- Part 2: College, The Army, College, Canadian Football -
The track team at Fullerton Junior College in Fullerton, CA.
Fullerton Junior College
Coach Alex Omalev purchased a new Chevrolet in Detroit, Michigan and the four of us headed back to Fullerton, California. We stopped in Utah to visit a friend of Coach Omalev. We wanted to go to a movie theater in Utah but I was told that I would have to sit in the balcony. So we didn’t go to the movies. We visited a ski lift while in Utah. We rode the ski lift up to the top of the mountain. I wasn’t familiar with the swinging arm of the ski chair. The ski chair swung forward and backwards which meant to me that the arm could fly open at any time. I was concerned about it flying open so I didn’t take the chair down; I walked down.
We later stopped in Las Vegas, Nevada. I didn’t know that blacks weren’t allowed to go into any of the casinos in Las Vegas. I went in to one of the casino any way. I was too cheap and too smart to spend any of the money that I had for college. I didn’t have much money anyway. I lived with a black family my first year at Fullerton Junior College. I think that I paid them fifty-five dollars a month for room and board. The name of the family that I lived with was Farquar. I don’t remember their first names. I lived in one of the rooms in the Farquar’s house. The Farquar’s didn’t have central heating in their house. The house consisted of heaters attached inside the walls. It took the heaters a long time to heat up and when they did the room still wasn’t warm enough.
The Farquars later purchased a portable heater for my room. The heater worked out well except that it took what seemed to be a long time for the heater to warm up the room. The room was comfortable after the heater warmed up the room up. Many times I would study until late at night. Around twelve - o’clock one Friday night, I went out to get something to eat. Most of the places to eat were closed. In fact, I think that there was only one restaurant open. It was open all night. The next morning the Farquars asked me where I had gone at such a late hour. When I told them that I went out to get something to eat they found it hard to believe. They were under the assumption that the restaurant where I ate the previous night didn’t provide service to black people in Fullerton.
Fullerton Junior College was about a ten or fifteen minute walk from where I lived. I had a job on campus doing some gardening work. I think that I made some where around fifty dollars a month. I lived one block behind some rail - road tracks and Fullerton’s Train Station. Most blacks and Latinos lived on the same street next to or across from the railroad tracks and behind the train station. I later got a second job working at the train station. I only worked approximately one or two hours on Saturdays and Sundays. I met the trains when they arrive at the station. One train a day arrived in Fullerton from Los Angeles in the morning. Its destination was Chicago. A second train from Chicago arrived in Fullerton in the afternoon. It was heading for Los Angeles. I would meet both of these trains and I assisted the passengers with their luggage on the weekends only. I made very few tips.
After the afternoon train departed, I would mop the floor in the train station and I was finished for the day. I think that another black student and I were the only black students on Fullerton Junior Campus. The other black student was a relative of the great female black movie star Hattie McDaniel. Hattie McDaniel was one of the first blacks to win an Oscar some years ago. I got alone very well with the students, especially the student athletes. I went out for football as soon as I arrived at Fullerton Junior College. I went out for the quarter back position because this is the position that I played in high school. The football coach Tex Oliver stated that he was going to use the single wing football formation before I arrived. This was because he didn’t have a quarter - back. After I arrived he stated that he would use the T- Formation with me as the quarter- back. Most of my friends were on the football team. During the football games I would throw passes primarily to my friend Dick Wells. Dick was from San Jose California.
I pronounced San Jose as San Josie one day. Dick got a good laugh out of that. I am quite sure that the other offensive end on the football team (Dick Foster) wasn’t too happy with me throwing the football to Dick Wells most of the time. Santa Ana was Fullerton’s biggest rival in football. The Santa Ana Fullerton football game was played Thanksgiving morning.
The Santa Ana football fans openly called me the N word. When we went into the locker room at half time, I cried. Some of my teammates consoled me. I had never experience such prejudice before. I considered going back to Detroit. I never told coach Omalev about that incident. Some of the guys on the football team would go to the beach every day. They went to the beach to see the girls and smoke marijuana. They tried to get me to go with them.
Most of the time I wouldn’t because I had too much home - work. After football season was over I went out for the basketball team. I was on the second team my first year on Fullerton’s basketball team. That was quite a shock for me since I was All State in basketball in high school in the city of Detroit. My friends, who came with me from Detroit to Fullerton, were on Fullerton’s basketball first team. Fullerton’s basketball team won the Eastern Conference Basketball Championship the two years that I played basketball there.
When basketball season was over I went out for track and baseball. Fullerton’s track coach talked me into running track when basketball season was over. I wanted to play baseball because my friends from Detroit went out for the baseball team. So I went out for baseball and track.
Mr. Farquar was reading the Fullerton News Paper sports page the day after I played in a baseball tournament. He told me that I had made the all tournament baseball team. I said that I didn’t think so. He later said to me, “ Your name is Chuck Hollaway isn’t it? Naturally I said yes. He showed me the article in the paper where I had made the baseball all tournament team.
I used to get a letter from my girl friend that lived in Detroit every day. I used to send a letter back to her every day. When her letters stopped coming, I quit the baseball and the track team. I was heart broken and terribly upset. Alex Omalev the basketball coach who recruited me to come to Fullerton, counseled me through my time of crisis. The track coach talked me into rejoining the track team. It was a very good thing that he did. I ran the low hurdles on Fullerton’s Track Team. I placed second in the low hurdles in the California State Junior College Track Championship. I told a friend (Bobby Pounds) that I would win the California State Junior College low hurdles the next year and I did. If Fullerton’s track coach hadn’t talked me into rejoining the track team I wouldn’t have received a Track Scholarship offer to San Jose State and UCLA.
I had a very good friend on Fullerton’s Track Team. His name is Jack Weidimeier. Jack had a Convertible Ford Automobile. He always drove it with the top down. He would not put the top up regardless of how cold it was. It was very cold riding in his car sometimes. Jack ran the low hurdles like me. He was a pretty good low hurdler but he could never beat me. One day he asked me if I would let him win if he had a chance to win. I agreed. So one day I was winning and Jack called me to let him win, and I did. Jack always stated that he beat me honestly. I never knew if he was serious or not. He never admitted that I agreed to let him win if he ever had a chance to win. It didn’t matter to me though because Jack was my best friend in Fullerton.
My sophomore year at Fullerton, I won the Eastern Conference and California State low hurdles championship. I lived on campus with another student from Yugoslavia my sophomore year. The student’s name is Jack. Jack and I live in what seemed like an old Army Barrack on Fullerton’s Campus. Jack was a shot putter on the track team. Jack Weidemier the hurdler and my very good friend, used to take me to his house to eat dinner after track practice many times. Sometimes after practice, Jack would take me to his house for dinner. Many times I could see that his parents didn’t know that I was coming for dinner. They would only have three plates set at the table. Some times I could see that there was only three servings of meat in the skillet on the stove. That was an indication to me that there was only enough meat prepared for three individuals. Jack’s mother had to prepare something else for her to eat. Jack was truly a good friend. I wished I knew where he is today. I would like to thank him and I will never forget him.
There were orange trees in the yard behind the building where I lived on Fullerton’s Campus. I could walk out the back door of my barrack and pick several oranges off of an Orange Tree. Coming from Detroit, Michigan this was an enjoyable experience for me. Naturally I ate a lot of oranges. I also ate a lot of potatoes because I didn’t know how to cook anything else and potatoes were cheap.
One Friday night after dinner at home, I decided to walk down the hill to a liquor store to purchase a soft drink. On my way back to campus my friends who were in a car saw me and offered me a ride back to campus. The store was about a fifteen- minute walk from campus. My friends offered me a ride back to the campus. After I got into the car I could see and smell Marijuana. I got out of the car and continued to walk home.
One day my friends wanted to get me a date. There were no black girls at Fullerton Junior College. Naturally I turned them down. Fullerton was too prejudice in those days for that. Fullerton’s Track Coach invited me to his house for Thanksgiving Dinner. Some time during dinner the coach’s wife offered me another helping of turkey and I accepted. She cut several pieces of turkey and put them on a plate and served me first. I took the plate and sat it down next to me saying to my self, I can’t eat all of this. I remember seeing the coach and his wife looking at one another and smiling. I didn’t realize until some time later that the turkey on the plate was for every body. They just offered it to me first because I was a guest. Many times I wish that I knew where the coach resided so that I could apologize to him and his family. There were times when I attended social functions at the college.
My friends thought that all blacks could sing and dance. They beg me to dance. I came from a very religious family. There was no dancing in my house. I learned to dance later in life. I learned to do a dance called the Box Step or two Step. The Box Step was all that I could do. There were times when I was doing the Box Step and I was afraid that the music was going to speed up. I couldn’t do the box step with fast music. I don’t know why I didn’t have my high school girl friend teach me how o dance. I was offered a track scholarship to San Jose State College.
One Saturday I packed and was ready for the trip to San Jose State College. That Saturday I was waiting for the mail to arrive before leaving for San Jose. When my mail arrived, I had a letter from Ducky Drake the Track Coach at UCLA. The letter stated
Detroit In The Summer
When school was out in California, I went back to Detroit to visit family, friends, and to play softball. My very good friend (father figure) Bill (Dad) Mobley got me a job at Henry Ford’s Factory. I worked in the Foundry at Ford’s River Rouge Plant one summer. I worked there for eighty - nine days. Ford’s Union Contract with its employees stated that a part time employee could only work at Fords for eighty-nine days.
Ford had to hire the employee as a full time employer if the part time worker worked more than eighty nine days. I could only work for eighty - nine days any way because I had to return to UCLA for football practice at the end of the summer. I wore a white T-shirt, cream-colored long pants, and some white tennis shoes the first day that I reported for work at Ford’s Foundry. The men in the foundry (mostly all black) all laughed at me. The foreman sent me home and told me what to wear to work the next day. When I returned to work the next day I was issued a helmet, a pair of goggles, some ear- plugs, and a breathing device. I felt like a space man.
The work there was difficult, dirty, dangerous, and hard to get; but the pay was very good! I had several different jobs in the foundry. One of the jobs was so tedious that I only worked for 30 minutes and I was off for 30 minutes. This job consisted of knocking the jagged edges off of the red-hot engines in the mold as they passed along the assembly line. This was performed with a small Sludge Hammer. My co - workers in the foundry all thought that I wouldn’t last one day in the foundry. They didn’t know that I needed the money to get back to UCLA in the fall.
The summer that I spent working in Ford’s Plant made me decide that I had to finish college. My father and three of my brothers worked in Henry Ford’s Plant. The pay was good! Only blacks worked in the foundry. The foremen (bosses) in the foundry were all white. I decided then that I had to finish college.
UCLA In Fall Of 1952 – Before The Army
I enrolled in the University of California at Los Angeles in the fall of 1952. I lived in a co-operative housing facility that served three meals a day and no meals on the weekends. I use to carry a lunch to school even though the co-op served hot lunches. I had no transportation to return to the co – op for lunch. My lunch usually consisted of a Peanut Butter or Lunch Meat sandwich. It might have consisted of a piece of fruit also. UCLA paid my tuition and purchased my books.
UCLA also gave me a job working in one of UCLA’s parking lots; I only earned $55.00 a month. My room and board was $55.00 a month. When I cashed the check that I received from UCLA I only had some where around $53.00. I needed and acquired a second job working at a department store in down town Los Angeles on Saturdays. I think that my take home pay was about $7.00 every Saturday. The money that I received from this job helped me to have enough money to pay my room and board. I was very happy to be at UCLA. I didn’t complain to Ducky Drake, UCLA’s Track Coach, about my financial situation. I was very happy to be at UCLA. I had almost no money left over for personal needs. I didn’t need much money because all I ever did was go to class, work, and study. I only knew a very few students on or off of UCLA’s Campus.
Most of the black students lived off campus in Los Angeles. There were very few places if anywhere blacks could stay on or near UCLA’s Campus. I didn’t have or need a social life. I needed to and did study most of the time. The housing facility where I resided was a mile or more away from the UCLA’s Campus. Some days I was fortunate enough to get a ride to UCLA with some of the students who lived in the same facility that I lived in.
When I didn’t have a ride to the campus I hitch hiked to UCLA’s Campus. I didn’t have a problem hitching a ride to UCLA’s Campus in the morning: There were a lot cars going toward UCLA in the morning. I wore a UCLA hat and I had books under my arms when I was attempting to get a ride to the UCLA’s Campus.
Once while hitch hiking to UCLA, a male homosexual offered me a ride. I didn’t know that he was a homosexual when I got in the car. He hit on me and naturally I got out of the car. College Students had to take and pass twelve units in order to avoid being drafted in to the Armed Services. I took 12 units, which included ROTC. A UCLA student enrolled in ROTC was assured that he wouldn’t be drafted in to the Armed Service as long as he was taking and passing the required amount of units. I wasn’t ready for UCLA academically. ROTC took up a lot of my study time. I dropped out of ROTC and I was immediately drafted into the United States Army. Getting drafted was good for me. I think that if I had not been drafted I probably would have flunked out of UCLA and probably never finished college. I dropped ROTC and I was immediately drafted in to the United States Army.
United States Army - Fort Ord, California
I reported to Fort Ord Army Base, which is near Salinas, and Monterey, California. I started basic training as soon as I arrived at Fort Ord. Basic Training was about preparing the soldiers for combat. I was a Private in the Army. I earned seventy-two dollars a month. I sent fifty dollars a month home to my parents. They were able to put a down payment on a home with the money that I sent them. I was left with $22.00. I didn’t need much money. I thought that the Army was a joke until I saw the firing exhibition.
One part of my Basic Training was crawling in the sand while live bullets were shot over my head as I crawled on the ground. I would have been killed if I lifted myself a certain height off of the ground. I also was also introduced to a flamethrower. The flamethrower would either burn you to death or suck all of the oxygen out of the air around you. If the fire didn’t kill you the lack of oxygen in the air would. After experiencing the firing exhibition, I realize the seriousness of war. I had a great concern about being sent to Korea after I finished my Basic Training. Korea was where the fighting and killings were taking place. I attempted many different activities to keep from going to Korea. I tried out for the boxing team. I had three boxing matches. I won two and lost one. One night I invited my football teammates to come and see me fight. I got knocked down during the first minute of the fight. My teammates all laughed at me and they would never let me forget that night.
During basic training I tried out for Fort Ord’s Track Team. George Brown a former United States Olympian and ex - UCLA athlete, was Fort Ord’s un- official Track Coach. George was a world - class athlete with lots of track experience. He recruited me for the track team. George was the best long jumper in the world at that time. With George’s training I long jumped 24-8 ¾. I had never jumped further than 23 feet before and I think that I only did that once. Fort Ord had very good athletic teams. The track team had a track meet with Stanford University and with Arizona State University. I don’t remember who won the track meets. However Fort Ord’s Track Team won the 6th Army, the All Army and the Inter – Service Track Championships. I won the 6th Army, the All Army, and the Inter - Service Low Hurdles Championship in 1953 and 1954. In 1953 I placed 5th in the National AAU Track Meet, which was held in St Louis Missouri. George Brown won the 6th Army, the All Army, and the Inter Service Long jump Championship.
George also won the National AAU long Jump Championship that year. When track season ended I tried out for Fort Ord’s Football Team. Fort Ord had a very good football team both of the years that I was stationed there. One of my best friends on Fort’s Football Team was Pete Ogarro. Pete was about 6’2” tall. He was from Santa Barbara, California. He was a member of the Kapa Alpha Psi Fraternity. Pete knew a lot of people in Los Angeles. Most soldiers had very little money. Fort Ord’s Football Players would practice during the morning and then we had the rest of the day off. We also had a pass, which we carried in out pockets that allowed us to go on and off of the Base (Fort Ord) when we were through with football practice. A few times the football team would have a week end off.
One week end Pete Ogarro, Cliff Livingston, and I headed to Los Angeles in Cliff’s car. Cliff’s car only had a third gear that worked He couldn’t get his car to back up if he had to. If Cliff had a need for his car to go backwards, we would have to get out of the car and push it backwards. So Pete, Cliff, and I arrived in Los Angeles. When it was time to bed in, Pete took me to the home of a female friend of his to spend the night. I didn’t know the lady in fact I had never seen her before. It was late when we arrived at the lady’s house. Pete rang her doorbell and she let Pete and me in. Pete only stayed in the house long enough to introduce me to the lady and then he left. I have no idea where he went. The lady only had one bed so she let me sleep in the same bed with her. I was shocked! I think that Pete and I got the lady up from her bed to answer the door. As soon as Pete left the lady and I immediately went to the bedroom and we both got into the same bed and we went to sleep. I tried as hard as I could to stay as far away from the lady as I could. I didn’t want to mistakenly touch her. May be if I had gotten to close to her she might have put me out in the street. I would have been in the street with no place to go and no one to contact in Los Angeles. I didn’t know where Pete was spending the night and if I had been put out of the lady’s house, I would have had to sit on the curb until Pete showed up the next day. It was cold in Los Angeles during the winter nights.
The next night Pete and I rode back to Fort Ord with Cliff Livingston in Cliff’s car. Fort Ord was about a six to eight hour drive from Los Angeles. Pete and I were sleeping in Cliff’s car and Cliff was the driver. Cliff was doing some sleeping also. Some where on the way back to Fort Ord we were awaken by a loud noise. Naturally we woke up and asked the driver (Cliff) what the problem was. Cliff said that he had side swiped a bridge. Instead of us becoming concerned about the driver going to sleep again while driving, we just said Oh and went back to sleep. We all could have been involved in a very bad accident if Cliff had continued to doze off to sleep while driving. I think that Cliff was a very heavy beer drinker. Fort Ord had nine former professional football players on its football team.
Fort Ord also had many good ex college foot players on the team. Fort Ord had two of the best offensive football players in the United States. Those players were Ollie Matson and Dave Mann. Ollie and Dave were both from the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. Fort Ord’s Football Team was UN - defeated the first year that I was on the team.
We won the All Army and the Inter-Service Football Championship. I was second string. In 1953, Fort Ord’s Football Team played the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco Forty Niners. Naturally both of them beat us. I was first string my second year at Fort Ord. There were four former UCLA Football players on Fort Ord’s Football Team. Fort Ord’ Football Team played the Los Angeles Rams Professional Football Team at Long Beach State’s football stadium. Some of the UCLA Football Coaching Staff saw Fort Ord play the Los Angeles Rams. I had a very good game against the Los Angeles Rams. I almost ran two kick offs back for touchdowns.
I am sure that my play against the Los Angeles Rams helped me to get a Football Scholarship to UCLA. My second year on Fort Ord’s Football Team was a more successful and enjoyable football season for me. I was a wide receiver and I was allowed to talk to the quarterback in and out of the huddle. I used to talk with the quarterback about the passing routes that I ran or could run. The quarterback in 1954 was Jim Powers, a former quarterback from the University of Southern California. Jim was also a quarter back with the NFL San Francisco Forty Niners Football Team. Most quarterbacks love to throw the ball. Jim loved to throw the football and I loved to run pass patterns. That was mostly what I did in practice.
Some times during a game Jim would ask me if I could beat a defensive back on a particular pass route, and sometimes I would say to him, without even faking. I was in good shape and I use to run a pass pattern when the quarterback called a running play. In doing so, I could tell the quarterback what pass patterns were open. At the end of Fort Ord’s Football Season, college football coaches from Arizona and Arizona State came to Fort Ord to recruit some of Fort Ord’s Football Players. Gene Mitchum, one of my teammates was a very good offensive end from Arizona States University. Gene asked me to ask the recruiter for Arizona State for a car if I wanted one. I talked to several coaches about going to their college but I was going back to UCLA regardless of what the coaches had to say to me. After I was honorably discharged from the United States Army in February, of 1955 I immediately enrolled back in to UCLA.
Back at UCLA
I thought that I had a track scholarship at UCLA. However, it turned out that I had a football scholarship. Things at UCLA were much better for me financially this second time at UCLA. My football scholarship made it possible for me to live on campus. I was also receiving money from the Federal Government because of my participation in the United States Army. I had a small bank account. I lived at a co - operative housing facility, which was walking distance to UCLA’s Campus. Many of UCLA’s black athletes live there.
When Coach Sanders recruited me, he told me that I wouldn’t have to go out for Spring Football Practice during track season. When track season arrived, I ran the low hurdles and I was a long jumper on the track team. I also ran on the 4x100 relay team. I placed fifth in NCAA Low Hurdles in 1955. I had to go out for Spring Football Practice even though I was previously told by UCLA’s football coach, Coach Sanders, that I wouldn’t have to go out for Spring Football Practice. Participating in spring football practice and training for the track team at the same time, made it hard for me to be successful in track. The track team won the Pacific Coast Conference Track Championship in 1956. They also won the NCAA Track Championship that year.
Even though I was a member of UCLA’s Track Team, I was not a participant in any of those championship meets. I lettered in Rugby when my football and track eligibility ended. The UCLA Football Team that I played on in 1955 was rated as the number five-football team in the nation at the beginning of the football season. We played Michigan State in the Rose Bowl in 1956.
That was a fun time for me. I played against a few of my old Detroit friends who were on Michigan State’s Football Team. The 1956 football season was a disaster. The NCAA put the UCLA Football and Basketball teams on probation. A full season of eligibility was taken away from the sophomores, juniors and seniors. The 1956 football seniors were later allowed to play in half of UCLA’s ‘Football Games. However, the players had to select either the first half of the football season or the second half of the football season. I chose to play in the last five football games.
We played Michigan at Michigan that year. I didn’t play in that game. Many of my Detroit friends were at the game expecting to see me play. I didn’t play much that year. It didn’t make sense to play seniors in only five games who weren’t going to be around to help the team win the next year. So many of the players who wouldn’t be returning the next football season didn’t get much playing time.
I graduated from UCLA in 1957 with The Degree of Bachelor of Science with a Major in Physical Education. That was a great day for me. I acquired an agent who helped me to get a professional football contract with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. I couldn’t believe that I was going to get paid for playing football.
The Canadian Football League
After UCLA I played football in the Canadian Football League. I couldn’t believe that I was getting paid to play football. I played with the Calgary Stampeders of Calgary, Alberta Canada. I loved Canadian Football. It was like playing street football. I should have been a quarterback instead of wide a receiver. Some cities in Canada are larger and have more people than other cities. Therefore, each Canadian Football Team could have no more than twelve Americans on its football team by a particular date.
The end zones in the Canadian Football Fields are twenty - five yards deep and the receiving team had to run a punted ball out of the end zone. If the receiving team didn’t run the punted ball out of the end zone the punting team would receive one point. The football field is fifty - five yards wide. There are twelve men on a team and the backs in the offensive backfield could be in motion. There is no blocking on punt returns. Canadian (Citizens) Football Players usually had the job of returning back punts probably because of the no blocking rule. I caught a pass for a touch down in Calgary’s first preseason football game against British Columbia.
When I was in the game against British Columbia, I told the second string quarterback that I was open on several occasions. Some Quarterbacks are not very smart. This quarterback ignored me. I told him again that I was open but he wouldn’t listen to me. Unfortunately that quarterback was cut from the team. I was told by one of my teammates that he heard one of Calgary’s Football Coaches say that they wanted to take another look at Hollaway. Calgary’s second preseason game was against the Toronto Argonauts. Calgary had a Canadian quarterback by the name of Knobby Wirkosky. Knobby was a very cocky quarterback. Many times if I told him that I was open on a particular pass patterns he would call an opposite pass pattern.
Knobby and I didn’t get along very well. I caught three touchdowns in the game against the Toronto Argonauts and I dropped one. I called all of those touchdown plays. Knobby got all of the credit. It didn’t matter to me about who got the credit for calling the touchdown plays. I love being able to talk to the quarterback. I couldn’t talk to the quarterback at UCLA. It didn’t matter anyway because UCLA didn’t pass the ball very much and the coaches called the plays. Naturally catching three passes for touchdowns helped me make Calgary’s Football Team. Canadian Football was meant for me. I was prepared for it. When I played football for the Fort Ord Warriors my quarterback was Jim Powers. Jim played football for the University of Southern California and the San Francisco Forty Inners. Jim loved to pass the ball and I loved to run pass patterns and catch the ball. We did a lot of that in practice. Players could talk in the huddle at Fort Ord.
Fort Ord Football prepared me for Canadian Football. UCLA didn’t pass the football very much even though Pete Ogarro and I tied with the most pass receptions in 1955. I am ashamed to tell you what that number was. Jim Powers and I used to discuss the various pass patterns that would work. I continued to talk to the quarterback while playing for the Calgary Stampeders Football Team. Canadian Football was fun. I think that I could have had a long career in Canadian Football if I were a quarterback, or if I hadn’t gotten injured. I only played one year for the Calgary Stampeders.
I had a good season even though I got hurt. I expected to get a raise. I thought that the worse think that could happen to me was to get traded by the Stampeders. Americans were expected to play both ways. I don’t think that the coaches were satisfied with my defensive play. I couldn’t believe that I wasn’t even offered a contract the next football season. I sent some of the money that I made playing football home to my parents in Detroit, Michigan. That helped them to purchase a house in Detroit, Michigan. I was injured playing Canadian Football. I was injured because a large football player fell on me. Many individuals think that little guys get hurt because of a hard hit. Many players get hurt because a player or sometimes more than one player falls on them. I was injured but management (Jim Finks) still attempted to get me ready to play.
Our next game was with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. I boarded the airplane with the use of crutches. I couldn’t walk without the use of crutches. One of the team’s doctors gave me a shot of a particular drug that was supposed to make it possible for me to play in a game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. After the shot, I enter the football field and attempted to run. I could run slowly but I couldn’t cut to the right or left. So I went back into the locker room and the doctor gave me another shot. The doctor said to me that, “if this doesn’t work” forget it”. Fortunately it didn’t work. I could have injured my self more seriously. I think that my good friend Pete Ogarro died because on an injury that he received playing football in Canada with the Toronto Argonauts. I don’t think that Pete took the care that he should have that injury. Of course I could be wrong!
After My Professional Football Career
After Canadian Football, I went to graduate school at California State University at Los Angeles and earned a California Teaching Credential. I had an instructor at California State who I think was prejudice against blacks. Her name was Dr. Crakes. She was from Texas. I took a 3 unit Health class that she taught. She gave us a written assignment. She encouraged students to work together on the assignment. In fact she advised the students as how to work together in composing the research assignment. I was the only black in the class. Another student and I worked together on the paper. We both turned in separate papers with the same information on it. The papers were exactly the same because we were told that it was ok to work together with another student. Dr Crakes gave the white student an A and she gave me a B. I did not complain because I only needed to maintain a B average to remain in Graduate School. I should have complained but I didn’t.
I later had a dance class with the Dr. Crakes. The dance class met two days a week and it was worth one unit. As a Physical Education Major at UCLA, I had already taken a 3 unit dance class and I received a grade of A in the class. At the end of the semester I left Dr. Crakes a card so that she could mail my final grade to me. When I received the card it had a grade of C on it. I went back to the campus to discuss my grade with Dr. Crakes. I thought that she didn’t know me even though I was the only black in the class. I asked her if she knew me. I told her that I was teaching other students in the class how to do some of the dances. She said that she did know me. I explain to her that I had already taken a 3 unit dance class at UCLA. Then I told her that she gave me a grade of C in the class. She said to me “a grade of C is a good grade from me”. I asked Dr. Crakes if she could explain to me how I earned the grade that she gave me. I said to her that they (instructors) have taught us (students) to be prepared to explain to our students how they earned their grades. California State was on two campuses at that time.
I think that Dr. Crakes lied to me by stating that she couldn’t show me how I earned the grade of C because the grades were on the other campus. We had no written exams or practical exams so there shouldn’t have been any reason as to why she could not have explained to me how I earned the grade of C. I told her that I was going to see the president of California States Los Angeles about my grades. I didn’t though. I later received a final grade of B from Dr. Crakes. I should have reported her to the Los Angeles Times. After receiving my California Teacher’s Credential I got my first teaching job at Foshay Junior High School