When I saw that my old friend, Mede Nix, received the Distinguished Alumni award from Howard Payne University during their homecoming a while back, it reminded me, believe it or not, of some discrimination I have seen in my life.
Mede started out at Howard Payne as a student involved in covering some sports activities but she eventually became Sports Information Director at her alma mater. Fact it, she was the first female Sports Information Director ever in the State of Texas. I remember her first year that she was on the job and she wasn’t always welcomed with open arms at the places where we had to go and play. I simply judged Mede by what kind of a job she did, and she did a very good job. Some people back in those days didn’t appreciate her for the simple fact that she was a female.
I’m thrilled that Mede survived and went on to work in Metroplex newspapers and now – she is now the Senior Editor for News at the Dallas Morning News and also serves as president of the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors. I’m very proud of her and I’m glad she was tough enough to survive those early years.
And, it wasn’t just Mede. It wasn’t too terribly long ago when women weren’t allowed in the press boxes. Period! My wife traveled with me to help in the booth at a lot of my games. More than one time, we had a lot of trouble getting her in. By the time I retired, she was welcomed with open arms. This country has come a long way. It’s not perfect by any stretch, but it’s a whole lot better than it used to be.
I also witnessed the first black player to play in the Lone Star Conference, and I’m proud to say it was at Howard Payne. A young man by the name of Tom Carter, back in the 60’s, was the first black player in the Lone Star Conference. At mid-term Eddie Nelson joined him so we had the first two black players in the old conference. I can tell all kinds of stories – some not real pleasant – because I got to see some bad stuff up close and personal. The team got turned away from many venues, simply because Tom and Eddie were black. They got booed and cussed, just for playing a game. A few years later, Fred Davis, the great All-American and I were not allowed in a couple of places. I used to joke with him, and say, ‘It was probably me they didn’t want in.’ But of course, he was black.
I also saw it with the Brownwood Lions. I can remember several times after road football games that the bus would pull up to a restaurant and five minutes later we would pull out of the parking lot because we had a black player or two.
The restaurant owners would usually say something like, “We’d love to have your team eat with us, but the black kids will have to eat in the kitchen”. Coach Wood would always say, “Either we all eat together or we don’t eat”. Sometimes we’d stop at two, three, or four places before we would find one that would allow our black players to eat.
We’ve come a long, long way – still got a ways to go – but we’re certainly better than we were back then.
Until next time, so long everybody.
***
‘Out of the Box’ with Dallas Huston is published each Monday morning at BrownwoodNews.com. Dallas was the radio voice of the Brownwood Lions and Howard Payne Yellow Jackets for more than 55 years. He currently is Pastor of Center City Baptist Church and hosts a Men’s Bible Study in Brownwood on Monday evenings. Your comments are welcome at [email protected].