SEC to celebrate anniversary of first black player
HOOVER, Ala. — Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey opened football media days talking about integration of sports in the league and the upcoming 50th anniversary of that moment.
Sankey talked at length Monday about Nate Northington’s debut on Sept. 30, 1967 for Kentucky against Mississippi. The commissioner gave a history lesson on the timeline of integration in the league, including when Northington, then a sophomore, becoming the first African-American to play in a varsity SEC football game.
Sankey said by playing in a football game, “Nate Northington affected us all.”
The commissioner did talk about other issues, including scheduling, recruiting and instant replay. But he devoted a lot of his time talking about integration.
There were four black football players on that Wildcats team: Northington, Greg Page, Wilbur Hackett and Houston Hogg.
Page, Northington’s roommate, died the day before the game from a neck injury sustained during a preseason practice. They were the SEC’s first black scholarship football players.
Kentucky has erected bronze statues of all four players. Sankey said the SEC has invited Northington, Hackett, Hogg and Page’s family to the league championship game in December “to join us in remembering, honoring and celebrating what they helped change 50 years ago.”
Hackett went on to become the SEC’s first black team captain in any sport.
Sankey also listed the first black varsity athlete to compete for each current SEC member. Then he recited lyrics from the U2 song “All that You Can’t Leave Behind”.
“What once was hurt, what once was friction, what left a mark no longer stings, because grace makes beauty out of ugly things,” he said, quoting the song.
“Our journey is certainly not complete,” Sankey said. “There’s hurt. There still remains friction, but to those who helped us change and to those who will help us change in the future, thank you for the strength and the grace you’ve shown.”
NMSU: New Mexico State running back Larry Rose III is on the Maxwell Award watch list, the Maxwell Football Club announced on Monday.
Entering his senior campaign, Rose III sits in third on the all-time rushing yards list with 3,618 yards, fourth in rushing touchdowns with 27 and fourth in allpurpose yards with 4,253 yards.
In 2015, Rose III was named Third-Team AP All-America as well as the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the year after rushing for 1,651 yards with 14 touchdowns in 240 attempts. Despite missing the first three games of the 2016 season, he was still able to lead the team with 865 rushing yards.
WYOMING: Quarterback Josh Allen has been named to the watch list for the Maxwell Award, which recognizes the nation’s top college player.
Allen is one of the highest rated college quarterbacks in the nation entering the 2017 season. He has been mentioned as a potential first round draft pick.
As a sophomore in 2016, Allen ranked No. 6 nationally in passing yards per completion (15.33 yards). Allen threw 28 touchdown passes last season, placing him No. 20 in the NCAA.