Robert Grier Sr. (born 1933) is a former football player. He was the first
African American football player to break the color barrier of the United States collegiate
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...
game, in 1956, which is held in
New Orleans, Louisiana. Particularly in the deep South, the mid-1950s was a period of strident racial segregation for sports, as well as other areas of life. At the time, Grier's participation as a fullback and linebacker against a segregated all-white team on such a prestigious "stage" was a tremendously significant event.
Biography
Grier grew up in
Massillon, Ohio
Massillon is a city in Stark County, Ohio, Stark County in the U.S. state of Ohio, approximately west of Canton, Ohio, Canton, south of Akron, and south of Cleveland. The population was 32,146 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Mass ...
and began playing football for the pro team
Massillon Tigers his senior year in high school before playing college football at
Pittsburgh. Grier later joined the Air Force for a number of years. He retired from military service to be an administrator at a Pittsburgh community college and is still active in the Pittsburgh community. In 2009, was named a Washington High School Distinguished Citizen and later added to the Massillon Tiger Wall of Champions. In 2022 Grier's story along with his family was featured in a documentary called
Sky Blossom
''Sky Blossom: Diaries of the Next Greatest Generation'' is a 2020 American documentary film directed by Richard Lui which profiles five students across the United States who are caregivers for their disabled military veteran parents or grandpare ...
produced by
Richard Lui
Richard Lui is an American journalist and news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News. Lui is currently a breaking news anchor for NBC and MSNBC, broadcasting from 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. prior to that role he was a co-h ...
. In October 2022, Bobby Grier was Enshrined in Pitt Athletics Hall at Heinz Field. Pitt's Director of Athletics Heather Lyke said "Bobby Grier is a richly deserving honoree in our Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame". Grier and his son are closely involved with the
Elizabeth Dole Foundation
Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford Dole (née Hanford; born July 29, 1936)Mary Ella Cathey Hanford, "Asbury and Hanford Families: Newly Discovered Genealogical Information" ''The Historical Trail'' 33 (1996), pp. 44–45, 49. is an American attorn ...
. His story has been featured on
CNBC,
History Channel,
ESPN,
The New York Times and numerous other media networks.
1956 Sugar Bowl
![GreirSugarBwolpg322 1956OWL](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/GreirSugarBwolpg322_1956OWL.jpg)
Much controversy preceded the
1956 Sugar Bowl
The 1956 Sugar Bowl featured the 7th ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and the 11th ranked Pittsburgh Panthers. The game was played on January 2, since New Year's Day was a Sunday. Much controversy preceded the 1956 Sugar Bowl. Segregationists a ...
, where Grier's
Pitt Panthers
The Pittsburgh Panthers, commonly also referred to as the Pitt Panthers, are the athletic teams representing the University of Pittsburgh, although the term is colloquially used to refer to other aspects of the university such as alumni, facu ...
would meet the Yellow Jackets from
Georgia Tech. There was controversy over whether Grier should be allowed to play, and whether Georgia Tech would participate in the contest. Georgia Governor
Marvin Griffin
Samuel Marvin Griffin, Sr. (September 4, 1907 – June 13, 1982) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Georgia.
A lifelong Democrat, Griffin was a native of Bainbridge, Georgia and publisher of the ''Bainbridge Post-Searchligh ...
was very publicly opposed to racial integration. A measure for the tenor of this time period is the well-known case of
Emmett Till
Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941August 28, 1955) was a 14-year-old African American boy who was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery ...
being subjected to a
lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
in Mississippi, which occurred the previous summer to the 1956 game. Additionally, in the month prior,
Rosa Parks ignited the
Montgomery bus boycott, where she, in protest, refused to relinquish her seat on a
Montgomery, Alabama transit bus.
A large contingent from the New Orleans community, as well as many connected with
Georgia Tech, openly fought to bar either Grier, Pitt, or the Yellow Jacket team from the game. Georgia Tech's president, coach, students, and football players from the Atlanta-based school, civil rights leaders from multiple locales, as well as a large number of the Pitt community, however, succeeded in seeing Grier take to the gridiron that January day.
In anticipation of Grier's presence against Georgia Tech, Georgia governor
Marvin Griffin
Samuel Marvin Griffin, Sr. (September 4, 1907 – June 13, 1982) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Georgia.
A lifelong Democrat, Griffin was a native of Bainbridge, Georgia and publisher of the ''Bainbridge Post-Searchligh ...
in December 1955 publicly sent a telegram to his state's Board Of Regents imploring that teams from Georgia not engage in racially integrated events which had blacks either as participants or in the stands. Georgia Tech's president
Blake Ragsdale Van Leer
Blake Ragsdale Van Leer (August 16, 1893 – January 23, 1956) was an engineer and university professor who served as the fifth president of Georgia Institute of Technology from 1944 until his death in 1956.
Early life and education
Van Leer was ...
rejected this request. Griffin would later request that President Van Leer and Georgia Tech's players be punished, but Van Leer stuck to his statements, threatened to resign and later received a standing ovation from the faculty senate. Van Leer's stance would typically would not serve an administrator in a Deep South institution well in the 1950s, however the prospect of any long-term professional consequences proved moot since he died of a heart attack only three weeks after the fateful bowl game.
Georgia Tech won the game 7-0. The margin of victory mostly resulted from a disputed first quarter 31-yard pass interference penalty which was called on Grier, giving Georgia Tech a first and goal on the Pitt 1-yard line. The Yellow Jackets scored the game's only touchdown on the next play. Photographic evidence later strongly indicated the referee's call was incorrect.
The irony of the bad call is that it was made by referee Rusty Coles, from the Pittsburgh area, who had no objective in making the wrong call, but simply made a mistake, which he admitted after seeing the game films.
Grier finished the game as its leading rusher with 51 yards. After the game, he protested the pass interference call, but praised the Georgia Tech players, saying "They were good sportsmen, perhaps the best I've played against all season. They played hard, but clean. It was a good game. But believe me. I didn't push that man."
Grier's participation in the 1956 Sugar Bowl, as well as the support he received from various communities, is seen by some experts as a milestone in American race relations.
In 2019, Grier was elected as a member of the
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...
Hall of Fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
.
See also
*
Pittsburgh Panthers football
*
1956 Sugar Bowl
The 1956 Sugar Bowl featured the 7th ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and the 11th ranked Pittsburgh Panthers. The game was played on January 2, since New Year's Day was a Sunday. Much controversy preceded the 1956 Sugar Bowl. Segregationists a ...
References
*Zeise, Paul
Bobby Grier broke bowl's color line. The Panthers' Bobby Grier was the first African-American to play in Sugar BowlPittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 7, 2005
*
Pete Thamel
Victor Pete Thamel (born 1977) is an American sports reporter for ESPN. He previously worked for Yahoo Sports, Sports Illustrated, and the New York Times.
Early life
Thamel was born in Ware, Massachusetts to Peter V. Thamel. He was the sport ...
Grier Integrated a Game and Earned the World's Respect New York Times, Published: January 1, 2006.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grier, Bobby
1933 births
Living people
American football fullbacks
American football linebackers
Pittsburgh Panthers football players
Sportspeople from Massillon, Ohio
Players of American football from Ohio
African-American players of American football
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American sportspeople