Prof. Joshua K. Wright, Ph.D. | Forgotten Heroes: The Legacy of Hawks Football | University of Maryland Eastern Shore | WATCH

Abstract

One hundred and forty-two wins and just 38 losses between 1946 and 1970. Seven undefeated seasons, multiple conference championships, four legendary coaches, 30 eventual professional players, five Super Bowl participants, collegiate and professional Hall of Famers, a rock star, a civil rights activist, and an aide to Bobby Kennedy. Maryland State College, now known as the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, is arguably the greatest college football program that most sports fans have never heard of! Maryland State College, located in Princess Anne, Maryland, is one of the historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the United States. Except for the school's archives, there has been little published on the program's history. This article does the following: 1) analyzes the role Jim Crow played in the success and demise of Maryland State football, in particular, and HBCU football, in general, 2) highlights the program's notable players and coaches, and 3) assesses the program's impact on local race relations in an area that is best known for having the state's most horrific lynching. Maryland State's story is still relevant today because it addresses the various ways in which race has shaped the evolution of collegiate football.

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Joshua K. Wright, Ph.D. is an associate professor of History and coordinator for the Social Studies Teacher Education Program at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

"When history writes people out, it is our job to write them back in." | Historian David Maraniss