 Bright depicted in a 1959 football card | |||||||||
| No. 24 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positions | Fullback •linebacker | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1930-06-11)June 11, 1930 Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died | December 14, 1983(1983-12-14) (aged 53) Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | ||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||
| Weight | 217 lb (98 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Central (Fort Wayne, Indiana) | ||||||||
| College | Drake (1949–1951) | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1952: 1st round, 5th overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| 1952–1954 | Calgary Stampeders | ||||||||
| 1954–1964 | Edmonton Eskimos | ||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Career CFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Canadian Football Hall of Fame (Class of 1970) | |||||||||
College Football Hall of Fame (Class of 1984) | |||||||||
John Dee Bright (June 11, 1930 – December 14, 1983) was an American professionalfootball player in theCanadian Football League (CFL). A troubling racist incident he endured as acollege football player in the U.S. caused rule changes in theNational Collegiate Athletic Association. After his emigration to Canada, he played a starring role as anEdmonton Eskimo and also became a school principal and an important role model for black Canadians and aspiring athletes in Edmonton.[1]
Bright playedcollege football for theDrake Bulldogs. He is a member of theCanadian Football Hall of Fame, theCollege Football Hall of Fame, theMissouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame, theEdmonton Eskimos Wall of Honour, theAlberta Sports Hall of Fame, and theDes Moines Register's Iowa Sports Hall of Fame.
In 1951, Bright was named a first-teamAll-American, and was awarded theNils 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 fromESPN.com senior writer Ivan Maisel, as one of the best college football players to ever wear No. 43.[2] In February 2006, the football field atDrake Stadium was named in his honor.[3] In November 2006, Bright was voted one of the CFL'sTop 50 players (No. 19) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports networkTSN.[4]
On October 20, 1951, Bright was the victim of an intentional, racially motivated, on-field assault by an opposing college football player from theOklahoma A&M Cowboys that was captured in a widely disseminated andPulitzer Prize-winning photo sequence, and eventually came to be known as the "Johnny Bright incident".
Born inFort Wayne, Indiana on June 11, 1930, Bright was the second oldest of five brothers. Bright lived with his mother and step father Daniel Bates, brothers, Homer Bright, the eldest, Alfred, Milton, and Nate Bates, in aworking class, predominantlyAfrican-American neighborhood in Fort Wayne.[5]: 13–14, 52
Bright was a three-sport (football,basketball,track and field) star at Fort Wayne's Central High School. Bright, who also was an accomplishedsoftball pitcher andboxer, led Central High's football team to a City title in 1945, and helped the basketball team to two state tournament Final Four appearances.[6]
Following his graduation from Central High in 1947, Bright initially accepted a football scholarship atMichigan State University, but, apparently unhappy with the direction of theSpartans football program, transferred toDrake University inDes Moines, Iowa, where he accepted a track and field scholarship, that allowed him to try out for the football andbasketball squads.[5]: 52 [7] Bright eventually lettered infootball, track, and basketball, during his collegiate career at Drake.[7]
Following a mandatory freshmanredshirt year, Bright began his collegiate football career in 1949, rushing for 975 yards and throwing for another 975, to lead the nation in total offense during his sophomore year, as theDrake Bulldogs finished their season at 6–2–1.[8] In Bright's junior year, thehalfback/quarterback rushed for 1,232 yards and passed for 1,168 yards, setting anNCAA record for total offense (2,400 yards) in 1950, and again led the Bulldogs to a 6–2–1 record.[8]
Bright's senior year began with great promise. Bright was considered a pre-seasonHeisman Trophy candidate, and was leading the nation in both rushing and total offense with 821 and 1,349 yards respectively, when the Drake Bulldogs, winners of their previous five games, facedMissouri Valley Conference foeOklahoma A&M, at Lewis Field (nowBoone Pickens Stadium) inStillwater, Oklahoma, on October 20, 1951.[citation needed]
Bright's participation as a halfback/quarterback in Drake's game against Oklahoma A&M on October 20, 1951, was controversial, as it marked the first time that such a prominent African-American athlete, with national fame (Bright was a pre-season Heisman Trophy candidate, and led the nation in total offense going into the game) and of critical importance to the success of his team (Drake was undefeated and carried a five-game winning streak into the contest, due in large part to his rushing and passing), played against Oklahoma A&M in a home game atLewis Field, in Stillwater.[10]
During the first seven minutes of the game, Bright had been knocked unconscious three times by blows from Oklahoma A&Mdefensive tackleWilbanks Smith. While the final, elbow blow from Smith broke Bright's jaw, Bright was able to complete a 61-yard touchdown pass to halfback Jim Pilkington a few plays later, before the injury finally forced Bright to leave the game. Bright finished the game with 75 yards (14 yards rushing and 61 yards passing), the first time he had finished a game, with less than 100 yards in his three-year collegiate career at Drake. Oklahoma A&M eventually won the game 27–14.[10]
A photographic sequence byDes Moines Register cameramenDon Ultang and John Robinson clearly showed thatSmith's jaw-breaking blow to Bright had occurred well after Bright had handed off the ball tofullback Gene Macomber, and that the blow was delivered well behind the play.[9] Years later, Ultang said that he and Robinson were lucky to capture the incident when they did; they'd only planned to stay through the first quarter so they could get the film developed in time for the next day's edition.[11]
It had been an open secret before the game that A&M was planning to target Bright. Even though A&M had integrated two years earlier, theJim Crow spirit was still very much alive in Stillwater. Both Oklahoma A&M's student newspaper,The Daily O'Collegian, and the local newspaper,The News Press, reported that Bright was a marked man, and several A&M students were openly claiming that Bright "would not be around at the end of the game." Ultang and Robinson had actually set up their camera after rumors of Bright being targeted became too loud to ignore.[12]
When it became apparent that neither Oklahoma A&M nor the MVC would take any disciplinary action against Smith, Drake withdrew from the MVC in protest and stayed out until 1956 (though it didn't return for football until 1971). Fellow memberBradley University pulled out of the league as well in solidarity with Drake; while it returned for non-football sports in 1955, Bradley never played another down of football in the MVC (it dropped football in 1970).[13]
The "Johnny Bright Incident", as it became widely known, eventually provoked changes in NCAA football rules regarding illegal blocking, and mandated the use of more protective helmets with face guards.[14]
Recalling the incident without apparent bitterness in a 1980Des Moines Register interview three years before his death, Bright commented: "There's no way it couldn't have been racially motivated... . ..What I like about the whole deal now, and what I'm smug enough to say, is that getting a broken jaw has somehow made college athletics better. It made the NCAA take a hard look and clean up some things that were bad."[14]
Bright's jaw injury limited his effectiveness for the remainder of his senior season at Drake, but he finished his college career with 5,983 yards in total offense, averaging better than 236 yards per game in total offense, and scored 384 points in 25 games.[8] As a senior, Bright 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.[citation needed]
Following his final football season at Drake (1951), Bright was named a first-teamAll-American and finished fifth in the balloting for the 1951 Heisman Trophy. Bright was also awarded theNils V. "Swede" Nelson Sportsmanship Award, and played in both the post-seasonEast–West Shrine Game and theHula Bowl.[citation needed] He graduated from Drake with aBachelor of Science in Education, with a specialization inphysical education, in 1952.[15]
In 1969, Bright was named Drake University's greatest football player of all time. He is also the only Drake football player to have his jersey number (No. 43) retired by the school. In June 2006, Bright received honorable mention fromESPN.com senior writer Ivan Maisel as one of the best college football players to ever wear No. 43.[2]
Bright was the first pick of thePhiladelphia Eagles in the first round of the1952 National Football League draft. Bright spurned the NFL, electing to emigrate to Canada and play for theCalgary Stampeders of theWestern Interprovincial Football Union, the precursor to theWest Division of the Canadian Football League. Bright later commented:
I would have been their (the Eagles') firstNegro player. There was a tremendous influx ofSouthern players into the NFL at that time, and I didn't know what kind of treatment I could expect.[16]
Bright joined the Calgary Stampeders as a fullback/linebacker in 1952, leading the Stampeders and the WIFU in rushing with 815 yards his rookie season.[16] Bright played fullback/linebacker with the Stampeders for the 1952, 1953, and part of the 1954 seasons.
In 1954, the Calgary Stampeders traded him to theEdmonton Eskimos in mid-season. He enjoyed the most success of his professional football career as a member of the Eskimos.[citation needed] He moved to Edmonton and lived the rest of life in that city.[1]
Though Bright played strictly defense as a linebacker in his first year with the Eskimos, he played both offense (as a fullback) and defense for two seasons (1955–1956), and played offense permanently after that (1957–1964). He, along with teammatesRollie Miles,Normie Kwong, andJackie Parker, helped lead the Eskimos to successiveGrey Cup titles in1954,1955, and1956 (where Bright rushed for a then Grey Cup record of 169 yards in a 50–27 win over theMontreal Alouettes).[16] In 1957, he rushed for eight consecutive 100-yard games, finishing the season with 1,679 yards. In1958, he rushed for 1,722 yards.[16] In1959, following his third straight season as the Canadian pro rushing leader with 1,340 yards, Bright won theCFL's Most Outstanding Player Award, the firstblack athlete to be so honored. He was also named theEdmonton Athlete of the Year for 1959.
Bright was approached several times during his Canadian career by NFL teams about playing in the United States, but in the days before the large salaries of today's NFL players, it was common for CFL players such as him to have jobs in addition to football, and he had already started ateaching career in 1957, the year he moved his family to Edmonton.
I'd established a home and Canada had been good to me. I might have been interested, if the offers could have matched what I was making from both football and teaching.[16]
Bright retired in 1964 as the CFL's all-time leading rusher (Mike Pringle andGeorge Reed have since surpassed him). Bright rushed for 10,909 yards in 13 seasons, had five consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, and led the CFL in rushing four times. While Bright is (as of 2006[update]) 15th on the all-pro rushing list, his career average of 5.5 yards per carry is the highest among more-than-10,000-yard rushers (Pro Football Hall of FamerJim Brown is second at 5.2 yards per carry).[16] At the time of his retirement, Bright had a then-CFL-record thirty-six 100-plus-yard games, carrying the ball 200 or more times for five straight seasons. Bright led the CFL Western Conference in rushing four times, winning theEddie James Memorial Trophy in the process, and was a Western Conference All-Star five straight seasons from 1957 to1961. Bright played in 197 consecutive CFL games as a fullback/linebacker. Bright's No. 24 jersey was added to theEdmonton Eskimos' Wall of Honour atCommonwealth Stadium in 1983. Bright was inducted into theCanadian Football Hall of Fame on November 26, 1970. In November 2006, Bright was voted one of theCFL's Top 50 players (No. 19) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports networkTSN.[4]
| Year | Team | Games | Rush | Yards | Average | Longest | Touchdowns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Calgary Stampeders | 13 | 144 | 815 | 5.7 | 75 | 2 |
| 1953 | Calgary Stampeders | 9 | 38 | 128 | 3.4 | 32 | 0 |
| 1954 | Calgary Stampeders | 1 | 8 | 30 | 3.8 | 14 | 0 |
| 1954 | Edmonton Eskimos | 11 | 37 | 184 | 5.0 | 12 | 0 |
| 1955 | Edmonton Eskimos | 12 | 107 | 643 | 6.0 | 34 | 2 |
| 1956 | Edmonton Eskimos | 9 | 93 | 573 | 6.2 | 22 | 4 |
| 1957 | Edmonton Eskimos | 16 | 259 | 1679 | 6.5 | 27 | 16 |
| 1958 | Edmonton Eskimos | 16 | 296 | 1722 | 5.8 | 90 | 8 |
| 1959 | Edmonton Eskimos | 16 | 231 | 1340 | 5.8 | 53 | 11 |
| 1960 | Edmonton Eskimos | 16 | 251 | 1268 | 5.1 | 28 | 14 |
| 1961 | Edmonton Eskimos | 16 | 236 | 1350 | 5.7 | 81 | 11 |
| 1962 | Edmonton Eskimos | 11 | 142 | 650 | 4.6 | 23 | 2 |
| 1963 | Edmonton Eskimos | 13 | 83 | 324 | 3.9 | 15 | 0 |
| 1964 | Edmonton Eskimos | 16 | 44 | 203 | 4.6 | 16 | 0 |
| Totals | 1969 | 10,909 | 5.5 | 90 | 70 |
Bright earned aBachelor of Science degree in education at Drake University in 1952,[17] becoming a teacher, coach, and school administrator, both during and after his professional football career, eventually rising toprincipal of D.S. Mackenzie Junior High School and Hillcrest Junior High School inEdmonton, Alberta.[1] He was head coach at Edmonton's Bonnie Doon High School in the 1960s when the Lancers were a champion football team. He was also the head coach of the Edmonton Wildcats in the Canadian Junior Football League from 1978 to 1981.[citation needed]
He became aCanadian citizen in 1962.[16]
Bright died of a massiveheart attack on December 14, 1983, at theUniversity of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, while undergoing elective surgery to correct a knee injury suffered during his football career.[18] He was survived by his wife and four children.[7]
Bright is buried atHoly Cross Cemetery, in Edmonton.
Despite the evidence of the incident, Oklahoma A&M officials denied anything had happened. Indeed, Oklahoma A&M/State refused to make any further official comment on the incident for over half a century. This was the case even when Drake's former dean of men,Robert B. Kamm, became president of OSU in 1966; years later, he said that the determination to gloss over the affair was so strong that he knew he could not even discuss it. Finally, on September 28, 2005, Oklahoma State PresidentDavid J. Schmidly wrote a letter to Drake PresidentDavid Maxwell at Maxwell's request formally apologizing for the incident, calling it "an ugly mark on Oklahoma State University and college football." The apology came twenty-two years after Bright's death.[12][19]
In February 2006, the football field atDrake Stadium, in Des Moines, Iowa, was named in Bright's honor.[3]
In September 2010, Johnny Bright School, akindergarten through grade 9 school, was named in Bright's honour, and opened in theRutherford neighbourhood of Edmonton.[20] The school was officially opened on September 15 by representatives of the school district and Alberta Education MinisterDave Hancock, and included tributes from Bright's family, several dignitaries, and former colleagues of Bright from his both his athletic and educational careers.[20]
On September 1, 2020, Drake University announced the opening of a two-year college at the university named the John Dee Bright College.[21]
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