Aug 1, 2013; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; A mural of past Alabama Crimson Tide football players is depicted in the team lounge of the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility. Kelly Lambert-USA TODAY Sports
On June 11, 1963, Alabama governor George Wallace stood in front of the Foster Auditorium door attempting to block the first African-American students from registering for classes at The University of Alabama. His attempt failed, and less than three years later basketball player Danny Treadwell became the first black player to ever play in the Alabama State Basketball Tournament, and he did so inside that same Foster Auditorium.
In the new film Three Days at Foster author Keith Dunnavant tells the powerful and moving stories of the integration of athletics in the state of Alabama at both the high school and college levels.
The film, which is available streaming online beginning Monday, focuses on Treadwell, along with the first black basketball player at the University of Alabama and the first black players for the legendary Bear Bryant’s Alabama football teams. Some of these stories are more well known – Bear Bryant’s first black scholarship players Wilbur Jackson and John Mitchell – while others like Treadwell’s story and the stories of the first black players to try out for Alabama’s football team, are more obscure.
“Three Days” tells the story of Bear Bryant, then athletic director as well as head football coach, hiring little-known basketball coach CM Newton to coach the men’s basketball team. Newton was responsible for recruiting and signing Alabama’s first black basketball player, Wendell Hudson.
Newton described Hudson as the perfect person to be the first black athlete at Alabama, because of his integrity and his ability to not let things get to him or lash out.
“Three Days” dispels the myth that it was the famed game between USC and Alabama in 1970 that ended segregation among Alabama’s football team. The film instead notes that Alabama student Dock Rone decided to ask Bear Bryant if he could try out for the team. Rone said that he wasn’t trying to make a statement, but rather simply wanted to play football. After his bold move, three other black students joined him in trying out for the team.
The film recounts the struggles those players, especially Rone, went through in trying to break the color barrier before future All-SEC halfback Wilbur Jackson and All-American defensive end John Mitchell shattered that barrier.
Mitchell became Bear Bryant’s first black All-American, later becoming the first black assistant coach at Alabama under Bear Bryant as well. Mitchell was also the first black player to be named co-captain for the Alabama football team in 1972. In 2009 he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
As the first black football player recruited to play at Alabama, Wilbur Jackson faced unbelievable pressure to succeed. “Three Days” digs into not just Jackson’s relationship with the University of Alabama, but also his respect and relationship with his parents, which had as much to do with his success as his legendary coach. It was the fear of disappointing his parents, rather than the fear of letting down his race, that kept him at Alabama.
Jackson ended up averaging an Alabama record 7.2 yards per carry in his career in Bear Bryant’s vaunted wishbone offense. In 1973 Jackson carried the ball 95 times for 752 yards and eight touchdowns, leading the Tide to the 1973 national championship. He was drafted in the first round of the 1974 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers, and in 2007 he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
“Three Days” documents how Alabama fan’s love for athletics led to the healing of these festering wounds of segregation, and the bringing together of its people, both black and white. Times have changed for Alabama athletics, and the stories of the men told in “Three Days At Foster” are the catalysts of that change.
For more information on the film and Keith Dunnavant click here.
To see my exclusive interview with Dunnavant click here.