A Memory from 1947

I'm not a very political person, and yet I'm fascinated by US politics of late, as is the rest of the world.

This latest issue with the NFL and its players brought to mind a story my Dad told me from his university football days.

It was 1947, and my Dad would have been 24 years old, finishing his degree at Ohio University. He was married, living in married quarters on campus, my sister born that same year.

The East West Shrine game is a post season, college football All Star game played each January since 1925. It was historically played in San Francisco, except for the game played in 1942. The location was changed due to the war, following the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941 on Pearl Harbor.

My Dad was from a small town in Ohio, had been a United States Marine, though he never saw action. All my life I thought of my Dad as a Gentle Giant. He was 6 foot three and weighed 280 lbs. He was a tough guy, but quiet in his ways. I know there had been troubled time in his youth, but he never spoke of it.

I do remember Dad talking of the East West Shrine Game he played in and I was able to find the roster for that game in 1947.

file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/22_January_1_1947.pdf

Dad told me of the bus arriving at this hotel, and some of the players got off the bus before it continued on to another hotel where the remaining players disembarked. This puzzled my Dad and he asked one of his team members what it was all about.

He was informed that the, then called, 'colored' players could not stay at the same hotel. A fine example of segregation. This was a new experience for my Dad, one he could not understand. It bothered him a lot for he told this story many times over the years, and as I remember it, it had a great impact on me.

Color meant nothing to my Dad, it was the merit of the man that counted.

I see the happenings south of the border and can't believe, with all that has occurred in the last 7 decades, we have not come as far as we might have hoped. It seems to be a two steps forward, three steps back kind of thing.