Overview

On January 20, 1968, the University of Houston Cougars upset the UCLA Bruins, ending a 47-game winning streak. Billed as the “Game of the Century,” the defeat of the UCLA hoopsters was witnessed by 52,693 fans and a national television audience—the first-ever regular-season game broadcast nationally. But the game would never have happened if Houston coach Guy Lewis had not recruited two young black men from Louisiana in 1964: Don Chaney and Elvin Hayes. Despite facing hostility both at home and on the road, Chaney and Hayes led the Cougars basketball team to 32 straight victories. Similarly in Cougar football, coach Bill Yeoman recruited Warren McVea in 1964, and by 1967 McVea had helped the Houston gridiron program lead the nation in total offense. Houston Cougars in the 1960s features the first-person accounts of the players, the coaches, and others involved in the integration of collegiate athletics in Houston, telling the gripping story of the visionary coaches, the courageous athletes, and the committed supporters who blazed a trail not only for athletic success but also for racial equality in 1960s Houston.

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9781623493479

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Reviews

I lived it, covered it, and wrote about those times. Kudos to Bob Jacobus for his masterful recreation of the role the Houston Cougars played in changing the realms of sports and race in the '60s and forever. --Mickey Herskowitz, author and sports journalist-- (07/07/2015) An enlightening look at intercollegiate athletics in the 1960s. A fascinating account of young men negotiating the obstacles of integration. --Southwestern Historical Quarterly-- (11/29/2016) In the 1960s the battle for civil rights was fought on many fronts - including the football field and basketball court. Relying on interviews with the University of Houston's first African American athletes, and the people who coached and played alongside them, Robert Jacobus demonstrates how these pioneers changed the face of college athletics in the South and, in the process, attitudes toward integration. Engaging, informative, and well-researched, this book will appeal to sports enthusiasts and those interested in civil rights history alike. -- (07/06/2015)

Author Information

Robert D. Jacobus, a history teacher for twenty-six years, is a former high school volleyball, basketball, and tennis coach in Sugar Land, Texas, USA.

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