeatedly say "Get that nigger" whenever the A&M practice squad ran Drake plays against the Oklahoma A&M starting defense, prior to the October 20th game.[2] Spiegel also recounted the experiences of a businessman and his wife, who were seated behind a group of Oklahoma A&M practice squad players. At the beginning of the game, one of the players turned around said, "we're gonna get that nigger'".[2] After the first blow to Bright was delivered by Smith, the same player again turned around and told the businessman, "see that knot on my jaw? That same guy [Smith] gave me that the very same way in practice."[2]
The Photographic Sequence
A six photograph sequence of the incident captured by Des Moines Register cameramen John Robinson and Don Ultang clearly showed Smith's jaw-breaking blow was thrown well after Bright had handed the ball off to Drake fullback Gene Macomber, and was well behind the play.[3] The photographic sequence recording the incident won Robinson and Ultang the 1952 Pulitzer Prize, and eventually made the cover of Life Magazine.
The Aftermath
Drake University and fellow Missouri Valley Conference member Bradley University withdrew from the Conference in protest for several years, not only in response to the Bright incident, but because both Oklahoma A&M and the Conference refused to take any disciplinary action against Wilbanks Smith.[4] The "Johnny Bright Incident", as it became widely known, eventually provoked changes in NCAA football rules regarding illegal blocking, and mandated the use of more protective helmets with face guards.[2]
Recalling the incident apparently without bitterness in a 1980
Des Moines Register interview three years before his
death,
Johnny Bright commented, "There's no way it couldn't have been racially motivated."
[2] Bright went on to add, "What I like about the whole deal now, and what I'm smug enough to say, is that getting a broken jaw has somehow made college athletics better. It made the NCAA take a hard look and clean up some things that were bad."
[2] When asked about Smith, whom he had not seen since the incident, Bright said he felt "null and void" about Smith, but added, "the thing has been a great influence on my life. My total philosophy of life now is that, whatever a person's bias and limitation, they deserve respect. Everyone's entitled to their own beliefs."
[2]
On September 28, 2005, Oklahoma State University formally apologized to Drake University and to Bright for the incident in a letter from Oklahoma State University President David Schmidly to Drake President David Maxwell. [6]
References
Sources
