September 30, 1967: SEC Football's Painful Integration

Nate Northington

September 30, 1967: For the 1st time, a black man plays football for a school in the Southeastern Conference. The circumstances become physically painful. They were already emotionally painful, and for a reason above and beyond the region's racist history.

The University of Kentucky, the northernmost school in the SEC, and far better known for their basketball program, which had already won 4 NCAA Tournaments, was the 1st school to break the barrier. They signed 2 black players: Running back Nate Northington and defensive end Greg Page.

But on August 22, 1967, in a preseason practice, Page was injured. His back was broken, and he was paralyzed. Northington, his dorm-mate, would have to go into the season's home opener, at home to the University of Mississippi (a.k.a. "Ole Miss"), as the lone black player in the game.

Greg Page

The season did not begin with that home opener. Kentucky started the season away to Indiana University -- a major rivalry in basketball, but not in football -- and Indiana won, 12-10. Page did not play in that game.

Things went from bad to worse. Complications from his condition killed Page the day before the game. He was only 19 years old. A moment of silence was held before the game at McLean Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky.

Northington played the 1st 3 plays against Ole Miss, but on the 3rd play, he separated his shoulder, and had to leave the game. Ole Miss won, 26-13. With Page dead and Northington injured, the Wildcats went 2-8, beating only West Virginia at home and, in their lone SEC win, Vanderbilt away.

Northington left the team after his sophomore season, and transferred to Western Kentucky University. In 1970, he scored a touchdown in WKU's rivalry game with Eastern Kentucky.

In September 2016, 50 years after Northington, Page, Wilbur Hackett and Houston Hogg debuted on Kentucky's freshman team, statues of the 4 of them were dedicated outside Kroger Field, which (under the name Commonwealth Stadium) replaced McLean Stadium in 1973. As of September 30, 2022, Northington is still alive.

Here's when the other SEC schools -- the ones in the league then, and the ones who have since entered the league -- integrated their football teams:

* Tennessee: Lester McClain, September 14, 1968.

* Florida: Leonard George and Willie Jackson, both debuting on September 12, 1970.

* Mississippi State: Robert Bell and Frank Dowsing, both debuting on September 12, 1970.

* Georgia Tech (left the SEC in 1963): Eddie McAshan, September 12, 1970. He became the 1st black quarterback for a major formerly all-white Southeastern university -- but not the 1st in the SEC.

* South Carolina (did not join the SEC until 1992): Jackie Brown, September 12, 1970. Same game in which McAshan debuted for Tech.

* Auburn: James Owens, September 19, 1970.

* Alabama: John Mitchell, September 10, 1971.

* Vanderbilt: Taylor Stokes, September 11, 1971.

* Georgia: Richard Appleby, Horace King, Chuck Kinnebrew and Larry West, all debuting on September 11, 1971.

* Tulane (left the SEC in 1965): Charlie Hall, Charles Inniss, Robert Johnson and John Washington, all debuting on September 11, 1971.

* Louisiana State (LSU): Mike Williams, September 16, 1972.

* And Mississippi (Ole Miss), not surprisingly, was the last one: Ben Williams, September 30, 1972.

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September 30, 1967 was a Saturday. Actress Andrea Roth was born. And, in Philadelphia, their new arena, The Spectrum, opened. I have a separate entry for that event.

Among the other college football games played that day were these:

* Number 1 Notre Dame were upset by Number 10 Purdue, 28-21 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana.

* Number 2 Southern California (USC) beat Michigan State, 21-17 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.

* The night before, Number 3 University of Houston beat Wake Forest, 50-6 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* Number 4 UCLA beat Washington State, 51-23 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Number 5 Georgia beat Clemson, 24-17 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.

* Number 7 Nebraska beat Minnesota, 7-0 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

* Number 8 Texas lost to Texas Tech, 19-13 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.

* Number 9 Alabama beat Southern Mississippi, 25-3 at Ladd Stadium in Mobile, Alabama.

* Among the service academies, Army beat Boston College, 21-10 at Alumni Stadium, just outside Boston in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts; Navy lost to Rice, 21-7 at Rice Stadium in Houston; and Air Force lost to the University of Washington, 30-7 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

* In New Jersey, Princeton beat Rutgers, 22-21 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

And in New Jersey high school football, East Brunswick, the school that would one day be my Alma Mater, beat Woodbridge, 14-0 at home, at the stadium that would one day be named Jay Doyle Field.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. This was the next-to-last day of the regular season, and the Red Sox and Twins were battling the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox for the American League Pennant. Carl Yastrzemski of the Red Sox and Harmon Killebrew of the Twins each hit his 44th home run of the season. Neither of them homered the next day, so they finished in a tie for the AL home run lead.

With Yaz also leading the AL in batting average and runs batted in, that means that, despite only being tied for the home run lead, he was awarded the Triple Crown. There would not be another Triple Crown winner for 45 years.

At the time, the Red Sox' games were broadcast on WHDH-Channel 5. With the Sox involved in a Pennant race for the 1st time in a generation, the station went against protocol, which was to save money on videotape by taping over old games, and saved several games from that season. These clips were edited down into a highlight reel, except for the last 2 games, this one and the next day's. As a result, this Boston victory over Minnesota is, as far as is publicly known, the oldest surviving full color video broadcast of an MLB game.

* A doubleheader was split at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Detroit Tigers won the opener, 5-0. Mickey Lolich pitched a 3-hit shutout. The California Angels won the nightcap, 8-6. Over the 2 games, Al Kaline went 1-for-8 with a walk.

With this doubleheader, the AL standings now featured the Red Sox and the Twins tied for 1st place, with the Tigers only half a game back. The Red Sox and Twins played each other again the next day, with the winner assured of no worse than a Playoff for the Pennant the next day. The Tigers had another doubleheader, and if they swept it, they would have a Playoff with the Red Sox-Twins winner. As it turned out, the Red Sox beat the Twins, and the Tigers only split their doubleheader, so the Sox won the Pennant.

* The Washington Senators beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The White Sox had been eliminated from the race when the Senators beat them the night before, so this game was meaningless -- except, perhaps, to Senators pitcher Frank Bertaina, who pitched a 5-hit shutout.

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Athletics, 5-4 at Yankee Stadium. Mickey Mantle drove in the Yankees' 1st run with a groundout, and then left the game due to injury. Rookie Reggie Jackson did not play for the A's in this game. The next day, the Yankees won, 4-3. This was the last game for the A's representing Kansas City. The next season, they moved to Oakland.

* The New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Les Rohr pitched 8 shutout innings, and Ron Taylor completed a 7-hit shutout, to outpitch Don Drysdale. Ken Boswell hit a home run.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-1 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). In contrast to the AL, the Cardinals had the National League Pennant wrapped up several days earlier. Lou Brock went 3-for-4. Roger Maris went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Joe Torre went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Hank Aaron only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and struck out.

* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-3 with a walk. Willie Stargell went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Frank Robinson went 0-for-4, and Brooks Robinson did not play.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-4 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Ernie Banks went 4-for-5 with an RBI. Pete Rose went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Rookie Johnny Bench did not play for the Reds in this game.

* And the San Francisco Giants swept a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2 and 1-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie McCovey hit a home run in the 1st game. Willie Mays went 0-for-4, and then did not play in the 2nd game. Three Giant pitchers -- Bill Henry (3 innings), Nestor Chavez (4, winning pitcher) and Lindy McDaniel (2, save) combined on a 4-hit shutout.