- Introduction -
Coach Wooden and I on the day I interviewed him for the book.
Acknowledgments
This book could not have been possible without the help and contributions of many of the individuals or the family members of the individuals mentioned in this book. I obtained a lot of information from some of the coaches that were coaching at UCLA in the 1940’s, and 1950’s. Those coaches are, Coach John Wooden Basketball, Coach Johnnie Johnson, Coach Bill Barnes, and Coach Ray Nagle Football, and coach Craig Dixon Track and Field. I would also like to thank Carl McBain and Stanley Robertson for their contribution via phone calls. Carl and Stanley were students at UCLA in the 1940’s. Stanley gave me the names of many of UCLA’s Black Student Athletes who were members of UCLA’s Athletic Teams during the 1940’s. Carl (white) is a member of UCLA’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Los Angeles’s former Mayor Tom Bradley, Woody Strode, Kenney Washington, and Jackie Robinson were all very close friends of Carl McBain. Other UCLA Black Athletes of the 1940’s that I had conversations or written communications with are Ray Bartlett F.B. 1940’s, and Art Lewis Track.
I attempted to contact other Black UCLA Athletes of the 1940’s without success. Even though a few of these athletes are still living, I assume that their health status prevented them from responding to my request. I would especially like to thank Harold Miller a member of UCLA’s 1956 first NCAA Track & Field Championship Team. Harold gave me much guidance and encouragement. I would also like to give a special thanks to all of my friends and colleagues who helped to make this book possible.
Charles R. Hollaway
UCLA's black players featured in Jet Magazine's 1956 Rose Bowl preview. At the time a record number of 'negro' players were participating in the Rose Bowl which featured UCLA and Michigan State.
Why I wrote this book
At some time during the Twenties, Thirties, Forties, and Fifties, eighty five percent or more of black students who attended colleges and universities, attended black colleges and universities. Those institutions were primarily in the South. There were very few white institutions of higher learning in the United States that recruited or accepted black students. To some, it may seem like a long time ago but to others it wasn’t that long ago. Black student had no choice but to go to black colleges and universities. UCLA was one of the few white institutions of higher learning that accepted black students in those days. Only a very few of the white colleges and universities in the United States recruited black students. Some of the universities in Big Ten Conference recruited a very few black students. Three of the University of Michigan’s black football players in the 1940’s were, Bob Mann, Gene Dericott, and Lenny Ford. They were all football players but some of them were also very good basketball players. Lenny Ford was a very big and tall student athlete. He was also a very good basketball player. Neither Lenny Ford nor the other two athletes mentioned above were allowed to play basketball for the University of Michigan. They weren’t allowed to play basketball for the University of Michigan primarily because the University of Michigan’s Basketball Schedule included some white institutions of higher learning in the South. Most if not all of the white colleges and universities in the South refused to participate in athletics against colleges and universities that had blacks on their athletic teams. There are many reasons for writing this book. One of the main reason is to make athletes of today more aware of the fact that just a short time ago, only a few white colleges and universities accepted black student athletes. UCLA was one of the few white institutions of higher learning that recruited black student athletes. However, there were many prejudices on and around the UCLA Campus. Blacks found it almost impossible to fine a place to live on and around UCLA’s Campus. Landlords in and around the Village of Westwood refused to rent their living facilities to blacks. Only a very few black students could afford to live in Westwood even if they had the opportunity to do so. There was a male Co - Operative Housing Association with two living facility off but near UCLA’s Campus. This facility (inter racial) was open to all of UCLA Students. Naturally this facility had a waiting list. When I was a student at UCLA in 1955, only men lived in those facilities. Today the CO – OP has three living facilities and male and female students live in those facilities. Also in 1955 there was an interracial Co-Operative housing facility for female students. This facility was called the Stevens House and it was located a few miles off of the UCLA Campus. The Stevens House was located across the street from University High School in West Los Angeles. Strickland Pressley a former UCLA student stated that Diane Carroll lived at the Stevens House when she was a student at UCLA. The Stevens House and the men’s CO- OP used to have social affairs and they would invite one another. As times slowly changed, John Moore (basketball), (Rafer Johnson, Ken Thompson and Russ Ellis (track) and a few other black athletes were allowed to live in a few white fraternity houses on or near UCLA’s Campus. Rafer Johnson was able to live in a white fraternity house after he became successful in the Olympics Games of 1956. I also wrote this book for the family and friends of UCLA’s early black athletes. Most of these athletes who will be mentioned later, were very good students. Some of them were stars but many were not. Not all of them lettered in their sport, but they were participants in UCLA’s early Athletic Programs. UCLlA’s early athletes were extremely important to the success of UCLA’s Varsity Sports and to many of UCLA future black athletes. There was an article in the Los Angeles Times (2006) about the small amount of African Americans accepted at UCLA in the upcoming semester. The article, “A Startling Statistic at UCLA.“ It continued by stating, “ At the school whose alumni include Jackie Robinson and Tom Bradley, only 96 Blacks are expected in this fall’s freshman class”. Ralph Bunch, Rafer Johnson, Johnnie Cochran, Yvonne Brathwait Burks, Diane Carroll and Diane Watson were also early graduates of UCLA. In July or August of 2006, The Los Angeles Times had a picture of Karume James a senior at UCLA. Karume a senior stated, “ I spent about 14 hours on the campus, and I counted only about 12 Black People.” The Los Angeles Times Article stated that “ Los Angeles County is 9.8% African American and that UCLA now has a lower percentage of black freshmen than either cross-town rival the University of Southern California or UC Berkley”. In 1955 when I was a student at UCLA, most universities in the Pacific 8 Conference didn’t have any black athletes on their athletic teams, or a few universities were just beginning to recruit black athletes. The University of Southern California who had no black football players at the time recruited Addison Hawthorn from Pasadena City College. Addison was an All American Junior College Football Player at Pasadena City College. Addison played very little football if any at the University of Southern California. Some of the black football players at UCLA felt that U. S. C. recruited Addison to keep him from attending UCLA and playing against them. A Los Angeles Times article stated that, “Only 96 African Americans would enroll in UCLA in the fall of 2007 and 20 of those students are athletes”. It also stated “the 96 students are the lowest enrollment of African American Freshman since 1973”. UCLA never was a haven for black students. An article taken from the Internet in 1949 stated, “UCLA’s black students weren’t invited nor expected to attend most student affairs on UCLA’s Campus unless they were sponsoring the affair”. Wilbur Johns, UCLA’s part time football coach and full time athletic director changed things for blacks at UCLA. In 1948 he hired three new coaches. Conditions became much brighter for black athletes at UCLA when Wilbur Johns hired Coaches Elvin Ducky Drake (track), Henry Red Sanders (football), and Coach John R. Wooden (basketball) to UCLA’s coaching staff. For some reason, UCLA has had only a very few black baseball players. Unfortunately there seems to be fewer black students at UCLA today then there was 55 years ago. Most of the early ex black bruin seemed to be pleased to have been given the opportunity to participate academically and athletically at UCLA. Most Americans are pleased that white colleges and universities are now accepting black students. Unfortunately this acceptance has caused a few black colleges to close their doors because of a lack of student enrollment. UCLA has changed a lot since 1919. UCLA still has the same bells (chimes) today that they had 55 years ago. There were many days when I was running up the stairs on UCLA’s campus attempting to get to class before the bells stop ringing. Naturally if the bell stopped ringing before I entered my classroom, I was late for class. The majority of the early former UCLA black athletes who I talked with are proud to be ex Bruins. They stated that they felt as if they were accepted and that they belonged at UCLA when they were students there. UCLA’s coaches made sure that all of UCLA’s athletes were treated the same. Many of UCLA’s early black athletes are saddened to learn that UCLA has such a small amount of black students presently attending UCLA. It seems that things are getting worse rather than better! UCLA is no more the leader in black student enrollment in the Pacific Ten Conference. It seems that UCLA is going backward rather than forward in black student enrollment.
About Chuck Hollaway
My name is Charles Richard Hollaway. I was born during the Great Depression in Detroit, Michigan. I came to Fullerton, California in 1950 to attend Fullerton Junior College. I have been and I still am a resident of Carson, California since 1968. A Detroit News - paper reporter once referred to me as Chuck Hollaway. Now most of my friends call me Chuck Hollaway instead of Charles Hollaway. Most of my pre high school friends call me Charles. I have been removed from Detroit for over 55 years. If my phone rings and some one ask for Charles Hollaway, I assume that don’t know me very well.
There were twelve members in my family including my parents. There were seven boys and three girls. My father and mother had very little formal education. My dad only went as far as the third grade in school but he attended night school for as long as I could remember. He couldn’t read very well but he could recite and refer to various parts of the Bible exceptionally well. I don’t know how much formal education my mother had. I don’t think that she had very much but I know that she was in charge of running the house. My parents were strongly religious.
We had a family prayer together before every meal and before we went to bed at night. We sometimes had a family prayer in the morning if we were all at home together in the morning and my dad didn’t have to go to work. It didn’t matter if we were up in the morning or not. If my dad was up he would wake his family up and we would have a family prayer together. We weren’t allowed to look at or read the Comic Section of the news – papers in or out of our house. Naturally I read them when I was away from home.
The only music heard or allowed in our house was religious music. I had no friends that I would consider as close friends as a child growing up. I am not a big music lover today and I never learned to dance very well. There wasn’t a lot of music of any kind in my house when my only child David was growing up. I know that David enjoys music now. I know that his friends are music lovers and I am sure that his association with his friends has had some effect on his love for music. My son was a very good athlete and seems to enjoy music, but I doubt that he is a very good dancer. In fact, I am not sure if he knows how to dance.
My family at my parent's 50th anniversary.
My father worked in the Foundry at Ford’s Factory in Dearborn, Michigan. We didn’t own a car at that time. My father would get ready for work at a very early hour in the morning (4:00 A. M.) because he had to use public transportation to get to work. If he missed a bus in the morning he would probably be late for work. My dad didn’t believe in being late for any thing. My dad went to bed at 9:00 P. M. and he got up at 4:00 A. M.
Doing that time in my youth, I couldn’t understand how a person could go to bed at 9:0 0 P. M. Now I am retired and I go to bed at 9:00 P.M and many times earlier. I stated earlier that my parents were very religious. We walked to church every Sunday! We never missed church on Sunday regardless of whether it was raining or snowing or if one of us were ill. The church was about two or three miles away from our house. That seemed like a very long distance from our house at the time, especially in the winter and when it was raining. I think that the price for using public transportation was six cents. If you had to transfer to some other mode of transportation it would cost you a penny for a transfer slip. My father didn’t make enough money for his family to use public transportation. There fore we walked to every place that we went as a family (mostly church activities). The snow and rain didn’t stop us from going to church.
Now that I am older, I still think that the distance from our house to the church was a long way to walk. I am not proud to say this but at one time, I hated the church for a long time. I now think that it was getting up early on Sunday morning to go to church was what I hated, especially after staying up late most Saturday Nights during the hot summer nights. Naturally I don’t feel that way now. On Sundays, my family spent much of the day at church. My mother would take food to church so that we would have something to eat for lunch when the morning church services were over. Many times when we ate as a family, there never seemed to be enough to eat. I don’t remember many days that we ate breakfast, especially on Sundays before going to church!
Sometimes if we did eat breakfast we had cereal with sugar and water. There were some times when we didn’t have any sugar to add to the cereal but cereal and water was better than nothing. Some times we had Powdered Milk with the cereal. The Powder Milk was provided by the Welfare. I didn’t like the taste of Powdered Milk. Some times my mother would add too much water to the Powder Milk. This would further dilute the taste of the milk, which was already bad. Plain water with the cereal, especially if some sugar was available, tasted better than the Powdered Milk with cereal. We ate what some would call lunch after the morning church services were over. I never seemed to get enough to eat.