One might suppose that a school which has so thoroughly and actively exploited black athletes would be breaking itself in half to give them something in return, both in appreciation for the achievements of the past and to assure a steady flow of black athletes in the future. This is a story about those who were used and how they were used-not why they were used. It may even be that the school had a practical, viable approach when it chose to use athletics to help itself become established. Ray's achievements have not been significant, that he has not built a good college or that it does not have an undergirding of quality. We've got some quality undergirding this." Nor is there any reason to think that Dr. Ray himself says that UTEP would not be so well-known throughout the country without its black athletes, but he also says, "It's not too wholesome to be known as a jockey strap college. "We wouldn't have built this institution as quickly without the Negro, because they have been very fine kids and we have been happy to have them."ĭr. "The Negro athlete has helped us tremendously," says Football Coach Bobby Dobbs. Ray-who is resigning this September-and his staff of professors and his high-powered team of coaches admit that the exploits of the school's Negro athletes have not hampered the expansion program. Ray, UTEP has doubled its enrollment in the last eight years, and even now the jackhammers are tearing up the campus, ripping out space for new buildings and additions to old ones. Under the leadership of an enterprising and widely respected president, Dr. Farther down the hall is a two-by-three-foot photograph of Detroit Negro Bobby Joe Hill, with basketball in hand, and other testimonials to famous black athletes from the school: Dave Lattin, Fred Carr, Charlie West, et al. In a glass trophy case at the place of honor in the hall is a huge oil painting by El Pasoan Tom Lea (author of The Brave Bulls), showing Negro Bob Wallace catching the pass that defeated Utah in the last few seconds of a crucial game in the 1965 season. The walls around the university's athletic department are covered with pictures of Negroes who have brought glory to the school. Long before that, the school had recruited Jim (Bad News) Barnes and many another nationally noted black athlete, starting with Charlie Brown in 1956. The idea of gaining a national reputation from the muscles and skills of Negro athletes was not new at UTEP two years ago. The starting five was black, and the first two replacements were black, and they made a startling contrast to Adolph Rupp's lily-white aggregation from Lexington, whom they beat handily 72-65. Although UTEP had a few white players on the bench, none of them got into the game. The school's reputation for being all black was established two years ago when its basketball team played the University of Kentucky in the nationally televised NCAA finals. He was surprised when the recruiter explained hastily that UTEP is almost entirely white, that there are fewer than 250 Negroes in a student body of almost 10,000. In fact, there is a story among UTEP athletes that a high school football player recently turned down a UTEP recruiter by explaining that he did not count himself a bigot, but neither did he want to be the only white in an all-black school. You may be excused for assuming that UTEP is an all-Negro school.
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