FBI tracked suit against Bear Bryant

Welcome to the Seventies!

Who didn't the FBI investigate back then? (And who don't they investigate now?)

This guy was offering cash on the barrel head for players but I guess the FBI was too busy keeping an eye on his civil rights posture to notice.

Giving money for "tuition" to athletes returning from the military - despite the GI Bill (tax $$) also paying for that - sounds like something the FBI should have been looking into. But I digress.

Kinda parallels the story of Adolf Rupp at Kentucky. Busting up institutionalized segregation in college sports began with Don "The Bear" Haskins at UTEP in 1966. While it didn't happen overnight in Dixie, college football and "Bear" Bryant had to see the light eventually.

The game referrred to was USC defeating 'Bama 42-21 on 9/12/1970. This was four years after the "Glory Road." I remember Sam "Bam" Cunningham well. He stuck it to my Buckeyes in the 1/1/1973 Rose Bowl with four touchdowns.

Just another racist along with Adolph Rupp in the SEC.

QUOTE(#5):

Originally posted 11:16 AM ET  08.22 by GrandTheftHarley

Kinda parallels the story of Adolf Rupp at Kentucky.

I can't claim to know the details of Bryant's alleged violations enough to indict the man.

Adolf Rupp, on the other hand, was an unabashed racist, which was well know long before "Glory Road" was released. That the basketball arena at Kentucky still bears his name is disgusting. Rupp was a piece of trash.

QUOTE(#6):

Originally posted 12:12 PM ET  08.22 by bluesuiter

Just another racist along with Adolph Rupp in the SEC.

Pot calling kettle black?

QUOTE(#7):

Originally posted 12:41 PM ET  08.22 by eyesWIDEopen

I can't claim to know the details of Bryant's alleged violations enough to indict the man.

Nor I, for that matter. A quick review of Bryant's bio states that he did try to integrate his teams while he was coach at Kentucky (same time as Rupp), Texas A&M, and later Alabama. He was met with stiff resistance by the higher-ups at each of those schools.

Institutionalized racism and Jim Crow laws were an ugly feature of the 20th century. It permeated American culture everywhere.

QUOTE(#3):

Originally posted 10:56 AM ET  08.22 by Dr. B-f-G

This guy was offering cash on the barrel head for players but I guess the FBI was too busy keeping an eye on his civil rights posture to notice.Giving money for "tuition" to athletes returning from the military - despite the GI Bill (tax $$) also paying for that - sounds like something the FBI should have been looking into. But I digress.

Is this a fact? And coaches are still getting away with it to this day, shame, shame, shame.

QUOTE(#7):

Originally posted 12:41 PM ET  08.22 by eyesWIDEopen

I can't claim to know the details of Bryant's alleged violations enough to indict the man.Adolf Rupp, on the other hand, was an unabashed racist, which was well know long before "Glory Road" was released. That the basketball arena at Kentucky still bears his name is disgusting. Rupp was a piece of trash.

True. Rupp was all that. And you better believe that beating by USC was the tipping point.
What is worse though is that Alabama has a curator at the Bryant museum that is in to revisionist history. You would hope the truth and the times could stand for themselves.
"The idea that the Southern Cal game meant they could integrate at Alabama is the greatest myth in college sports," Watson .

Of course that is why they got " religion." Just admit it and move on. Gov. Wallace and the State of Alabama is all historical fact. And not a very proud one. Even Wallace was able to be honest at the end....

Truth & Rumor has it that the FBI also looked into who killed J.R. in the 80's, Results were inconclusive though.

QUOTE(#9):

Originally posted 01:07 PM ET  08.22 by GrandTheftHarley

Nor I, for that matter. A quick review of Bryant's bio states that he did try to integrate his teams while he was coach at Kentucky (same time as Rupp), Texas A&M, and later Alabama. He was met with stiff resistance by the higher-ups at each of those schools. Institutionalized racism and Jim Crow laws were an ugly feature of the 20th century. It permeated American culture everywhere.

Except Rupp AND Bryant had more power than any President they worked for. They WERE the school.
They could have offered scholarships to " blacks" at any time and they chose not to until circumstances forced them to. They were great coaches, but showed NO leadership and standing up for what is right at a time they could have made a difference.
Greatness in this area stared them in the face, and they turned the other way.
No excuses for either of them in this area. None. They chose the "easy" road.

QUOTE(#12):

Originally posted 01:57 PM ET  08.22 by TribeFan4Ever

Truth & Rumor has it that the FBI also looked into who killed J.R. in the 80's, Results were inconclusive though.

Yeah like the Seantrel Henderson's decision on which school to attend. Geezzz, that took forever!

QUOTE(#13):

Originally posted 01:59 PM ET  08.22 by 50yearfan

Except Rupp AND Bryant had more power than any President they worked for. They WERE the school.They could have offered scholarships to " blacks" at any time and they chose not to until circumstances forced them to. They were great coaches, but showed NO leadership and standing up for what is right at a time they could have made a difference.Greatness in this area stared them in the face, and they turned the other way.No excuses for either of them in this area. None. They chose the "easy" road.

Makes me more proud to know that our "Bear," Don Haskins out here at UTEP, had the guts to challenge the status quo.

I'm glad I had the chance to see him coach in his twilight years in the late '80s when I lived in El Paso. That's when he had Greg Foster, Tim Hardaway, Antonio Davis, and "Soup" Campbell.

QUOTE(#15):

Originally posted 02:19 PM ET  08.22 by GrandTheftHarley

Makes me more proud to know that our "Bear," Don Haskins out here at UTEP, had the guts to challenge the status quo.I'm glad I had the chance to see him coach in his twilight years in the late '80s when I lived in El Paso. That's when he had Greg Foster, Tim Hardaway, Antonio Davis, and "Soup" Campbell.

I watched that historic game on TV. Remember it well, and the times.
There were other coaches at big name schools who had the courage and foresight back then, but Bryant and Rupp were not in that same class. And there is no excuse in their cases. They were bigger than the Governors of their States. They could have done anything and it would have been accepted. They chose not to.

QUOTE(#11):

Originally posted 01:54 PM ET  08.22 by 50yearfan

What is worse though is that Alabama has a curator at the Bryant museum that is in to revisionist history. You would hope the truth and the times could stand for themselves.

"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with with their bones."---The Bard.

Revisionist history is the flip side of this quote.

Another example of John McKay not getting he national respect he deserved. Four national titles. Beat Woody, Bo, and Bear. Not too mention that his name was not mentioned in this article. If only he would have stayed at SC instead of going to the pros to coach. Bear this, Bo that, Woody this. No respect for the Mckay.

QUOTE(#18):

Originally posted 07:45 PM ET  08.22 by fightonforlife

Another example of John McKay not getting he national respect he deserved. Four national titles. Beat Woody, Bo, and Bear. Not too mention that his name was not mentioned in this article. If only he would have stayed at SC instead of going to the pros to coach. Bear this, Bo that, Woody this. No respect for the Mckay.

You answered your own gripe. Bear, Bo and Woody never sold out to the pros. Too bad for McKay. Tampa Bay was some funny stuff too.

FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover was notorious for instructing the FBI investigate popular and inportant figures in during the Civil Rights period in the US. Bear Bryant in Alabama, Adolph Rupp at Kentucky were both equally influencial and powerful in the world of sports. Both Rupp and Bryant were more powerful than their schools President and State Governers of their states and the FBI did not like the power they held.
After John McKays USC Tojans, w/ Sam Cunningham routed Alabama 42-21 in the mentioned game... Bear Bryant and Alabama started intergrating their football program, soon after... I don't think Rupp and Kentucky seen the light after Texas Western beat Kentucky in the 1966 Championship and intergrated for several years after.

The investigation was brought about by a complaint by a black student organization at Alabama and prominent attorney U.W. Clemon, who became Alabama???s first black federal judge. John McKay wasn't mentioned once in the complaint.