Busing and Basketball

Desegregating Austin High School Sports, 1971-72

Introduction

A federal lawsuit closed the doors of L. C. Anderson in 1971, scattering the students of Austin's only all-Black high school. The school busing project that followed its closure incited riots at one school and drew national news attention. Meanwhile, school athletic teams plunged forward, setting rosters and beginning competitive play. Sports became a venue in which Austin high schools experienced racial integration in the 1971-72 school year.

This online exhibit uses yearbooks to trace the remarkable changes at six Austin high schools during this period. Chapter 1 focuses on L. C. Anderson sports teams before the school's closure. Chapter 2 discusses in detail the changes, on and off the field, at each school where former L. C. Anderson students were bused. Chapter 3 addresses the role of girls' sports in Austin high schools during this time.

Four broad questions guided the development of this exhibit:

First, what story does each yearbook tell about the forced integration decision and its resulting changes to the schools? Yearbooks across all six Austin high schools reflect each school's need to make sense of the momentous changes brought on by the busing of L. C. Anderson students. While many Black students were mourning the closing of their high school, yearbook staffs used text and images to capture the new reality at their schools.

Second, how did busing and the climate of integration affect boys' varsity sports teams? What challenges confronted the newly integrated teams versus schools that already had Black players on their rosters? Athletic teams were under a unique set of pressures to integrate smoothly in the name of competitive success. In the fall of 1971, sports teams at Austin high schools were racing the clock to solidify starting lineups and winning seasons. High school sports don't exist within a vacuum, and strained race relations played a part in the athletic climate of this time. However, sport is unique in that it demands that athletes set aside their off-field concerns in the name of common goals. It provides an objective language of winning and losing, skill and technique, that can help overcome the divisiveness of racial politics. High school sports were far from being immune to the busing controversy of 1971-72, but they offered a means to physically do and see racial integration during these challenging times. As a result, sports took on an important symbolic role in Austin's schools.

Third, what can the yearbooks tell us about the impact Black student-athletes had beyond the playing field? We can document scores and records, but assessing race relations in these high schools is a far harder task. There is strong evidence that these integrated sports teams did improve the racial climate at Austin schools. This is apparent in the awards won by athletes, whether on the athletic field or in the annual "Miss and Mr" categories voted on by their peers. Such honors speak to the wider impact these Black athletes had on their student body.

Fourth, girls were also playing sports during these years, although often not at the varsity level. What was the status of female athletes before and after integration? Did racial integration affect gender relations at these Austin high schools?

Two different conclusions should be drawn from comparing the racial makeup of sports teams between 1970-71 and 1971-72. First, the highly skilled and well-trained teams of L. C. Anderson made immediate impacts at previously all-White schools, placing athletes on varsity rosters and improving records at many institutions. Second, at many schools during the 1971-72 school year, sports teams became the most visible symbols of racial integration available to students and the Austin public. Watching Black and White players work together as a team on the playing field functioned as a substitute for contentious legal and political debates over racial equality.

Chapter 1: L. C. Anderson Athletics: Camaraderie and Competition

Segregated schooling in Austin did not prevent L. C. Anderson High School (LCA) from fielding a variety of athletic teams and competing at the highest levels available. The all-Black football team won its district title eleven times between 1940 and 1959. It played in state tournaments in 1940, 1942, and 1945. And it took home the state title in 1942, a mere two years after the program began.¹

Indeed, the powerful LCA teams of the 1940s produced Austin's first National Football League Hall of Famer—Dick "Night Train" Lane played at LCA from 1944 to 1946 and went on to play cornerback in the NFL.² LCA would go on to win its district in 1956, 1957, and 1959, and it beat Washington High School of Dallas for another state title in 1957. During these years LCA was playing other all-Black high schools from all over the state, from Corpus Christi to Fort Worth, Houston to Waco to Port Arthur. In 1958, LCA went so far as to challenge Douglass High School from Oklahoma City in an effort to secure high-level games for its athletes. The squad beat their Sooner state rivals 22-6.³

Jim Crow laws prohibited Black high schools from competing against White high schools in Austin prior to 1968. As the civil rights movement intensified in the 1960s, sports teams became a significant source of pride and collective identity for the L. C. Anderson community. The 1969 yearbook drew on a dominant theme of this era with a caption describing a photograph of the football team crashing through a large paper sign: "The fighting [Yellow] Jacket spirit always backs the Soul Team,[Fig 1].⁴ Football had become more than yards and downs for L. C. Anderson—it embodied a statement of equality and humanity that echoed the broader fight for civil rights.

Basketball was another prominent boys' sport throughout LCA's history. The Yellow Jacket hoopsters played a full slate of games against other all-Black high schools in the 1950s and 1960s, sporting slick gold uniforms with black stripes running down the sides. Yearbooks during this time did not post scores and results, but photos suggest that the team drew respectable crowds at its home games and adopted an unofficial motto of "Together we stand, divided we fall"[Fig 2] and [Fig 3].⁵ Like the football players' adoption of "Soul Team," this theme of unity and collective strength may have been especially meaningful for young athletes facing systematic racism in their daily lives. Former student James "Coach" Wilson said, "The two schools in Austin at that time when I was a student was Anderson High and Austin High [School]. Of course, Austin High School was for the whites and Hispanics, and Anderson High School was for blacks. So we didn't have any contact with them through activities, through sports, or anything like this."⁶

The basketball landscape changed dramatically in the 1968-69 season as L. C. Anderson joined the University Interscholastic League and began playing White high schools in Austin as part of District 13 AAAA competition. The 4A designation indicates that the LCA basketball teams were skilled enough to play against the largest high schools in their region. The newcomers made short work of the opposition in their debut year, winning the district title and posting a twenty-three game winning streak [Fig 4].⁷ LCA finished the season with a 28-2 record, winning the 1969 district title and placing four players on the South Zone all-district team: Sylvester Brown, John Harvey, Henry Davis, and district Most Valuable Player Richard Bryant [Fig 5 and 6].⁸ Davis, an imposing forward, led the exceptional squad with 27.7 points per game, followed by Donald McVade with 14.3 points per game. Photographs from the 1969 yearbook suggest the team's success in the league drew large – if segregated – crowds [Fig 7].⁹

Crockett Cougars

Crockett High School opened in 1968 and served a predominantly White student body until the busing of 1971-72. No Black women were on the cheerleading teams or earned any of the annual beauty awards in 1970-71. Its basketball team was all White [Fig 8]. Two Black players were on the football team, including James Robinson. The team won only two games that season. Notably, the yearbook photo of the school's custodial staff shows an all-Black crew, and their names were not provided in the caption, unlike photos of teachers and administrators [Fig 9].¹³

The 1971-72 yearbook reflects in its opening pages the changes experienced as a result of busing. The book begins with a subheading that discusses various effects of integration at Crockett, along with other, more traditional yearbook topics like learning, competition, and sharing.¹⁴ Those include "success with your peers . . . a world with us understanding each other . . . eating with who you like no matter what color . . . trying to understand both sides." From a pep rally to the cafeteria, photos on this page all portray integrated scenes. One image shows former LCA principal Hobart Gaines supervising a meeting of the school's interracial Human Relations Committee [Fig 10].¹⁵ Such committees were formed at most Austin high schools in the 1971-72 school year to bring students together to discuss race relations.

On the facing page, the list continues with "keeping your cool . . . working side by side . . . contemplating fairness . . . growth of that special friendship . . . cheering for the same team." Sports plays an especially central role on this page. Directly above the text is a photo of two football players, one Black and one White, shaking hands and smiling as if to demonstrate that racial tensions could be overcome in the pursuit of gridiron victories [Fig 11].¹⁶ This photo illustrates how sports was used as a stand-in for larger challenges of integration. If the newly integrated players could throw, catch, and tackle together, there was hope that wider social rifts could narrow and heal as well. There is one problem: the two players in this photo were both students at Crockett before the busing plan began. James Robinson, the Black player shown shaking hands with his White teammate, attended Crockett for his entire high school career. The photo may still symbolize the racial unity Crockett administrators hoped for, but it's also somewhat disingenuous since Robinson was not an LCA student forced to change schools.

Despite dramatic and potentially divisive changes in the school's racial composition, the senior class named basketball star and former LCA student Sherman Patton as "Mr. Crockett High" in 1972 [Fig 12]. They also named James Robinson, who posed in the photo symbolizing racial unity, as "Mr. Afro," an award created that school year [Fig 13].¹⁸

Johnston Rams

Johnston High School already had a diverse student body when busing began in 1971, and this seems to have contributed to the school's sense of identity. Its 1970 yearbook photos illustrate a mix of Black, White, and Mexican students, and the introductory text invokes diversity as one of the school's strengths. A full two years before LCA students were bused around the city, Johnston's yearbook proclaimed, "But it is the diversity/Of the school itself/That is Johnston's/Greatest advantage."¹⁹ This embrace of integration and openness set Johnston apart from other Austin high schools.

Rams basketball was led by an all-Black starting team in 1969-70 and finished the season with a 31-3 overall record. They won the district with no losses and continued all the way to the state semifinals [Fig 14].²⁰ Howard Blaylock, James Price, and Darryll Stewart were named all-district. Stewart earned MVP of the district tournament and was named to the all-tournament team at the state level as well.21 Notably, given the racial politics of the time, the yearbook described the team as the "Eastside wrecking crew," taking pride in the school's location in the historically Black and Mexican side of town.²²

With an already diverse student population, Johnston's sports teams were less dramatically affected by the busing. The boys' basketball team continued to dominate during these years, winning the district crown in 1972 before losing in the third round of state tournament play [Fig 15]. One former LCA athlete, Donald Pearson, switched to Johnston and played for the Rams as they dominated district play. The yearbook coverage of this team revived the "Eastside wrecking crew" nickname, and all of the starters—none of them White players—earned either honorable mentions or first team selections to the all-district team. ²⁷

Lanier Vikings

Lanier High School may have enjoyed the biggest turnaround in its sports fortunes with the addition of former LCA players. Founded in 1961, Lanier had not established itself as an athletic force by the 1969-70 season. Its basketball teams were almost all White, with two Black players on the freshman team [Fig 16].²⁸ Despite not having many Black players on its own team, Lanier was competing against teams with Black players during these years. Photos portray Lanier struggling to keep up with more powerful teams from Austin High School and Reagan. Although its junior varsity team played LCA in the 1969-70 season and the freshman team faced LCA in the 1970-71 city finals, there is no mention of varsity match-ups between the two teams during those years.

By 1973, due in large part to the arrival of four excellent former LCA student-athletes, Lanier played for the city title and posted an 8-4 district record [Fig 17].²⁹ Gary Handcox, who was one of the two Black freshman players in 1969-70, now led a team dominated by Black players. Of the three White players on the varsity squad, only point guard Mark Engeling is pictured in action shots in the school yearbook. After being allotted only two pages in the 1969-70 yearbook, the success of the 1972-73 squad earned it six pages filled with action photos. While statistics are not given for that year's team, the attention devoted to LCA alumni Randy Dukes, Joe Harris, and Mike Jenkins suggests they were important to the team's success.

McCallum Knights

McCallum High School experienced a dramatic shift in its racial makeup and a violent beginning to the 1971-72 school year. Founded in 1951, McCallum was a large, well-established high school with two thousand students on its rolls. Its football and basketball teams were all White in the 1969-70 and 1970-71 school years. And the arrival of former LCA students was no small event at McCallum.

Riots and violence broke out on the third day of school that year, drawing riot police and national news attention [Fig 18].³⁰ The 1972 yearbook, while opening with peaceful and happy photographs of an integrated student body, dedicated two pages to the riot. The text of these pages recalled the event:

McCallum sports also underwent dramatic changes after the closure of L. C. Anderson. The all-White football team had a respectable 6-4 record in the two seasons before busing began, beating LCA teams both years. In that tense fall of 1971, amidst the riots and media attention, the Knights football team managed to post their best record in three seasons (7-3) and take third in district play. McCallum's success was partly due to running back Charles Washington and two other former LCA students, Roy Hung and Charles Williams [Fig 19]. Two additional Black players brought a total of five Black players to the McCallum team during this first year of integration, while eight Black players were on the junior varsity team.

After two successful seasons in which it won as many games as it lost against LCA, Knights basketball struggled in the 1971-72 season. [Fig 20]. The first-ever integrated McCallum squad got off to a dismal start. But, according to the 1972 yearbook, the team just needed time to gel before finishing with a 7-5 district record.³² Washington also played on this team, but his former LCA teammates Kenny Fowler and Ernest Griffin were the stars as the team salvaged a fourth place finish in the district.

Reagan Raiders

Like Johnston, Reagan High School had many Black students before the LCA dispersal. Students addressed the recent changes at their school in the opening pages of the 1971-72 yearbook. Under the title "One year of change, of confusion . . . and learning,"³³ text on this page expanded on the theme:

"1972 . . . a new year, a different year, full of changes . . . new faces . . . new loyalties . . . new friendships . . . strange feelings – tension and relief . . . a year different from all before. A year for learning and striving . . . for realization and acceptance of new ideas . . . full of happiness and pain . . . a year no different from any other."³⁴

Despite the yearbook staff's attempt to characterize 1971-72 as a school year like any other, many changes had come to Reagan High School. Later in the yearbook is a story about a local sorority that helped plan a "Black cultural display" of fashion, culture, and arts unique to the African American community. And in the opening pages of the football spread, the yearbook noted that several LCA students "came to play" as the team "molded" into its new form.³⁵

Reagan's football team was both successful and integrated before the closure of LCA. The Raiders won state titles in 1967, 1968, and 1970, and they were named national champions in 1967 and 1968. During the 1970 season, co-captain and running back Waymon Clark, along with three other Black players, led the team.³⁶ After the closure of LCA, Reagan listed ten Black players on its varsity football team, and running back Doug Mitchell was named co-captain.³⁷ He also captured the school's annual Linam Award as the most outstanding player for the 1971 season [Fig 24].³⁸

Legendary LCA football coach W. E. Pigford—the one who trained NFL Hall of Famer Dick "Night Train" Lane—took a job at Reagan after the closure of LCA [Fig 21]. Pigford did not coach football for the Raiders, serving instead as an assistant principal. Also, LCA track coach L. M. Britton took a position at Reagan as a health teacher. Neither man coached in Austin high schools again.

Reagan basketball was also integrated before the busing decision of 1971. In the 1970-71 season, the Raiders already had seven Black players on the basketball team [Fig 22].³⁹

Travis Rebels

Travis High School underwent a modest transformation in 1971-72 but still addressed busing in the opening pages of its yearbook. The description of the ideal Travis Rebel seems to address that year's racial tensions:

"Individualistic . . . a friend . . . a leader of men . . . a non-conformist, the first to push for rights, equality, peace [emphasis added] . . . the only guy who stands by your side when you're down and out . . . he's always there . . . he cares."⁴²

However, a photograph on the accompanying page depicts a Confederate flag flying above the Texas and U.S. flags on the school flagpole. The school's mascot is the Rebel, and at that time a Confederate flag was the main symbol used on football helmets and cheerleading uniforms [Fig 25].⁴³ The tension created by such contradictions is evident throughout the yearbook. It devotes the most space to explaining the legal process that led to closing L. C. Anderson and busing its former students.44 Yet Travis continued to use a huge Confederate flag at its pep rallies and home games [Fig 26].⁴⁵

Travis did create a Tri-Ethnic Committee in the 1971-72 school year—it was made up of students of White, Black, and Mexican heritages from each grade [Fig 27].⁴⁶ This committee discussed race relations at the school and planned events to facilitate a smooth integration process. At least one Black male student-athlete was selected to represent African Americans in each class: standout football player Ronnie Williams for the seniors, rising football and basketball star Chester Owens for the juniors, junior varsity basketball player Gary Clark for the sophomores, and freshman football player David Burnham (also named class favorite). The prevalence of Black athletes on this leadership committee suggests that sports granted status to Black athletes among their peers.

Gender Games

L. C. Anderson girls did not have varsity or interscholastic sports in the 1950s and 1960s. This was due to more than Jim Crow laws. Experts in physical education discouraged girls from competitive sports, believing that intense, organized, competitive sport was not the best form of athletics. They thought informal play like intramurals or gym classes were the healthiest ways for students to learn sports and activities. They were not anti-sport but were concerned with the distorting influences of encouraging competition, selecting rosters, and making statistical comparisons.47 If some of them had their way, boys would not have played varsity sports either. But boys' high school sports and professional men's sports were so established that P.E. professionals weren't able to reduce the number of varsity teams for boys. They were, however, able to restrict girls from competitive play throughout much of the twentieth century.

P.E. teachers at LCA were cut from this cloth [Fig 28] and [Fig 29]. Lucile Crawford attended Prairie View AandM and completed her graduate studies at the University of Michigan and the University of Texas, while Hazel Adams attended Wiley College and did her graduate work at the University of Texas, Northwestern University, and Boston University (an early leader in physical education).

The University of Texas was teaching a non-competitive model of sport during Crawford's time.⁴⁸ Collegiate sports for women at the University of Texas were restricted to rivalries between the classes or, at most, a sports day where women from other schools would travel to UT, form mixed teams, and compete for informal prizes. Some sports even engaged in telegraph meets, where teams would compete at their home campus and report times and scores via telegraph to determine winners.⁴⁹ Women's sports administrators thought that traveling for competition was an improper use of resources and an inappropriate focus for female athletes.

L. C. Anderson's P.E. teachers adopted this philosophy. Crawford sponsored a "sports for girls" club at LCA in 1959 while Adams taught health courses, but both can be seen supervising regimented calisthenics classes[Fig 30].⁵⁰ Indeed, girls at LCA attended all-female P.E. classes where they learned games and sports but focused on the healthy development of their bodies rather than the pursuit of victory. The sessions had a particular gender slant, and girls were taught a variety of dances including square, modern, and ballroom [Fig 31].

Girls' P.E. activities were very controlled and orchestrated. While boys played pick-up basketball games of "shirts versus skins," girls completed calisthenics classes in matching uniforms. The emphasis on activities like tumbling promoted healthy posture and muscle development—photos in LCA yearbooks from the 1950s show girls individually completing a forward roll while the rest of the class watches [Fig 32]. Despite these restrictions, enough competition occurred among LCA girls for them to name a "Most Athletic Girl" in the yearbook. Alma Marie Dukes won the award in 1954 and posed in her crisp, white uniform with her tennis racket [Fig 33]. In 1956, Esther Coffee won the award but posed in a formal evening gown for her portrait [Fig 34].⁵¹

Class Concerns

Althea Gibson, the first Black woman to compete on the professional tennis tour, may have been a hero to Alma Dukes and her classmates. Gibson won the French Open in 1956, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1957 and 1958, and six Grand Slam doubles titles. Although not a varsity sport at LCA, tennis was accessible to women. It was also consistent with a pattern of offering individual sports to women rather than team sports. Often this was an economic decision; it costs far less to support a tennis or golf team that requires a limited set of equipment. Team sports and competing against other schools meant more coaches, staff, and expenses.

In addition, individual sports like tennis or golf were associated with elite White society and decorum. Many women coaches came from upper-middle-class backgrounds. And while they pushed the gender boundaries of the time by advocating for physical activity, they carried with them their class-based notions of what this activity should look like. For instance, archery was taught in girls' P.E. at LCA during this era, despite not being a particularly common or popular sport. In 1969, it was described in the yearbook as a "lifetime sport for living," and archery photos dominate the girls' P.E. pages of the 1970 yearbook as part of the "the female American sportsman" spread [Fig 35 and Fig 36].

Race and Races

At LCA, gender and class issues were further complicated by racial politics. Black women's involvement in sports was often overlooked by the powerful P.E. organizations.⁵² Due in part to this neglect, Black women sometimes had greater access to team and competitive sports than White women throughout the twentieth century. It is important to note, though, that this involvement was often at a lower level of financial support than their White counterparts would eventually receive. Since Black women were more likely to work while attending school, they had a wider range of exposure to competitive team sports. Many of the best competitive sports teams for women were sponsored by businesses, not schools.⁵³ Industrial leagues among factories and businesses held basketball, softball, and track meets, and business owners were known to recruit workers just for their athletic skills.

Many Black women did attend college and continued to be involved in athletics. In Texas, Prairie View AandM was producing elite female track athletes in the 1930s.⁵⁴ Track was another major sport in which Black women could achieve success and even a measure of notoriety. Wilma Rudolph famously overcame childhood polio to win three gold medals at the 1960 summer Olympics and became a role model for Black girls everywhere.

Perhaps due to Rudolph's example, a 1961 yearbook shows LCA girls testing their speed in P.E. classes, and a decade later the senior classes were naming an annual "Track Queen" [Fig 37]. This title, if Jo Rucker is any example in 1971, was hotly contested among LCA girls. Rucker "shed tears of joy" when she was awarded the "coveted" prize, according to 1971 yearbook captions. She earned a large trophy at the awards ceremony and a portrait in the yearbook.⁵⁵ Rucker was not alone in her prowess—Mary Whitley earned "Miss Victory," and Linda Craney was named "Most Athletic" that year.⁵⁶ The change from Esther Coffee's days of intramural tennis can be summed up by the heading above Rucker's yearbook portrait: "Winning is the Essence of Joy."

In 1959, LCA senior girls listed "sports for girls" in their senior profile, suggesting the program had expanded into more competitive options for female students. The yearbook lists archery, badminton, dance, volleyball, softball, basketball, tumbling, soccer, and speedball as available to girls, as well more health-oriented activities like stunts and tumbling, calisthenics, and posture. One photo shows girls climbing a thick rope suspended from the gym ceiling—such a display of strength shows how much girls' sports had changed in a short time [Fig 38 and Fig 39].⁵⁷ Sports opportunities continued to expand throughout the 1960s but remained informal. Girls would often compete against their own classmates for individual titles, such as the 1965 Miss Posture, or hold competitions between grade levels [Fig 40].

1970s: Change and Competition

As the 1960s came to a close, athletic opportunities opened up for girls across Austin. The factors driving this, while related to the busing decision, were also rooted in other social changes. Examining the 1970s yearbooks that showed such marked changes in boys' sports does not reveal such stark changes for girls. Since girls did not have varsity sports teams and weren't expected to even want them, girls' sports did not occupy the same symbolic position that boys' sports did. Yet major changes were occurring. Girls began competing harder, with more at stake, and with more school support than ever before.

By 1969, the LCA girls' intramural champions were competing against other schools' intramural teams in the Senior High School Interschool Competitions for volleyball, basketball, and track.⁵⁸ Ernestine Harrison, best athlete for the class of 1969, led the LCA volleyball team to the interschool tourney [Fig 41].Johnston High School also produced strong girls' volleyball teams, winning the city title in 1971. Track remained a popular sport among high school girls. Sandra Brown, a Black student from Reagan High School, won the 50-yard dash in a 1972 citywide track tournament [Fig 42].

Full-court basketball had been played intramurally at LCA since at least 1959 [Fig 43]. The vigor with which LCA girls played basketball is significant. The same gender and class forces that restricted girls from playing sports earlier in the century had reduced basketball to a static 4-on-4 game without sprinting, passing, and full-court play.⁵⁹ LCA yearbooks, however, show female students running and jumping with clear competitive zeal. A 1971 yearbook photo shows Stella Wilson nearly knocked onto her back by a fake from Carolyn Miller in an intramural game [Fig 44].⁶⁰ These images parallel other accounts of Black women and girls playing basketball at a higher level of competition, while White women and girls were restricted by the P.E. establishment to a more passive version of the game. Yearbook photos from Johnston, the most integrated high school prior to busing, also show girls battling under the hoop in a physical contest for victory [Fig 45] and [Fig 46].⁶¹

In 1970, Lanier girls' intramural sports did not have any action photos in the yearbook. The girls' basketball team earned uniforms in 1971, but it was not a varsity sport [Fig 47].⁶² The school formed a gymnastics club in 1973 to "promote grace, poise, agility, flexibility, strength, coordination, and fitness; also development of desirable attitudes and enjoyment" [Fig 48].⁶³ The girls performed with their hair down and loose, in unison. However, in 1971, Lanier listed varsity girls' swimming and tennis, as well as intramural "powderpuff" and regular girls' football.

The Project in Interpreting the Texas Past (ITP) at the University of Texas at Austin was created by Dr. Martha Norkunas to shed new light on the Texas and American past by researching, interpreting and presenting the histories of women and minority communities. Students have engaged in historical and cultural research and in-depth oral history interviews to create innovative interpretive projects for historic sites, museums, and community organizations all over the state of Texas. For more information about the Project in Interpreting the Texas Past, please contact Dr. Martha Norkunas, m.norkunas@mail.utexas.edu.

ITP is an initiative of the Intellectual Entrepreneurship Consortium, created and directed by Dr. Richard Cherwitz, which is committed to building interdisciplinary, collaborative, and sustainable ways for universities to work with their communities to solve complex problems. For more information, please see: https://webspace.utexas.edu/cherwitz/www/ie/

Works Cited

Austin High School Yearbooks: 1971, 1972. Accessed at Austin History Center, Austin, Texas.

Cahn, Susan. (1994). Coming on Strong (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).

Capital City Argus/Interracial Review. Accessed at Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin, Texas.

Cottrell, Debora Lynn. (1993). "Women's Minds, Women's Bodies: The Influence of the Sargent School for Physical Education," Dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.

Crockett High School Yearbooks: 1971, 1972. Accessed at Austin History Center, Austin, Texas.

Hiss, Anna. Papers accessed at Todd-McLean Physical Culture Collection and the Center for American History, at the University of Texas at Austin.

Johnston High School Yearbooks: 1970, 1971, 1972. Accessed at Austin History Center, Austin, Texas.

Lanier High School Yearbooks: 1970, 1971, 1973. Accessed at Austin History Center, Austin, Texas.

L. C. Anderson High School Yearbooks: 1954. 1956, 1959, 1961, 1965, 1969, 1970, 1971. Accessed at Austin History Center, Austin, Texas.

McCallum High School Yearbooks: 1970, 1971, 1972. Accessed at Austin History Center, Austin, Texas.

Mrozek, Donald J. (1983). Sport and American Mentality, 1880-1910. (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press).

Reagan High School Yearbooks: 1971, 1972. Accessed at Austin History Center, Austin, Texas.

Robbins, Danny. (January 22, 1978). "How busing changed basketball," Austin American-Statesman. Accessed at Austin History Center, file AF S4300.

Sanner, F. (July 21, 1974). "Pigford Naming Lane for Fame," Austin American-Statesman, p. 1. Accessed in W. E. Pigford Vertical file, Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

Todd, Jan. (1998). Physical Culture and the Body Beautiful: An examination of the role of purposive exercise in the lives of American women, 1800-1870 (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press).

Travis High School Yearbooks: 1971, 1972. Accessed at Austin History Center, Austin, Texas.

1 L. C. Anderson High School yearbook, 1953.

2 Sanner, F. "Pigford Naming Lane for Fame," Austin American-Statesman, p. 1. Accessed at W. E. Pigford Vertical File, Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin

3 L. C. Anderson High School yearbook, 1959.

4 L. C. Anderson High School yearbook 1969, p. 155.

5 This phrase appears as a caption to basketball action photos in the 1954 and 1961 yearbooks.

6 For more information on James "Coach" Wilson, please visit his interview transcript at the "Parallel and Crossover Lives" exhibit on the Humanities Texas Web site (http://humanitiestexas.org/programs/past/crossover/). Wilson played basketball at L. C. Anderson, and then accepted a scholarship to Huston-Tillotson College in Austin over offers from several out-of-state schools. According to him, White and Black high school students played pick-up games at the University of Texas intramural fields and at neighborhood playgrounds. Wilson taught at Black schools in Smithville, a district east of Austin, but never taught in a desegregated school. He later became the athletic director at Huston-Tillotson College.

7 All L. C. Anderson teams seem to have entered the UIL that year. The boys track team also experienced great success in its UIL debut, winning district, state, and national honors in three events. Cornelius Shoaf, John Harvey, Clifton Gantt, and Tommy Gregg won the state 4A mile relay in 1969, with Harvey earning Most Outstanding Track Participant.

8 L. C. Anderson High School yearbook, 1969, pp. 166, 2-3.

9 L. C. Anderson High School yearbook, 1969, p. 167.

10 Robbins, D. "How busing changed basketball," Austin American-Statesman. Accessed at Austin History Center, file AF S4300.

11 "Anderson Transfers Begin." Capital City Argus/Interracial Review, p. 1. Accessed at Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin, Texas.

12 The Capital City Argus/Interracial Review ran a front page article on July 3, 1969, chronicling the efforts of one African American committee in support of school desegregation. From a selected reading of the paper, it seems directed toward Black business owners and White allies, and it takes a neutral or conservative position on many of the more divisive issues of the day. Perhaps in response to the growing racial tensions of the late 1960s, a running theme of the paper was "Stay Cool."

13 Crockett High School yearbook, 1971, p. 51.

14 Crockett High School yearbook, 1972, pp. 6-7.

15 Crockett High School yearbook, 1972, p. 6. Gaines is also portrayed on page 45 at the same meeting.

16 Crockett High School yearbook, 1972, p. 7.

17 Crockett High School yearbook, 1972, p. 90.

18 Crockett High School yearbook, 1972, pp. 170, 193.

19 Johnston High School yearbook, 1970, p. 13. This appeal to diversity is especially poignant given the troubles that were facing Johnston in 2007. A November 30, 2007, cover story in the Austin Chronicle addressed "The Slow Dying of Johnston High: Will the Pride of the Eastside Survive?" (K. Reeves, pp. 30-36). Due primarily to low standardized test scores, which result in economic penalties under Texas state law, the school was in danger of being closed down. Just as sports were a strength for a thriving Johnston at its inception, by 2007 sports teams were depleted by the shrinking student body and dwindling school budgets. In the 2007 football season, Johnston had to forfeit several games when academic ineligibilities and injuries left their varsity team ill-suited to face its league rivals.

20 Johnston High School yearbook, 1970, p. 122.

21 Johnston High School yearbook, 1971, p. 124.

22 Johnston High School yearbook, 1971, p. 124.

23 Johnston High School yearbook, 1971, p. 127.

24 Johnston High School yearbook, 1971, p. 9.

25 Johnston High School yearbook, 1972, pp. 4-5.

26 Johnston High School yearbook, 1972, p. 4.

27 Johnston High School yearbook, 1972, p. 102.

28 Lanier High School yearbook, 1970, p. 145.

29 Lanier lost to Crockett in the 1972-73 city final but won the 4A title in 1971-72. Lanier's 1972 yearbook was not included in the Austin History Center archive; for coverage of their 4A championship, see: Robbins, D., (January 22, 1978), "How busing changed basketball," Austin American Statesman.

30 McCallum High School yearbook, 1972, pp. 24-25.

31 McCallum High School yearbook, 1972, p. 24.

32 McCallum High School yearbook, 1972, p. 139.

33 Reagan High School yearbook, 1972, p. 2.

34 Reagan High School yearbook, 1972, p.2.

35 Reagan High School yearbook, 1972, p. 126.

36 Reagan High School yearbook, 1971, pp. 94, 101, 103.

37 Reagan High School yearbook, 1972, p. 140.

38 Reagan High School yearbook, 1972, p. 140.

39 Reagan High School yearbook, 1971, p. 115.

40 Reagan High School yearbook, 1971, pp. 116-21.

41 Reagan High School yearbook, 1972, p. 146.

42 Travis High School yearbook, 1972, p. 13.

43 Travis High School yearbook, 1971, p. 13.

44 Travis High School yearbook, 1972, pp. 50-51.

45 Travis High School yearbook, 1972, p. 19.

46 Travis High School yearbook, 1971, p. 14.

47 See Susan Cahn, Coming on Strong (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 1994), for a thorough history of women's sports. For an account of the rise of physical education in American schools and colleges, see Donald J. Mrozek, Sport and American Mentality, 1880-1910 (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1983), or Jan Todd, Physical Culture and the Body Beautiful: An examination of the role of purposive exercise in the lives of American women, 1800-1870 (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1998).

48 Anna Hiss became the University of Texas's Director of Women's Recreation in 1927 after studying with renowned physical culturalist John Singer Sargent at Harvard University. While she persuaded university administrators to build UT women a state-of-the-art gymnasium, she purposely had the basketball court and swimming pool built to dimensions different from those required for competitive sport. For more on Hiss, see her archived papers in the Todd-McLean Physical Culture Collection and the Center for American History, both at the University of Texas at Austin. For a thorough biography of Hiss, see Debora Cottrell's dissertation Women's Minds, Women's Bodies: The Influence of the Sargent School for Physical Education (University of Texas at Austin, 1993).

49 Sports and play days were ubiquitous at White colleges across the nation, but especially in the segregated South. For more on these types of events, see Isaac Stephen St. Clair's dissertation Playday/Sportsday Movement in Southern Colleges (University of Texas at Austin, 1984). Also see Cottrell, and Caryn Martin's dissertation Dutiful Daughters and Rowdy Women: An Historical Examination of Athletics at Southern Women's Colleges in the United States (Georgia State University 2000).

50 L. C. Anderson High School yearbook, 1959.

51 It is possible that Mary Ann Hornsby shared the award that year with Coffee; her picture appears on the page opposite Coffee but lacks a clear title in the 1956 yearbook.

52 Cahn, p. 111.

53 See Cahn, Chapter 3, "Games of Strife: The Battle over Competitive Women's Sport."

54 Cahn, 118.

55 L. C. Anderson High School yearbook, 1971, pp. 19, 173.

56 L. C. Anderson High School yearbook, 1971, pp. 173, 184.

57 L. C. Anderson High School yearbook, 1965, p. 119.

58 L. C. Anderson High School yearbook, 1969, p. 99.

59 See Cahn, Chapter 4, "The Campaign to Suppress Women's Basketball," pp. 83-109.

60 L. C. Anderson High School yearbook, 1971, p. 68.

61 Johnston High School yearbook, 1971, p. 112. See also Lanier High School yearbook, 1973, p. 99.

62 Lanier High School yearbook, 1971, p. 22.

63 Lanier High School yearbook, 1973, p. 98. Reagan High School started a gymnastics club aimed at more competitive performances and rose to sixth in the state by 1973.