First black athlete made history in 1951 |
| Posted by Administrator on Feb 25 2009 at 3:59 PM |
Photo courtesy of UNK's Calvin T. Ryan Library Archives Collection
Ray Adams was important player for the Lopers football team in 1955. He helped the team win their first-ever bowl game, finish with an undefeated record at 9-0, and he also served as co-captain his senior year.
By Jeremy Starzec
Antelope Staff
Long before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech "I Have a Dream" in Washington, D.C. in 1963, the Lopers were practicing exactly what the young preacher talked about on that historical day.
A young black athlete, Prince Williams, strapped on a football helmet for the Lopers back in 1951.
However, Williams never lettered while going to college in Kearney.
It was 1954 before a young man from Blythe, Cal., arrived and changed history for the Lopers.
Ray Adams, a two-time All-American transfer student from Blythe Junior College, was the first black athlete to letter for the Lopers, and he did it big- back-to-back years in three sports. Adams participated in basketball, football and track.
"Ray Adams was a good one," said former Head Coach Al Zikmund from the 1955 football team. "Pleasant person to coach, and he fit in like anyone else."
Adams averaged 6-yards a carry his first season for the Lopers and helped the team to their first-ever bowl game win in Shenandoah, Iowa, his senior year.
The Lopers beat Northern State Teachers College of South Dakota 34-13 in the Botony Bowl on Thanksgiving Day.
"Ray was a big factor in the win," Zikmund said.
The win gave the Lopers an undefeated record on the season at 9-0 and earned Adams All-Conference honors. Adams was also co-captain his senior year.
Adams graduated in 1956 with a degree in education and moved back to California where it is believed he went into coaching.
After Adams' career was over, the school made another mark on history.
The Lopers participated in the first-ever playoff game against an all-black school in 1963. Their opponent was Prairie View A&M.
This was also the Lopers' first appearance in a playoff game.
The Lopers lost the game 20-7 with wind chills reaching below 20 degrees, and the governor
of Nebraska at the time, Frank B. Morrison, in attendance for the game.
"They had outstanding players and five went directly pro after that season," Zikmund said.
As for the coaching side of athletics at UNK, many black assistants have coached the Lopers and then moved up in their careers to bigger schools. However, in 2005 the university named Kevin Lofton their first-ever black head coach in any Loper sport.
Lofton would rather talk about and focus on the game of basketball than himself.
"It's a good feeling, but at the same time I really try not to dwell on the fact and make it a deal about race," co-head basketball coach Lofton said.
Lofton said he would rather see himself as a good coach that just happens to be black and respects the people who helped break the barrier.
"I am grateful that a lot of people that have come before me have really given me this opportunity," Lofton added.
As for the rest of the RMAC schools, Lofton recalls when he first got into the league and only one school had a black head coach in basketball. Now the league has five black head coaches and Lofton is proud to see the conference grow with diversity along with our own campus.
He recognizes the challenges today for black students to break their comfort zones and move to a community with little history.
However, UNK does have history and will continue to grow with more history as we are still awaiting the first black athlete or coach to be inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame.
Time will only tell as we wait for another historic moment to happen and future sports writers for the school paper may write about it for another Black History month edition.
