Today’s in our History – October 20, 1951 - John Dee Bright was the victim of an intentional, racially motivated, on-field assault

GM – LIF Today’s American Champion was an American professional football player in the Canadian Football League. He played college football at Drake University. He is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame, the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame, the Edmonton Eskimos Wall of Honour, the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, and the Des Moines Register's Iowa Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1951, Bright was named a First Team College Football All-American, and was awarded the Nils V. "Swede" Nelson Sportsmanship Award. In 1969, Bright was named Drake University's greatest football player of all time. Bright is the only Drake football player to have his jersey number (No. 43) retired by the school, and in June 2006, received honorable mention from ESPN.com senior writer Ivan Maisel, as one of the best college football players to ever wear No. 43. In February 2006, the football field at Drake Stadium, in Des Moines, Iowa, was named in his honor. In November 2006, Bright was voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players (No. 19) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.

Today’s in our History – October 20, 1951 - John Dee Bright was the victim of an intentional, racially motivated, on-field assault by an opposing college football player from Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) that was captured in a widely disseminated and Pulitzer Prize-winning photo sequence, and eventually came to be known as the "Johnny Bright incident."

In 1951, Drake University’s football team was undefeated before they faced off against Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater. Drake went into the game with the nation’s leading player at the time, Johnny Bright. Bright was the first Black college football player to play at Oklahoma’s Lewis Field in 1949, during which he led the NCAA in total offense as the first sophomore in history. In 1950, he set a NCAA record of 2,400 yards, and was led the 1951 NCAA in total offense, scoring, and rushing.

However, what happened on the field on October 20, 1951, highlighted racial tensions and achieved national notoriety. During the first seven minutes of the game, Bright was knocked unconscious three times by blows from a white Oklahoma A&M defensive tackle named Wilbanks Smith. Although Smith’s blow broke Bright’s jaw, he managed to complete a 61-yard touchdown pass a few plays later.

Nevertheless, the injury forced him to leave the game before it ended. This was the first time in his football career at Drake that Bright ended a game under 100 yards. Drake ultimately lost to Oklahoma A&M 27 to 14, which ended the team’s winning streak.

A six-photograph sequence of the incident captured by Des Moines Register cameramen John Robinson and Don Ultang clearly showed that Smith’s jaw-breaking blow was thrown well after Bright had handed the ball off to Drake fullback Gene Macomber, after the play. Before the game started, Robinson and Ultang had actually set up a camera to focus specifically on Bright due to the numerous rumors stating that Bright had been frequently targeted on the field. They rushed the film to Des Moines as soon as Bright was knocked out of the game.

Bright’s broken jaw limited his effectiveness for the remainder of his senior season at Drake. Nevertheless, he earned 70 percent of the yards Drake gained and scored 70 percent of the Bulldogs’ points, despite missing the better part of the final three games of the season. Bright finished fifth in the balloting for the 1951 Heisman Trophy and played in the post-season East-West Shrine Game and the Hula Bowl. The incident eventually provoked changes in NCAA football rules regarding illegal blocking, and mandated the use of more protective helmets with face guards.

Following his 1952 graduation from Drake, Bright went on to enjoy a 12-year professional football career in the Canadian Football League. He retired in 1964 as the CFL’s all-time leading rusher, and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1970. Research more about this great American Champion and share it with your babies. Make it a champion day!