Editorial Content for The Kids Got It Right: How the Texas All-Stars Kicked Down Racial Walls
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Reviewer (text)
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and the great demonstrations across America in support of the Civil Rights movement. Much has been written and spoken about this chapter in our nation’s history. Throughout the discussion, many have recognized the influence of athletics in opening the doors of white-only institutions and the resulting integration of our society. Many share the belief of Alabama assistant football coach Jerry Claiborne, who observed, “Sam Cunningham did more for integration in sixty minutes than Dr. Martin Luther King did in twenty years.”
Cunningham was an African-American football player at USC. In 1970, his team travelled to Birmingham to face the University of Alabama, a school that still refused to recruit black players. The Trojans of USC crushed Alabama 42-21. Cunningham ran wild in the game, and the following year Alabama officials allowed Bear Bryant to recruit black athletes. The last walls of segregation at southern colleges crumbled away.
"Through personal recollections of the participants and a wonderful ability to put those memories into words, Jim Dent has written an inspirational and enjoyable book."
THE KIDS GOT IT RIGHT is the story of another event that served to move the civil rights meter a few steps closer to the goal of equal justice. Jim Dent, who has written football history (from Bronco Nagurski to Bear Bryant), tells the story of the Texas-Pennsylvania high school football rivalry of the 1960s where the two states, both claiming superiority on the gridiron, battled in the Big 33 game in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
The first Texas-Pennsylvania battle occurred in 1965. Pennsylvania made certain they would win the game by scheduling the contest for the same weekend as the annual Texas High School All-Star game. The best Texas players stayed home for the most prestigious game in the state. The Texas team was coached by former NFL great Bobby Layne, who took the Texas loss personally. He vowed not to suffer the same fate in 1966. When Pennsylvania once again scheduled the game to conflict with the Texas all-star battle, Layne went all the way to Governor John Connelly to get the Texas game rescheduled. Of course, he appealed to state pride to accomplish the task, and the Governor intervened to eliminate the conflict in games. In the '60s, as well as today, Texas football is king.
The Texas-Pennsylvania game may have been an exhibition, but the fiercely competitive Layne pulled out all the stops to win. He knew that with the proper players, his team would have a speed advantage over Pennsylvania. One of the players Layne wanted on his team was Jerry LeVias, the African-American quarterback of Hebert High School in Dallas. Layne wanted LeVias to play wide receiver. Black football players were not considered for Texas high school all-star games until Layne selected LeVias for the Pennsylvania game. LeVias was a pioneer in other respects. He was the first African-American to play in the Southwest Conference after he chose to accept a scholarship to Southern Methodist University.
THE KIDS GOT IT RIGHT is the story of LeVias and Big 33 game teammate Bill Bradley, who would attend the University of Texas, a school that would not even recruit LeVias or any football player of his color. Their friendship as they prepared for the contest with Pennsylvania speaks volumes about overcoming racial prejudice. After the game, Levias would toast Bradley as “My blue-eyed soul brother.”
Through personal recollections of the participants and a wonderful ability to put those memories into words, Jim Dent has written an inspirational and enjoyable book. His books on American football are an incredible history of the game that has become America’s pastime. Football has come a long way since the era when African-American players of the South left their home states in order to play college football. The primary goal may have been to win a football game, but along the way, we became a better nation when segregation was defeated on the football field.
Teaser
New York Times bestselling author Jim Dent pens the compelling story of how a black and white player came together to break the color barrier in Texas football in 1965. Jerry LeVias and Bill Bradley bonded as friends at the Big 33 high school all-star game, producing a dramatic finish that fans still talk about.
Promo
New York Times bestselling author Jim Dent pens the compelling story of how a black and white player came together to break the color barrier in Texas football in 1965. Jerry LeVias and Bill Bradley bonded as friends at the Big 33 high school all-star game, producing a dramatic finish that fans still talk about.
About the Book
Jim Dent takes the reader to the heart of Texas football with the incredible story of how two young men broke the chain of racism that had existed for more than half a century. In 1965, black and white players barely mixed in Texas. That summer, Jerry LeVias and Bill Bradley came together at the Big 33 game in Hershey, Pennsylvania. When no one else would room with LeVias, Bradley stepped forward. The two became the closest of friends and the best of teammates. LeVias called Bradley “my blue-eyed soul brother.’’ Big-hearted, gregarious, and free-spirited, Bradley looked out for LeVias --- one of three black players on the team.
The Texas team came to Hershey with a mandate to win. A year earlier, Texas had lost to the Pennsylvania all-stars 12-6 in the most significant defeat in the state’s proud history. This was considered blasphemy in a place where football outranked religion. Texas coach Bobby Layne was mad-as-hell that he was forced to play with second stringers in ’64. So he and assistant coach Doak Walker traveled to Austin and asked Texas governor John Connally to end the scheduling conflict with the in-state all-star game so he could suit up the best players. Layne also sought permission to recruit black players. After all, Texas was flush with black stars, some of whom would mature into the most notable players in the history of the National Football League.
Layne’s scheme never would have worked without Bradley and LeVias. Together --- and with Layne’s indomitable will to win --- the two led their team proudly to face down the competition at Hershey Stadium. With this moving story, reminiscent of REMEMBER THE TITANS, Jim Dent once again brings readers to cheers and tears with a truly American tale of leadership, brotherhood, and good-ol’ Texas-style football.
