Willie Evans was yet another of Fleer’s “guesses” in their 1960 card set that never made it to the AFL. But he was a key part of civil rights history.
In 1958, Willie was the star running back for the University of Buffalo’s 8-1 Bulls team. They won the Lambert Cup–the equivalent of winning NCAA-II. They even accepted the trophy on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. The season was terrific–and then came word that the Tangerine Bowl invited the Bulls to play Florida State. The team was measured for suit coats to wear, and the school began booking Orlando hotels. The local paper started a drive to fund the school band to attend and perform… until the Orlando High School Athletic Association, which sponsored the bowl, sent word that the OHSAA had a strict rule prohibiting blacks and whites playing on the same field.
So, the Tangerine Bowl was happy to have the Buffalo Bulls–just don’t bring Evans and Wilson.
Head Coach Dick Offenhamer left it up to the team. They unanimously agreed–without Willie and Mike, we are not a team. They chose to not attend the bowl game.
Remember–this was when there were only a handful of bowl games, and not the insane glut there is now. But the team was adamant–they refused to attend the game. Bull teammate Gerry Gergley recalled, “It was important for us not to go. These were our teammates and our friends. There was no way we were going to leave them behind.” No Buffalo Bulls team would advance to a bowl game for another fifty years.
Willie never forgot his team’s love and respect for each other. Sadly, that love and respect didn’t go beyond the Bulls.
When the Bills were formed, Willie was drafted, to honor the “favorite son”. At the first training camp, a Bills cornerback, an Ole Miss grad, refused to speak to him or to any of the black players. When he was released, he applied for his first job as a physical education teacher, and members of the school board asked him why he was trying to land a white man’s job. He left a job in life insurance a few years later and went back to teaching because the company didn’t allow blacks to advance to management positions.
Willie survived it all and taught for over thirty years, and became an icon at the University. And in 2009, the Orlando Chamber of Commerce invited the surviving team members to be honored by the city and to apologize to the team. Willie was among the players who attended.
Willie Evans never made the AFL. But he still has a card–and a legacy that goes far beyond football.
Check out this video on Willie Evans!
