Johnny Bright

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Johnny Bright

1962 Topps CFL Card-brady's cards.com [2]
Date of birth June 11, 1930
Place of birth Fort Wayne, Indiana
Date of death December 14, 1983
Position(s) Running Back/Linebacker
College Drake
NFL Draft 1952 / Round 1
Team(s)
1952-1954
1954-1964
 Calgary Stampeders
Edmonton Eskimos
Canadian Football Hall of Fame 20
College Hall-of-Fame

Johnny D. Bright (June 11, 1930 – December 14, 1983) was a professional football player with the Canadian Football League (primarily with the Edmonton Eskimos) and an outstanding American college football player at Drake University. Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Bright is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame, the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame, the Edmonton Eskimos Wall of Honour, the Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame, and the Des Moines Register's Iowa Sports Hall of Fame. In 1951, Bright was named a First Team College Football All-American, and was awarded the Nils V. "Swede" Nelson Sportsmanship Award. In 1969, Bright was named Drake University's greatest football player of all time. He was also one of the first recipients of the Drake University National D Club's Double "D" Award. Bright is the only Drake football player to have his jersey number (#43) retired by the school, and in June, 2006, received honorable mention from ESPN.com senior writer Ivan Maisel as one of the best college football players to ever wear #43.[1] In February, 2006, the football field at Drake Stadium, in Des Moines, Iowa, was named in his honor.[2]

In addition to his outstanding professional and college football careers, Bright is perhaps best known for his role as the victim of an intentional, most likely racially motivated, on-field assault by an opposing college football player from Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) on October 20, 1951, that was captured in a widely disseminated and Pulitzer Prize winning photo sequence, and eventually came to be known as the "Johnny Bright Incident."

Contents

[edit] College football career

Bright was a three-sport (football, basketball, track and field) star at Central High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Following his graduation from Central High in 1947, Bright accepted a track and field scholarship from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, that allowed him to try out for the football and basketball squads.[3] Bright eventually lettered in football, track, and basketball, during his collegiate career at Drake.[3]

Following a mandatory freshman redshirt year, Bright began his collegiate football career in earnest in 1949, rushing for 975 yards and throwing for another 975 to lead the nation in total offense during his sophomore year, as the Drake Bulldogs finished their season at 6-2-1.[4] In Bright's junior year, the halfback/quarterback rushed for 1,232 yards and passed for 1,168 yards, setting an NCAA record for total offense (2,400 yards) in 1950, and again lead the Bulldogs to a 6-2-1 record.[4]

Bright's senior year began with great promise. Bright was considered a pre-season Heisman Trophy candidate, and was leading the nation in both rushing and total offense with 821 and 1,349 yards respectively, when the Drake Bulldogs, winners of their previous five games, faced Missouri Valley Conference foe Oklahoma A&M at Lewis Field (now Boone Pickens Stadium) in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on October 20, 1951.

[edit] The "Johnny Bright Incident"

Johnny Bright Incident - Oct. 21, 1951 Des Moines Register newspaper cover showing Robinson and Ultang photo sequence [1]
Enlarge
Johnny Bright Incident - Oct. 21, 1951 Des Moines Register newspaper cover showing Robinson and Ultang photo sequence [1]
Main article: Johnny Bright Incident

Bright's participation as a halfback/quarterback in the Drake University vs. Oklahoma A&M football game on October 20, 1951 was controversial, as it marked the first time that such a prominent African-American athlete, with national notoriety (Bright was a pre-season Heisman Trophy candidate and led the nation in total offense going into the game) and of critical importance to the success of his team (Drake was undefeated and carried a five game winning streak into the contest, due in large part to Bright's rushing and passing dominance), had played against Oklahoma A&M in a home game at Lewis Field, in Stillwater.[5] During the first seven minutes of the game, Bright had been knocked unconscious three times by blows from Oklahoma A&M defensive tackle, Wilbanks Smith. While the final, elbow blow from Smith broke Bright's jaw, Bright was able to complete a 61-yard touchdown pass to Drake halfback Jim Pilkington a few plays later before the injury finally forced Bright to leave the game. Bright finished the game with 75 yards (14 yards rushing and 61 yards passing), the first time he had finished a game with less than 100 yards in his three year collegiate career at Drake. Oklahoma A&M eventually won the game 27-14.[5]

Bob Spiegel, a Des Moines Register reporter, interviewed several spectators after the game, eventually publishing a report in the October 30, 1951 issue of the Register about what was soon to become known as the "Johnny Bright Incident." According to Spiegel's report, several 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 football plays against the Oklahoma A&M starting defense.[6] A businessman Spiegel interviewed told him that as he and his wife sat behind a group of Oklahoma A&M practice squad players as the game began, one of the players turned around said, "we're gonna get that nigger."[6] After the first blow to Bright was delviered 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."[6]

A Pulitzer Prize-winning photographic sequence by Des Moines Register cameramen Don Ultang and John Robinson clearly showed that Smith's vicious, jaw breaking blow to Bright had occurred well after Bright had handed off the ball to Drake fullback Gene Macomber, and that the blow was delivered well behind the play.[7] The photographic sequence of the incident was widely disseminated, won Robinson and Ultang the 1952 Pulitzer Prize, and eventually made the cover of Life Magazine.

Because of the incident and because both Oklahoma A&M and the Missouri Valley Conference refused to take any disciplinary action against Smith, Drake University (along with fellow Conference member Bradley University) withdrew from the Conference, in protest, for several years.[8] The "Johnny Bright Incident" did bring about changes in collegiate football rules regarding illegal blocking, and also required the use of more protective helmets with face guards.[6]

Bright's jaw injury limited his effectiveness for the remainder of his senior season at Drake, but he finished his college career with 5,983 yards in total offense, averaging better than 236 yards per game in total offense, and scored 384 points in 25 games.[4] As a senior, Bright earned 70 percent of the yards Drake gained and scored 70 percent of the 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, and played in the post-season East-West Shrine Game and the Hula Bowl.

Reflecting on 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."[6] 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 Wilbanks Smith, who Bright hadn't seen since the incident, Bright said he felt "null and void" about Smith, but added, "The thing (incident) 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."[6]

In September 2005, Oklahoma State University formally apologized to Bright and Drake University for the Johnny Bright Incident."[9] [10]

[edit] Professional football career

Bright was the first pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the first round of the 1952 National Football League draft. Bright spurned the NFL, electing to play for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. Bright was the first NFL first-round draft pick to bypass the NFL for the CFL. Bright later commented, "I would have been their (the Eagles') first Negro player. There was a tremendous influx of Southern players into the NFL at that time, and I didn't know what kind of treatment I could expect."[11]

Bright joined the Calgary Stampeders as a fullback/linebacker in 1952, leading the Stampeders and the CFL Western Conference in rushing with 815 yards his rookie season.[11] Bright played fullback/linebacker with the Stampeders for the 1952, 1953, and part of the 1954 seasons. In 1954, the Calgary Stampeders dealt Bright to the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos in a mid-season trade. Bright would enjoy the most success of his professional football career as a member of the Eskimos.

Though Bright played strictly defense as a linebacker in his first year with the Edmonton Eskimos (1954), he played both offense (as a fullback) and defense for two seasons (1955-56), and played offense (fullback) permanently after that (1957-64). Bright, along with stand out Eskimo teammates Rollie Miles, Normie Kwong, and Jackie Parker, helped lead the Edmonton Eskimos to successive Grey Cup titles in 1954, 1955, and 1956 (where Bright rushed for a Grey Cup record 171 yards in a 50-27 triumph over the Montreal Alouettes).[11] In 1957, Bright rushed for eight consecutive 100-yard games, finishing the season with 1,679 yards. In 1958, Bright rushed for 1,722 yards.[11] In 1959, following his third straight season as the CFL's rushing leader with 1,340 yards, Bright won the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award, the first African-American or African-Canadian athlete to be so honored.

Bright was approached several times during his CFL career by NFL teams about playing in the United States, but in the days before the blockbuster salaries of today's NFL players, it was common for CFL players such as Bright to hold regular jobs in addition to football, and he had already started a teaching career in 1957, the year Bright moved his family to Edmonton. "I'd established a home and Canada had been good to me," Bright once recalled, "I might have been interested, if the offers could have matched what I was making from both football and teaching."[11]

Bright retired in 1964 as the CFL's all-time leading rusher (Mike Pringle and George Reed have since surpassed him). Bright rushed for 10,909 yards in 13 seasons, had five consecutive 1,000 yard seasons, and led the CFL in rushing four times. While Bright is currently 15th on the All-Pro Rushing list, his career average of 5.5 yards per carry is the highest (Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown is second at 5.2 yards per carry).[11] Bright had a CFL record thirty-six 100-plus-yard games, carrying the ball 200 or more times for five straight seasons. Bright led the CFL Western Conference in rushing four times, winning the Eddie James Memorial Trophy in the process, and was a CFL Western Conference All-Star five straight seasons from 1957 to 1961. Bright played in 197 consecutive CFL games as a fullback/linebacker. Bright's #24 jersey was retired by the Edmonton Eskimos in 1983, and currently hangs on the Wall of Honour at the Eskimos' Commonwealth Stadium. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame on November 26, 1970.

[edit] Post-football career

Bright earned a Bachelor of Science degree in education at Drake University in 1952,[12] putting his degree to use as a teacher, coach, and school administrator, both during and after his CFL career, eventually becoming the principal of Hillcrest Junior High School in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Bright became a Canadian citizen in 1962.[11]

[edit] Death

Bright died of a massive heart attack on December 14, 1983, at a hospital in Edmonton, while undergoing elective surgery to correct a football knee injury. He was survived by his wife and four children.[3]

Bright is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.[13]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Johnny Bright's Football Jersey Number Recognized. DrakeBulldogs.org (2006-06-30). Retrieved on 2006-07-08.
  2. ^ KCCI-TV8 Des Moines, Iowa - Drake Names Football Field After Johnny Bright: OSU Apologizes For Player's Actions. KCCI.com (2006-02-23). Retrieved on 2006-08-12.
  3. ^ a b c Turnbull, Buck (1970-03-24). Bright joins Iowa "Hall". Des Moines Register. Retrieved on 2006-08-14.
  4. ^ a b c 2005 Drake Bulldogs Football Media Guide: The Legend of Johnny Bright - Drake's Greatest Football Player. Drake University (2005). Retrieved on 2006-08-12.
  5. ^ a b White, Maury (1951-10-21). Aggies Outlast Drake, 27-14. Drake University Digital Collections (reprinted with the permission of the Des Moines Register). Retrieved on 2006-08-12.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Hanson, Dave (1980-11-13). Bright not bitter: Blow helped clean up sports. Drake University Digital Collections (reprinted with the permission of the Des Moines Register). Retrieved on 2006-08-12.
  7. ^ Robinson, John; Don Ultang (1951-10-21). Bright's Jaw Broken, Drake Streak Ends, 27-14. Drake University Digital Collections (reprinted with the permission of the Des Moines Register). Retrieved on 2006-08-12.
  8. ^ Moorhead, Jim (1964-10-30). 1951 John Bright incident causes Drake withdrawal from MVC. Drake University Digital Collections (reprinted with the permission of the Des Moines Register). Retrieved on 2006-08-12.
  9. ^ Witosky, Tom (2006-02-23). Drake will name field for Bright: Oklahoma State has apologized for a 1951 incident that injured the football player. Des Moines Register.com. Retrieved on 2006-08-12.
  10. ^ Darcy, Bob (2005-11-14). Schmidly closes door on Johnny Bright disgrace. Oklahoma State University The Daily O'Collegian. Retrieved on 2006-08-12.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Soutar, Ted. CFL Legend: Johnny Bright. CFL.ca. Retrieved on 2006-08-12.
  12. ^ Podolsky, Mickey (1963-11-01). Johnny Bright All-Time Drake Great. Drake University Digital Collections (reprinted with permission of the Des Moines Register). Retrieved on 2006-08-12.
  13. ^ Find A Grave.com Listing: John D. Bright (1930-1983). FindAGrave.com. Retrieved on 2006-08-12.

[edit] Sources

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