September 9, 1972: For the 1st time, a black man starts at quarterback for a Southeastern Conference team: Condredge Holloway of Tennessee, then ranked Number 15. For the 1st time, a college football game with both starting quarterbacks being black is nationally broadcast: It’s on ABC, and Eddie McAshan plays for unranked Georgia Tech, then an independent, now in the Atlanta Coast Conference. Tennessee wins, 34-3 at Grant Field in Atlanta.
Holloway had also been a high school baseball star in his native Huntsville, Alabama, and played baseball at Tennessee as well. He still holds the school record with a 27-game hitting streak.
He led Tennessee to win the 1972 Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston, lost the 1973 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, and won the 1974 Liberty Bowl in Memphis. He never played in the NFL, but starred in the Canadian Football League, winning the 1976 Grey Cup with the Ottawa Rough Riders, and the 1983 Grey Cup with the Toronto Argonauts. Now 68, he owns a sports training company in Huntsville, and is an assistant athletic director at Tennessee.
McAshan played for the New England Patriots in 1973, backing up Jim Plunkett, and the Jacksonville Sharks of the World Football League in 1974. He went back to Tech, got his degree, and is now 71 and retired from a career in industrial management in his native Gainesville, Florida.
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September 9, 1972 was a Saturday. This was also the day of the scandalous Olympic basketball Final in Munich. I have a separate entry for that event. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids premiered on CBS on this day. And All-Star baseball pitcher Mike Hampton and Croatian actor Goran Višnjić, best known in America for his role as Dr. Luka Kovac on the TV show ER, were born.
These other notable college football games were played that day:
* Number 1 Nebraska were upset by UCLA, 20-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Nebraska rebounded to share the Big Eight Conference title.
* Number 2 Colorado beat the University of California, 20-10 at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado. They went on to lose the Gator Bowl to Auburn.
* Number 3 Ohio State opened their season the following week. They went on to win the Big Ten
Conference, but lost to USC in the Rose Bowl, and that made USC the National Champions.
* Number 4 Arkansas were upset by Number 8 USC, 31-10 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. USC went on to win the Pacific-8 Conference.
* Number 5 Penn State opened their season the following week.
* Number 6 Oklahoma opened their season the following week. They went on to beat Nebraska to win a share of the Big Eight Conference title, and the tiebreaker. They went on to face Penn State in the Sugar Bowl, and Oklahoma won.
* Number 7 Alabama beat Duke, 35-12 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. They went on to win the Southeastern Conference title.
* Number 9 University of Washington beat the University of the Pacific, 13-6 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
* Number 10 Michigan opened their season the following week. They went undefeated until losing to Ohio State. Under the Big 10 rules of the time, only the league champion could go to a bowl game, so that was the end of their season.
* Number 13 Notre Dame opened their season 2 weeks later. They went on to lose to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.
* Number 14 Texas opened their season 2 weeks later. They won the Southwest Conference, and beat Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.
* Among the service academies, Navy and Air Force started their seasons a week after this one, while Army started theirs the following week.
* So did Rutgers.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Rob Gardner outpitched Joe Coleman Jr. Bernie Allen hit a home run. Al Kaline went 0-for-4.
* The Baltimore Orioles swept a doubleheader from the Milwaukee Brewers, 2-1 and 8-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Terry Crowley hit a home run in the bottom of the 9th to win the opener, off Jim Lonborg, to make a winning pitcher out of Eddie Watt in relief of Dave McNally. Doyle Alexander pitched a 2-hit shutout in the nightcap. Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 1-for-8 with 2 RBIs.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Graig Nettles, in what turned out to be his last full month with Cleveland, hit a home run of Gary Peters, to win the game in the bottom of the 10th inning. Gaylord Perry went the distance, and gained his 20th win of the season.
At the time, the American League Eastern Division was really tight: The Red Sox led the Tigers by half a game, the Orioles by 1, and the Yankees by 2. Because of the strike canceling the 1st week of the season, whose games were never rescheduled, the Tigers ended up winning the Division by half a game over the Red Sox, with the O's 5 back and the Yanks 6 1/2.
* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1 at Shea Stadium. Gary Gentry outpitched Bob Gibson. Willie Mays was on the Mets' roster, but did not entre the game.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos, 8-3 at Jarry Park in Montreal. Roberto Clemente appeared only as a late defensive replacement. Willie Stargell went 2-for-4.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Three days later, Mike Schmidt made his major league debut with the Phillies.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the California Angels, 3-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Danny Thompson doubled Jim Nettles, Graig's brother, home with the winning run in the top of the 13th inning. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Rod Carew went 1-for-3.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 4-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Claude Osteen pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching future Dodger Jerry Reuss.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Dave Kingman won the game with a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th. Pete Rose went 0-for-3 with a walk. Johnny Bench went 1-for-4.
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