Speed City: From Civil Rights to Black Power» A Historical Athletics Exhibit curated by Urla Hill
The Athletes
Lynn Vidali
SJS’s Lynn Vidali, who made the Olympic team at 16 in 1968, also competed in the 1972 Olympics. Vidali, who grew up in San Francisco, discusses her travels into the South, saying that once she saw a water fountain marked colored, but drank out of it, anyway. Someone came up from behind her screaming and [...]
Free At Last 1960 -1964
“The (Civil Rights) movement was really laid out in the fifties by the work and challenges that the Black athletes faced, and the stands they were willing to take.” – Ben Tucker, San José State’s cross-country team, 1960-1964 During the sixties, the tone and tenor of Black/White relations had begun to shift radically. By this [...]
Art Simburg
Another Bud Winter protégé, Art Simburg, who went onto work for Puma, at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, circa 1972.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to ’93, standing far left, and his teammates at SJSC, circa 1958.
NCAA Boxing Title 1959
Julius Menendez and SJSC boxing squad celebrates its second consecutive NCAA title in 1959.
Dean Miller
Dean Miller would lead the Spartans to back-to-back NCAA titles during his tenure at San Jose State, circa 1962. Danny Murphy, Ron Davis, South American Jose Azevedo, Ben Tucker, Jeff Fishback, and Horace Whitehead form a circle around Miller.
Bud Winter & Stan Dowell
Bud Winter and his protégé, Stan Dowell, show off the pheasants they hunted near Dowell’s family’s home, circa 1958. Winter was known for wearing hunting gear to practice, and driving around town with his hunting rifle in the backseat of his 1928 Model T Ford, which, was bound together with wire, his athletes say. Dowell [...]
The Trailblazers 1956 – 1960
“Bud wrote a book, but I made that book real. He had written it before I got there, but he needed an athlete to make it real. All Bud’s stuff came about because of me.” – Ray Norton discussing his impact on Bud Winter’s training techniques San José State sprinters Ray Norton and Robert Poynter [...]
The Good Brothers
The Good Brothers, made up of primarily Black students and Black student athletes, were known for parties in which they often sold black-eyed peas and soda to help pay rent. Athletes include an attorney, a college coach Bob Poynter, a California-state judge, and a retired social worker. Otis Courtney, an architect who had plans to [...]
Olympic Boxing Team 1960
Eddie Crook, team trainer Ben Beck, Cassius Clay, (Dr.) Wilbert McClure, and Coach Menendez in Rome, circa 1960. McClure’s son played soccer for Menendez at San José State during the 1980s.
1960 Olympic Boxing Team
Medalists from the 1960 Olympic squad include Quincy Daniels, SJSC’s Harry Campbell, Sr., and Cassius Clay, better known now as Muhammad Ali, circa 1960. SJSC and 1960 U.S. Olympic boxing coach, Julius Menendez would snap this shot of members of the 1960 Olympic boxing team before they boarded a ship to Rome.
Black Power 1964-1969
“They will be known forever as two niggers who upset the 1968 Olympic Games. I’d rather have been known for that than as two niggers who win two medals.” – Willie Brown, former San Francisco Mayor and Assembly Speaker from James Richardson’s Willie Brown: A Biography Tommie Smith and John Carlos arrived at San José [...]
Fastest Sprinters in the World
SJSC’s team featured some of the fastest sprinters in the world, circa 1968. The black and white version of this photo appeared in Track & Field News and Newsweek. Jerry Williams’s son, Kenny Williams, of the Chicago White Sox, was the first Black general manager in Major League Baseball.
Julius Menendez and Ray Norton
Julius Menendez and SJS sprinter and Olympian Ray Norton in Rome, circa 1960.
Tommie Smith & Wayne Herman
Tommie Smith and Wayne Herman following a race at Spartan Field, circa 1966.
Bud Winter & John Carlos 1969
Bud Winter stands alongside Olympian John Carlos during the Spartans’ NCAA championship season, circa 1969.
Harry Campbell & Jesse Owens
Julius Menendez also snapped this photo of SJSC and Olympic boxer Campbell, who stands with 1936 Olympian Jesse Owens in Rome, circa 1960.
John Carlos & Tommie Smith
Many are familiar with the so-called “Black Power” protest staged by SJSC sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith on the Olympic dais in 1968. Their reaction to racism — bowed heads and raised gloved fists — in America and around the world sparked a controversy that continues to linger some 40 years later.
Mel “The Beast” Powell
Mel Powell, who was known as “The Beast,” celebrates his graduation with family members, circa 1958. Powell was a member of the football team.
Chuck Alexander
Chuck Alexander and members of the Spartan football team prepare to head to Stanford, circa 1956.
Peter Ueberoth
Who played water polo at San Jose State College during the late 1950s, and served as the Commissioner of Major League Baseball? SJS graduate Peter Ueberoth, a ’59 grad, has served as head of USOC, Commissioner of MLB, and helped organize the ’84 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, circa 1990.
The Smothers Brothers
Can you guess which comedic duo competed for the Spartans during the late 1950s/early 1960s? Tommie (left) and Dick (right) competed for the Spartans during the late ’50s. Tommie competed as a pole vaulter and gymnast; and Dick as a distance runner.