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When John Rudley arrived on the campus of the then Toledo
University in the mid-1960s, the Black Power, Civil Rights,
and Peace/Anti-War movements were beginning to flourish.
Along with Rudley, an increasing number of African Americans
were also beginning to swell college student enrollment
across the nation.
Many of these young, emboldened black students were, like
Rudley, athletes who brought cultural perspectives, playing
styles, and worldviews that were fresh, contemporary and
different from the traditional norms practiced in these
“essentially lily-white” institutions. There were bound to
be clashes between the young athletes and those university
athletic department coaches who attempted to “push forward
without adapting to the change occurring around them.”
John Rudley discussed with me some of the racial and
generational conflicts that he experienced as a
student-athlete at Toledo University. This article is part
two of our conversation.
Perryman:
Were you affected by any of the racial justice issues and
discrimination that was consistently in the news when you
arrived on campus in the mid-1960s?
Rudley:
In school, we had to decide if you were supporting Martin
Luther King or Malcolm X, because as kids, we were
scratching our heads trying to figure it out. We knew that
there had to be a solution to racism.
I was living in those times where it was a clash between
modern thought and traditional values. Traditional values
were that blacks needed to stay in their place, and society
is okay without y’all making all this fuss. Then, at the
same time, there was the Vietnam War going on. Malcolm X was
assassinated, and then Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy
were also killed. You also had incidents like the protests,
riots, and police beatings at the 1968 Democratic National
Convention.
Perryman:
Do you think any of that fueled the conflict between Coach
Nichols and Bob Miller and the black players?
Rudley:
I believe yes. Put yourself in my position. You’re watching
Nichols, and you know what you think of him in terms he’s
the coach, he’s the guy that made a scholarship commitment,
he should know everything. And then, you see Bob Miller, a
young guy who is trying to figure it out too; he’s never
been in college before. So, as I watched my team on the
floor, I watched the relationship between Nichols and Mix
(Steve), for example, and between Nichols and Brisker.
They’re all a different relationship, and between Nichols
and me and Nichols and Calvin Lawshe, you see what I’m
saying? I watched Nichols and Billy Backensto and Nichols
and Willie Babione and the older guys. I watched all these
relationships, and I knew Nichols wasn’t ready to deal with
the attitude of players coming from the black community.
I remember back in the day that white people would call men,
boys, and we didn’t like that. And Brisker would tell
Nichols, ‘You don’t call me, boy,’ in practice. So that
tells you that Nichols had to get used to changing his ways,
but he couldn’t do it overnight. So, this conflict between
him and Bob occurred because Nichols wasn’t ready to deal
with the black athletes like (UT athletic director/football
coach) Frank Lauterbur was doing.
What Lauterbur did with the athletic program was tremendous.
He opened up the doors and recruited all those black
athletes, and was good with his players because he allowed
them room to grow. I understand that he was angry and
almost got into a fistfight with Nichols when Nichols
dismissed Bob Miller from the team because of Nichols’
treatment of Miller in the newspaper. Neither did Nichols
bother to first tell Lauterbur, who was the athletic
director, about his plan to kick Bob off the team.
I just believe that Nichols really wasn’t ready for the
interaction with black athletes. And, he certainly wasn’t
really ready to coach us to a level that (legendary UCLA
coach) Johnny Wooden would’ve coached us. Nichols would say
he wouldn’t want you to dribble behind your back on the way
to the basket. I was saying to myself, hell, you’ve only
got an instant to make up your mind. To this day, I thought
he shackled me. I believe that I would’ve been a better
athlete because he didn’t take advantage of my total
talents, only wanting me to play defense and assigning me to
check the best scorer on the other team. That takes a lot
of effort and time, you get tired doing that, and he never
really allowed me to use my energy on the offensive side.
Perryman:
Is it true that Bob Miller had a white girlfriend at that
time? And, if so, did you think that helped to create the
tensions between him and Nichols?
Rudley:
Well, it’s absolutely true that he had a white girlfriend or
TWO! And it’s absolutely true that they came after him. And,
I’m sure it got back to the coach, it got back to a lot of
people. One thing that killed me, though, is that they
never said anything about Brisker. Brisker dated a whole
bunch of girls. White girls mostly, and so it just shows
you the different treatment. Nichols really couldn’t corral
Brisker, so he was hands-off with Brisker, who was wild.
But sometimes coaches or parents will take it out on the
other kid because they can’t deal with the one that’s a more
forceful personality.
Perryman:
Did you ever experience anything like that with Nichols?
Rudley:
Nichols and I got into it, and I was getting ready to
transfer. I’ll never forget this. As you live with these
guys, you become brothers, and we were playing at Ohio U,
and I believe we won the game, but Brisker and Miller were
historically late in the locker room, but this time, they
were dramatically slow. Everybody was already on the bus
except Brisker and Miller and even me. I tried but couldn’t
push Bob to get dressed any faster, and I couldn’t push
Brisker. I think Bob was talking to some girl and so here I
am sitting there going, ‘Come on, let’s get on the bus, come
on. Let’s go, let’s go, come on, guys!’
So, finally, I had enough of it and started walking up the
hill where the bus was, and Nichols was on the bus with the
team. So, he comes out, he’s screaming and he grabs me in
the collar and goes after me about ‘you guys being late.’
Remind you; they’re still in the locker room; I’m halfway up
the hill. So, when he did that and charged me like that, I
went back to campus and called my mom, saying, ‘I’m
transferring.’ I told Brisker, Calvin Lawshe, and others
that I was going to transfer, and they all talked me out of
it. Because my friend L.C. Bowen was playing at Bradley
University at the time and I had other friends playing
around the league, and I talked to them. Nobody had been
treated like that. So, it just showed me that Coach Nichols
didn’t understand how to deal with us. He viewed us as
individuals, sure enough. Still, you don’t put me in the
same category as Bob Miller and Brisker, who are giving you
a hard time when I’m not giving you a hard time.
Perryman:
So fast forward, you go to Tennessee, you go to the
University of Houston, you get to Texas Southern. Talk
about the difference in cultural context at those places.
Rudley:
It starts when I first started working for Coopers & Lybrand
in Los Angeles, one of the Big Eight Certified Public
Accounting firms at the time. My goal is to be the best, and
I started understanding corporate culture in a predominantly
white corporate environment.
I eventually left Coopers & Lybrand, worked my way into
higher education, and worked at the Tennessee Board of
Regents, but before that, I worked at the University of
Tennessee at Chattanooga. So, these predominantly white
institutions were hiring me because of my prior experiences
working with corporate firms, and many schools wanted
someone with business savvy. So, my expertise in putting
together budgets and financial systems was what they hired
me for, and I learned that at Coopers & Lybrand.
(To be continued)
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
The Clash of Youth and Age: John Rudley’s Story (Part One) |
