Showing posts with label Wiley College. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wiley College. Show all posts

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Legendary Coach from Illinois Blazed a Football Trail

The legendary Fred "Pops" Long overall record in 45 years as a head coach was 227-151-31. He wrote: "Race prejudice exists not only in the heart of the white man, but in the heart of the black man as well. It is due, on either side, to a misunderstanding of the other, and there is only one reasonable and hopeful way to get rid of this, and this is through education."

DECATUR, Ill. -- Millikin University recently uncovered even more reason to be proud of 1918 alumnus Fred Long, the school's first African-American graduate. During Millikin's Black History Month closing ceremonies next week, the Black Student Union will share with the rest of campus the newly found accomplishments of Long's historic life. The discovery started in November, when Millikin's archive and research associate, Todd Rudat, stumbled upon an announcement from the American Football Coaches Association.

Forty-three years after his death, the organization bestowed Long with the 2009 Trailblazers Award, an honor given once a year to the early leaders in football coaching at historically black colleges and universities.

Long's coaching career spanned five decades at four Texas colleges from 1921 until he suffered a heart attack in 1965. A second heart attack took his life in 1966. By then, he had become a national icon in the black community, earning him obituaries in national black publications including the Chicago Defender and the Pittsburgh Courier.

Long was a highly esteemed football coach who spent most of his career at Wiley College in Marshall, where his team won the Black College Football Championship four times. He also coached at Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas College in Tyler and Paul Quinn College in Dallas. "In his contemporary time, people recognized him as a legendary coach," Rudat said.

According to the NCAA, he was a part of the first recorded contest between two college coaches with 200 victories each. His Wiley team defeated a Southern University team coached by Arnett Mumford on Nov. 11, 1961.

"That was sort of a historical moment," Rudat said, pointing to one of many instances when Long set the bar for those who would come after him.

Through his research, Rudat was able to connect Long to those who were legends themselves, like Grambling football coach Eddie Robinson and poet and educator Melvin B. Tolson. Tolson was a professor at Wiley who was portrayed by Denzel Washington in the 2007 film, "The Great Debaters."

Millikin's history always has included Long's coaching career, but as Rudat dug deeper into Long's life, he discovered an entirely different accomplishment that stands on its own.

Long was one of the original members of the Negro National Baseball League in 1920.

Two years after graduating from Millikin, Long played professional baseball for the Detroit Stars during the league's first season. He also spent 1921 and 1926 with the Lions and 1925 with the Indianapolis ABCs. "He's constantly breaking down barriers that he recognizes as a young man, and sets about trying to bring about that change," Rudat said.

While at Millikin, Long played football and baseball and was a shot putter for the track team. According to Long's obituary from the Herald & Review, Millikin's 1916 football team was the first to go undefeated and the first to be called Big Blue, with the help of the 6-foot-2 Long playing center.

In additional to being a star athlete, Long was a commerce and finance student who earned a bachelor's degree after writing a thesis that took a sociological survey of the black population in his hometown, Decatur.

In his paper, he linked the idea of racial prejudice to a person's level of education. He wrote: "Race prejudice exists not only in the heart of the white man, but in the heart of the black man as well. It is due, on either side, to a misunderstanding of the other, and there is only one reasonable and hopeful way to get rid of this, and this is through education."

Millikin's effect on Long's development as a leader in the fight for equality was apparent in his life after college.

Long's first experience in the South came once he joined the Army after graduation. While stationed at Camp Greenleaf in Chickamaugua Park, Ga., he wrote to his brother Harry, who still was a Millikin student. He explained how he almost stopped to join in with a group of white men playing football but stopped when he realized he wouldn't be welcomed to join the game.

He asked his brother to give his regards to their white teammates still at Millikin who, he said, "made me feel as though I was a real man, and I'll remember that part they all played in my life."

Students accepted into Millikin's Long-Vanderberg scholar program, named after the school's first male and female African-American graduates, get a copy of that letter as part of their orientation each year.

"Millikin was progressive in many ways," said Latrina Denson, director of the Center for Multicultural Student Affairs. "And he saw that.

"Though I'm sure there was racism (at Millikin), I'm sure there were people here who were true supporters of Fred Long."

Jasmin Benavides, a sophomore and president of Millikin's Black Student Union, has learned a lot about Long while preparing for the closing ceremonies of Black History Month. "I appreciate everything that he's done before, during and after his time at Millikin," she said. "He just leaves a legacy at Millikin for us to follow."

Current Long-Vanderberg scholars have been recruited to help look through microfilm from articles about Long so the university can build a more complete history of his life.

"It's important to me to feel that even back then, Millikin had this family and welcoming atmosphere," Benavides said. "Even he could feel welcome at a university that was predominantly white."

- (Decatur) Herald & Review
LINK:http://www.herald-review.com


Fred "Pops" Long, Coaching Bio:

Long began his coaching career in 1921 at Paul Quinn (Texas) College. After recording just one victory in his inaugural campaign, Long guided Paul Quinn to a Southwestern Athletics Conference (SWAC) title in 1922. He was then hired away from Paul Quinn to take over the head coaching duties at Wiley College in 1923, which began his first of two stints as head coach at the Marshall, Texas, school. Long guided the Wildcats to nine SWAC titles from 1923-47, including four in a row from 1927 to 1930. He also led Wiley to four Black College National Championships in 1924, 1928, 1932 and 1945.

Long moved on to Prairie View A&M University in 1948 for one season, then spent the next seven years as head coach at Texas College (1949-55). He returned to Wiley College in 1956 and remained head coach until his retirement in 1965. He guided the Wildcats to another SWAC title in 1957, going 6-0 in league play. His overall record in 45 years as a head coach was 227-151-31. Long’s teams also played in three post-season bowl games, the Angel Bowl, the International Bowl and the Orange Blossom Classic, and 27 of his players were selected First Team All-America. He also coached basketball, baseball, track, tennis and golf at Wiley and won conference crowns in each sport.

In 1925, Long helped inaugurate the "State Fair Classic" matching his Wiley Wildcat team against Langston University each year until 1929 when Langston was replaced by Prairie View. The game was always on Negro Day of the state fair and soon was drawing in excess of 20,000 fans to the Cotton Bowl (stadium). During that same period he also served as Athletic Director for the colleges he worked for and often coached every sport those schools offered including track, baseball, basketball, tennis, and golf. He was elected to the presidency of the Southwestern Athletic Conference on three occasions.

On November 11, 1961, Long, with 215 coaching victories at the time, coached Wiley College against Southern University, coached by
Ace Mumford who had 232 coaching victories, in the first known college football match-up in which both coaches had over 200 victories. Long's Wiley team won, 21-19. During his long tenure at Wiley College, Long also served as Athletic Director and the Fred Thomas Long Student Union building there is named in his honor.

In addition to receiving the 2009 Trailblazer award, Long has been inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame (1962), the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame in Dallas (1996), and the Southwestern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame (2001). The Trailblazer Award was presented posthumously to Long at the AFCA Kickoff Luncheon on January 11, at the 2010 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) convention in Orlando, Florida. Long passed away in 1966.

The AFCA Trailblazer Award was created to honor early leaders in the football coaching profession who coached at historically black colleges and universities. Past Trailblazer Award winners include
Charles Williams of Hampton (2004), Cleve Abbott of Tuskegee (2005), Arnett Mumford of Southern (2006), Billy Nicks of Prairie View A&M University (2007) and Alonzo “Jake” Gaither of Florida A&M University (2008). The award is given each year to a person that coached in a particular decade ranging from 1920-1970.

In an article appearing in T
he Marshall News Messenger on November 30, 2001, about Long’s induction into the SWAC Hall of Fame, the late, great Eddie Robinson was quoted as saying, “Coach Long did some great things. Long is a legend in this sport and it is imperative that he and the other nominees are enshrined for their outstanding contributions to their schools and to the community that they represent.”

From: AFCA.com and other sources

Sunday, December 23, 2007

As good as their words: The Great Debaters

Denzel Washington is donating $1 million to Wiley College, featured in his new movie “The Great Debaters,” to re-establish its debate team. The gift was announced Tuesday by college officials.

Mr. Washington was in Marshall last week for a screening of the film, a story about Wiley’s 1930s debate team. He stars as the educator and poet Melvin Tolson, who led the all-black college’s elite debate squad. During his appearance, Mr. Washington, 52, said he would like to see the team get going again.

Marshall is a city of about 24,000, located 140 miles east of Dallas. Wiley has about 926 students. Attention drawn to the school because of the movie also was key to Wal-Mart pledging $100,000 for a scholarship fund and a Dallas businessman promising $300,000.

Photo: L-R, James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), Burgess (Jermaine Williams), unknown extra as a Wiley College student, Lowe (Nate Parker), Samantha (Jurnee Smollett), unknown extra as Wiley College student

As good as their words
Jurnee Smollett, a 21-year-old actress with Louisiana roots, had never heard of Wiley College when she got the script last year for the movie that just might change her life.

She knew nothing of Wiley's greatest moment, the day in 1935 when a debate team from the struggling black school beat the defending national champions from the University of Southern California in a nationally broadcast debate.

"I was ashamed that I didn't know that story," she said recently while promoting the film, The Great Debaters, in Dallas. "I didn't know anyone who did know the story. Why didn't I know?"

Continue reading this article "As good as their Words" by clicking the blog Title above or:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5399863.html




HENRIETTA BELL WELLS, Great Debater overcame odds to bust barriers. The team's sole woman and last survivor grew up in Houston, Texas.

The Great Debaters, opening in theaters on Christmas Day, tells the story of the triumph of underdogs. It is also Henrietta Bell Wells' story.

Born in Houston's Fourth Ward on the banks of Buffalo Bayou and raised by a struggling single mother from the West Indies, Wells became the only female member of the 1930 debate team from Wiley College who participated in the first collegiate interracial debate in the United States. She is the last surviving member of the 1930s team coached by Melvin B. Tolson.

Continue reading article at: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5398684.html

Photo: Denzel Washington (Mel Tolson), Jurnee Smollett (Samantha), Nate Parker (Henry Low) and Denzel Whitaker (James Farmer Jr) in The Great Debaters movie.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Movie Synopsis: The Great Debaters

Preview Trailer: The Great Debaters

Believe in the power of words.

A drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.

From two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington and an ensemble cast lead by Washington that includes Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, comes THE GREAT DEBATERS. Inspired by a true story, THE GREAT DEBATERS chronicles the journey of Professor Melvin Tolson (Denzel Washington), a brilliant, but volatile, debate team coach who uses the power of words to shape a group of underdog students from a small African American college (Wiley College, Marshall, Texas) in the deep south into a historically elite debate team. A controversial figure, Professor Tolson challenged the social mores of the time and was under constant fire for his unconventional and ferocious teaching methods as well as his radical political views.

In the pursuit for excellence, Tolson's debate team receives a groundbreaking invitation to debate Harvard University's championship team. The film is directed by Denzel Washington and stars Washington, Forest Whitaker, Jurnee Smollett, Nate Parker, Denzel Whitaker, and Kimberly Elise. "The Great Debaters" was written by Robert Eisele and produced by Todd Black, Kate Forte, Oprah Winfrey and Joe Roth.

Presented by The Weinstein Company, "The Great Debaters," will be released by MGM on December 25th.

Behind the Story
In 1924, Melvin Tolson accepted a position as instructor of English and speech at Wiley College. While at Wiley, he taught, wrote poetry and novels, coached football and directed plays. In 1929, Tolson coached the Wiley debate teams, which established a ten-year winning streak. The Debate Team beat the larger black schools of its day like Tuskegee, Fisk and Howard.

After a visit to Texas, Langston Hughes wrote that "Melvin Tolson is the most famous Negro professor in the Southwest. Students all over that part of the world speak of him, revere him, remember him and love him."

According to James Farmer, Tolson's drive to win, to eliminate risk, meant that his debaters were actors more than spontaneous thinkers. Tolson wrote all the speeches and the debate team memorized them. He drilled them on every gesture and every pause. Tolson was so skilled at the art of debating that he also figured out the arguments that opponents would make and wrote rebuttals for them-before the actual debate.

In 1930, he pursued a master's degree in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University; met V.F. Calverton, editor of Modern Quarterly; wrote "Cabbages and Caviar" column for The Washington Tribune and organized sharecroppers in South Texas.

In 1935, he led the Wiley Debate Team to the national championship to defeat the University of California before an audience of eleven hundred people. In 1947 he was appointed poet laureate of Liberia by President V. S. Tubman. He left Wiley to become professor of English and Drama at Langston University in Oklahoma.

About Wiley College
For over 130 years, Wiley College has been a center of learning for all who sought to enter its doors. Primarily, however, it has served African Americans and other minorities. The College was founded in 1873 by the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the purpose of providing education to the "newly freed men" and preparing them for a new life. The College is currently affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Increasingly, students of other races, as well as international students, are finding Wiley College to be an attractive place to acquire a college education.

Since the selection of the site and initial planning of the buildings on which the College is located, the campus of Wiley College is now comprised of 17 permanent structures for teaching, learning, and research as well as residential housing for students. Wiley College is one of three institutions of higher learning situated in Marshall, which has an estimated population of 25,000 people and growing.

The school is located in Harrison County on 63 acres of land west of Marshall, Texas and between Dallas to the west and Shreveport to the east. This location offers access to the amenities of both cities and, at the same time, provides a perfect environment for student learning and intellectual growth away from the hustle and bustle of big city life. A major airport is located in Shreveport, just thirty minutes away from the College.

Initially, the purpose of Wiley College was to focus mainly on training teachers for careers at black elementary and secondary schools. It has since grown from a vocational college to an institution that awards an associate's degree and bachelor's degrees in 17 disciplines including, English, biology, business, computer science, and social sciences, etc. Additionally, the College is recognized for providing higher education opportunities to non-traditional students through its Organizational Management Program and its Criminal Justice Administration program. Wiley College students receive a quality education, are competitive, and certainly get their money's worth in dollar value. The school has one of the best student-faculty ratios in the nation. This enables the College to provide an individualized learning environment, where students are more than a number.

Important Dates

December 13, 2007
Premiere - Marshall, Texas (Wiley College)

December 25, 2007
Movie Release - Nation-wide

"Melvin B. Tolson and the Great Debaters represent a legacy of extraordinary teaching and scholarship that Wiley College seeks to preserve."

Haywood L. Strickland
Wiley College President and CEO

http://www.wileyc.edu/#