Bobby Grier (Pittsburgh Panthers)
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Grier from 1956 Owl
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| Pittsburgh Panthers | |
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| Position | Fullback, linebacker |
| Career history | |
| College |
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| Personal information | |
| Date of birth | 1933 |
Bobby Grier (born 1933) was the first African American football player to break the color barrier of the United States collegiate Sugar Bowl game, in 1956, which is held in New Orleans, Louisiana. Particularly in the deep South, the mid-1950s was a period of strident racial segregation for sports, as well as other areas of life. At the time, Grier's participation as a fullback and linebacker against a segregated all-white team on such a prestigious "stage" was a tremendously significant event.
Grier grew up in Massillon, Ohio and after playing college football at Pittsburgh joined the Air Force for a number of years. He retired from military service to be an administrator at a Pittsburgh community college and is still active in the Pittsburgh community.
Much controversy preceded the 1956 Sugar Bowl, where Grier's Pitt Panthers would meet the Yellow Jackets from Georgia Tech. There was controversy over whether Grier should be allowed to play, and whether Georgia Tech would participate in the contest. Georgia Governor, Marvin Griffin, was very publicly opposed to racial integration. A measure for the tenor of this time period is the well known case of Emmett Till being subjected to a lynching in Mississippi, which occurred the previous summer to the 1956 game. Additionally, within thirty days prior, Rosa Parks ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott, where she, in protest, refused to relinquish her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama transit bus.
A large contingent from the New Orleans community, as well as many related to Georgia Tech, openly fought to bar either Grier, Pitt, or the Yellow Jacket team from the game. Students and football players from the Atlanta-based school, civil rights leaders from multiple locales, as well as a large number of the Pitt community, however, succeeded in seeing Grier take to the gridiron that January day.
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