04/26/24
August 19, 2009
Pioneering NFL Official Burl Toler Dies: Sunday's death of Burl Toler, the NFL's first black official, has brought attention back to a great moment in the history of race relations in American sports. Toler was a member of the 1951 University of San Francisco Dons, an incredible team that went 12-0. The team didn't go to a bowl that year because they refused demands from southern bowl officials to leave their two black players -- Ollie Matson and Toler -- behind. "When we found out Burl and Ollie weren't going to go, we said, 'Stick it in your butt - we ain't going,'" said teammate Gino Marchetti.
This is a definitely man worth remembering ...
posted by Spitztengle at 02:00 PM on August 19, 2009
RIP.
It's a great story. The fact that Toler was from Memphis and found this sort of acceptance at the University of San Francisco is fantastic. If he stayed in Memphis, he couldn't have even been admitted to a university. My alma mater, Florida State, didn't admit any black students until 1962, eleven years after those events.
posted by bperk at 02:07 PM on August 19, 2009
.
posted by tommybiden at 03:06 PM on August 19, 2009
.
posted by DudeDykstra at 03:39 PM on August 19, 2009
.