Johnny Bright Incident - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The "Johnny Bright Incident" was a violent on-field assault

Violence in sports

Violence in sports refers to physical acts committed in contact sports such as American football, ice hockey, rugby football, soccer, boxing, mixed martial arts, wrestling, and water polo beyond the normal levels of contact expected while playing the sport...

against African-American player Johnny Bright

Johnny Bright

Johnny D. Bright was a professional Canadian football player in the Canadian Football League. He played college football at Drake University...

by White American

White American

White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...

player Wilbanks Smith during an American college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

game held on October 20, 1951 in Stillwater, Oklahoma

Stillwater, Oklahoma

Stillwater is a city in north-central Oklahoma at the intersection of U.S. 177 and State Highway 51. It is the county seat of Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 45,688. Stillwater is the principal city of the Stillwater Micropolitan Statistical...

. The game was significant in itself as it marked the first time that an African American athlete with a national profile and of critical importance to the success of his Drake University

Drake University

Drake University is a private, co-educational university located in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The institution offers a number of undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and pharmacy. Today, Drake is one of the twenty-five oldest law schools in the country....

team had played against Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) on their home field

Home (sports)

In sports, home is a term referring to both the city and stadium, arena, or field where an athletic team plays games at their venue, whilst when the team plays elsewhere then they are considered the away team. The home term can refer to either the sponsoring institution or the place where it is...

. Bright's injury also highlighted the racial tensions of the times and assumed notoriety when it was captured in what was later to become both a widely disseminated and eventually Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

winning photo sequence. The event later came to be known as the "Johnny Bright Incident".

Assault

Johnny Bright's participation as a halfback

Running back

A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

/quarterback

Quarterback

Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

in the collegiate football game between the Drake Bulldogs

Drake Bulldogs

The Drake Bulldogs are the athletic teams of Drake University. Athletic scholarships are offered in basketball, cross-country, golf, soccer, softball, track and field, tennis, and volleyball. However, all football players are walk-ons as Drake does not offer athletic scholarships in that sport...

and Oklahoma A&M Aggies

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Oklahoma State Cowboys are the athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University. Their mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates in the NCAA's Division I-A and in the Big 12 Conference's South Division. The university's current athletic director is Mike Holder...

on October 20, 1951 at Lewis Field

Boone Pickens Stadium

Boone Pickens Stadium has been home to the Oklahoma State University Cowboys football team in rudimentary form since 1913, and as a complete stadium since 1920...

was controversial even before it began. Bright had been the first African-American football player to play at Lewis Field two years prior (without incident). In 1951, Bright was a pre-season Heisman Trophy

Heisman Trophy

The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

candidate from Drake, and led the nation in total offense. Bright had never played for a losing team in his college career. Coming into the contest, Drake carried a five game winning streak, owing much to Bright's rushing

Rush (American football)

Rushing has two different meanings in gridiron football .-Offense:The first is an action taken by the offensive team that means to advance the ball by running, as opposed to passing. A run is technically any play that does not involve a forward pass...

and passing

Forward pass

In several forms of football a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line...

abilities.

During the first seven minutes of the game, Bright was knocked unconscious three times by blows from Oklahoma A&M defensive tackle Wilbanks Smith. While Smith's final elbow blow broke Bright's jaw, he was still able to complete a 61-yard touchdown

Touchdown

A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...

pass to Drake halfback Jim Pilkington a few plays later. Soon afterward, the injury finally forced him to leave the game. Bright finished the game with less than 100 yards, the first time in his three year collegiate career at Drake. Oklahoma A&M eventually won the game 27–14.

Bob Spiegel, a reporter with the Des Moines Register
Des Moines Register
The Des Moines Register is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa, in the United States. A separate edition of the Register is sold throughout much of Iowa.-History:...

, interviewed several spectators after the game, eventually publishing a report on the incident in the October 30, 1951 issue of the newspaper. According to Spiegel's report, several of the Oklahoma A&M students he interviewed overheard an Oklahoma A&M coach repeatedly say "Get that nigger" whenever the A&M practice squad ran Drake plays against the Oklahoma A&M starting defense, prior to the October 20 game. Spiegel also recounted the experiences of a businessman and his wife, who were seated behind a group of Oklahoma A&M practice squad players. At the beginning of the game, one of the players turned around said, "We're gonna get that nigger." After the first blow to Bright was delivered by Smith, the same player again turned around and told the businessman, "See that knot on my jaw? That same guy [Smith] gave me that the very same way in practice."

Photographic sequence

A six photograph sequence of the incident captured by Des Moines Register cameramen John Robinson and Don Ultang

Don Ultang

Don Ultang was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer.Born in Fort Dodge, Iowa on March 23, 1917, Ultang was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He attended the University of Iowa, earning a degree in economics in 1939. Shortly after his graduation from college, he was hired by the Des Moines...

clearly showed Smith's jaw-breaking blow was thrown well after Bright had handed the ball off to Drake fullback

Fullback (American football)

A fullback is a position in the offensive backfield in American and Canadian football, and is one of the two running back positions along with the halfback...

Gene Macomber, and was well behind the play. The sequence won Robinson and Ultang the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for Photography

Pulitzer Prize for Photography

The Pulitzer Prize for Photography was one of the Pulitzer Prizes. It was awarded from 1942 until 1967. In 1968, it was split into two separate prizes: the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography and the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography .* 1942: Milton Brooks of Detroit News, for his photo...

, and eventually made the cover of Life Magazine.

Aftermath

Drake University

and fellow Missouri Valley Conference

Missouri Valley Conference

The Missouri Valley Conference is a college athletic conference whose members are located in the midwestern United States...

member Bradley University

Bradley University

Bradley University, founded in 1897, is a private, co-educational university located in Peoria, Illinois. It is a small institution with an enrollment of approximately 6,100 undergraduate and postgraduate students and a full-time faculty of approximately 350....

withdrew from the Conference in protest for several years, not only in response to the Bright incident, but also because both Oklahoma A&M and the Conference refused to take any disciplinary action against Wilbanks Smith. The "Johnny Bright Incident", as it became widely known, eventually provoked changes in NCAA football rules regarding illegal blocking, and mandated the use of more protective helmets with face guards.

Johnny Bright

Bright

Johnny Bright

Johnny D. Bright was a professional Canadian football player in the Canadian Football League. He played college football at Drake University...

's jaw injury limited his effectiveness for the remainder of his senior season at Drake

Drake Bulldogs

, but he earned 70 percent of the yards Drake gained and scored 70 percent of the Bulldogs

Drake Bulldogs

' points, despite missing the better part of the final three games of the season. Bright finished fifth in the balloting for the 1951 Heisman Trophy

Heisman Trophy

, and played in the post-season East-West Shrine Game

East-West Shrine Game

The East–West Shrine Game is an annual post-season college football all-star game played each January since 1925. The game is sponsored by the fraternal group Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and the net proceeds are earmarked to some of the Shrine's charitable works, most notably the Shriners...

and the Hula Bowl

Hula Bowl

The Hula Bowl was an independently administered post-season invitational college football game held each year in Hawaii from 1947 to 2008. The game was last played at Aloha Stadium in the Hālawa district of Honolulu, Hawaii. At one point the longest-running sporting event in Hawaii, it had been...

.

Following his 1952 graduation from Drake, Bright went on to enjoy a 12-year professional football career in the Canadian Football League

Canadian Football League

The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....

, retiring in 1964

1964 CFL season

The 1964 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 11th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 7th Canadian Football League season.-Final regular season standings:...

as the CFL's all-time leading rusher, and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame

Canadian Football Hall of Fame

The Canadian Football Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is an open to the public institution. It includes displays about the Canadian Football League, Canadian university football and Canadian...

in 1970.

Recalling the incident without apparent bitterness in a 1980 Des Moines Register interview three years before his death, Bright commented: "There's no way it couldn't have been racially motivated." Bright went on to add: "What I like about the whole deal now, and what I'm smug enough to say, is that getting a broken jaw has somehow made college athletics better. It made the NCAA take a hard look and clean up some things that were bad."

When asked about Smith, whom he had not seen since the incident, Bright said he felt "null and void" about Smith, but added: "The thing has been a great influence on my life. My total philosophy of life now is that, whatever a person's bias and limitation, they deserve respect. Everyone's entitled to their own beliefs."

Wilbanks Smith

A webpage for Smith's hometown of Mangum, Oklahoma

Mangum, Oklahoma

Mangum is a city in Greer County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,010 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Greer County....

lists him as a "noted notable", praising Smith as "an outstanding football player and wrestler," while noting that "In football, he earned notoriety as the perpetrator of the 'Johnny Bright Incident.' This event, with its overtones of racism and poor sportsmanship, was the subject of the 1952 Pulitzer Prize winner in photojournalism." The city's webpage goes on to claim that Smith's "actions were, presumably, directed by the coaching staff, but Wilbanks Smith courageously accepted full responsibility. After graduation, he embarked upon a successful career in engineering and community service."

Apology

On September 28, 2005, Oklahoma State University formally apologized to Drake University and to Bright for the incident in a letter from Oklahoma State University President David J. Schmidly

David J. Schmidly

David James Schmidly was installed as 20th president of the University of New Mexico on October 7, 2007.On April 22, 2011, Schmidly announced his decision to retire as UNM's President at the end of his five year contract in 2012....

to Drake President David Maxwell

David Maxwell (academic)

David Maxwell is the president of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He is the 12th president of Drake and stepped into the role on May 15, 1999. He is the son of jazz trumpeter Jimmy Maxwell.-Academic career:...

. The apology came twenty-two years after Bright's death.

External links

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