Speed City exhibit focuses on San José State College’s athletic program from which numerous student athletes became globally recognized figures as the Civil Rights and Black Power movements reshaped American society. Because of the large number of outstanding athletes in its track and field program, SJSC became synonymous with the name Speed City between 1956 and 1969.

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.

But did you know that the Spartans’ tradition of activism began some 30 years earlier amongst its coaching staff?

Speed City Era

at San José State

The Coaches

Dudley DeGroot

Dr. Dudley S. DeGroot might best be remembered for leading the Washington Redskins to the National Football League championship in 1945, but his most notable contribution was made in the collegiate ranks.

While coaching at SJSC between 1933 and ’39, DeGroot began recruiting Hawaiians and Black Americans to play football for the Spartans. DeGroot’s trend would continue through his protégés, DeWitt Portal (boxing) and Bob Bronzan (football).

DeWitt Portal & Julius Menendez

Coach DeWitt Portal supervises a “bout” between his son, Ronnie, and Julius Menendez in front of the Men’s Physical Education building, circa 1946.

Menendez would take over the boxing program after Portal’s death, and lead the Spartans to NCAA championship titles in 1958, ’59, and ’60.

Yoshihiro Uchida

Wrestler Sam Della Maggiore coached campus police cadets in judo, and took on Yoshihiro Uchida as his assistant in 1940. Following Della Maggiore’s departure, Uchida worked with Henry Stone of the University of California to redefine judo by adding a weight classification system.

In 1964, Uchida became the first U.S. Olympic coach. Here he stands with team members, including Spartans Paul Maruyama and former Colorado Senator Ben Knighthorse Campbell.

The Trailblazers

“(SJSC Track & Field Coach Bud Winter) 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 Winter’s sprinting techniques.

Ray Norton

During his tenure at SJSC during the late 1950s, Ray Norton was known as the “World’s Fastest Human,” circa 1957

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 build a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings, circa 1958.

Willie Williams

Willie Williams had coached track and field at Arizona State University, and was to head the 1980 Olympic track team before he committed suicide.

This photo was taken by football player Chuck Alexander, who amassed hundreds of photos such as these of students at SJSC during the late 1950s. Each picture was taken next to his car, as shown here.

Bob Bronson

Bob Bronzan, one of Dr. DeGroot’s protégés, appears with two Super-Bowl winning coaches in this photo, Bill Walsh and Dick Vermeil. Note the number of African- , Asian-, and Hispanic- American players in the photo.

Free at Last

“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

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.

Julius Menendez also snapped this photo of SJSC and Olympic boxer Campbell, who stands with 1936 Olympian Jesse Owens in Rome, circa 1960

NCAA

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.

Black Power

“They will be known forever as two n—–s who upset the 1968 Olympic Games.  I’d rather have been known for that than as two n—–s who won two medals.”

– Willie Brown, former San Francisco Mayor and Assembly Speaker
from James Richardson’s Willie Brown: A Biography

MEXICO 1968

In the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, at the medal award ceremony for the men’s 200 metres race, Black American athletes Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) took a stand for civil rights by raising their black-gloved fists and wearing black socks in lieu of shoes (Australian silver medalist Peter Norman wore a “human rights” badge as support to them on the podium). In response, the IOC banned Smith and Carlos from the Olympic Games for life.

Wikipedia

1968

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.

Speed City Exhibit

For more information on Speed City Exhibit, please message Urla HIll on FB.

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Speed City Exhibit is a historical sports exhibition curated by Urla Hill.

A former sports reporter, Hill has been conducting original research on Speed City as a SJSU alum, educator and passionate sportswriter. She has lectured and written extensively on Speed City, Black Athletes, and Women’s Sports.

Hill holds BAs in African-American Studies and Journalism from San José State University; an MA in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences from San Francisco State University; and a PhD in American Studies at the University of Maryland at College Park.

Urla Hill was a kindergartener at Berryessa Elementary School in San José when the Carlos and Smith’s protest took place in 1968.