oracle
10-24-2001, 01:22 PM
Amazing how the dems managed to convince blacks that Reagan was a racist...
From Stories In His Own Hand, The Everyday Wisdom of Ronald Reagan -
Reagan and Race in the 1930s
From Inside Sports
March 31, 1981
IS: Mr. President, I had lunch with Franklin Burghardt, who played with you in college, and he told an interesting story. The Eureka College team was on the road and scheduled to check into a hotel that turned out to be for whites only. They weren't going to let the black players stay with the rest of the team in the hotel. And a fellow named Reagan talked to the coach about making other arrangements. Do you remember that?
REAGAN: I remember it, but I didn't know that we hadn't fooled Burgie. I knew everybody in town, which was about 15 miles from where we were to play, so I went in with the coach to introduce him to the hotel manager. And the hotel manager said he would take everyone but Burghardt and the other black on the team. So our coach said, "Well then, we're going someplace else." And the manager said, "I think I might as well tell you that no other hotel will either."
Now I was horrified. I suppose it was one of the first real jolts I'd had about this thing. It's what I meant when I said that grew up in an era when the country didn't even know it had a racial problem. This wasn't the Deep South - this was northern Illinois. And this was being said to our teammates. Our coach was so made that he said, "We'll sleep in the bus." And I stopped him then, which wasn't easy because I had that feeling that a fellow frequently has for a coach - you don't argue with him. But I said, "Mac, if you do that it will be worse for them [the blacks]. They'll feel that everyone has been made uncomfortable because of them. Why don't you go out there and tell them that you can only take part of the squad in here." He had previously told me that I would have to stay with the squad, that I couldn't go home - there in my hometown. So I said, "Tell them that we're going to have to split up. Then I'll take the two of them home." And, mad as he was about it, he looked at me kind of wide-eyed and said, "You, really ...?" And I said, "Well, yes, of course. No problem."
IS: That was not a common occurrence in those days.
REAGAN: No. But I knew my folks. I'd been raised with a hatred for bigotry. because my father was Catholic and my mother was Protestant, I knew what it was like to go to school and hear the kids talking about the Catholic church; the basement being full of guns for the day when the Pop was going to conquer America. And, Go bless them, my parents never even blinked. I got there with my two black teammates and told my mother there wasn't enough room in the hotel for all of us.
IS: Dr. Burghardt remembers it well.
REAGAN: I didn't know Burgie ever knew that....You know in those days, if you had a black playing on your team and the other team didn't, he took an awful lot of abuse - verbal and otherwise. And I remember what it would do to the rest of the team. One day, when the other team was 14-0 ahead with three minutes to go in the first half, the players started on Burgie. By the half it was 14-14 and we won the game 43-14. And I know that the way they treated Burgie really inspired us.
In another game, Burgie and the fellow opposite him were having a blood battle. Burgie had a bad knee, and the fellow knew it. The things this fellow was saying to him - and being right there beside him at guard, I heard every bit of it. Looking across the huddle at Burgie and seeing his lip bleeding from where he was biting at it, some of our players wanted to get this guy. But Burgie said, "This is my fight." There was nothing dirty done, but Burgie literally beat this guy into the ground, just with legitimate football. And in the fourth quarter, they took this fellow out, and he started off the field, and he was wobbling. The all of a sudden he stopped, turned and came back - I have trouble telling this. He elbowed his way through the two teams, to where we were standing, waiting for play to resume. Tears were running down his face, and he stuck out this hand and he said, "I just want you to know - you're the whitest guy I've ever met."
And I thought, that was a lesson learned in football.
From Stories In His Own Hand, The Everyday Wisdom of Ronald Reagan -
Reagan and Race in the 1930s
From Inside Sports
March 31, 1981
IS: Mr. President, I had lunch with Franklin Burghardt, who played with you in college, and he told an interesting story. The Eureka College team was on the road and scheduled to check into a hotel that turned out to be for whites only. They weren't going to let the black players stay with the rest of the team in the hotel. And a fellow named Reagan talked to the coach about making other arrangements. Do you remember that?
REAGAN: I remember it, but I didn't know that we hadn't fooled Burgie. I knew everybody in town, which was about 15 miles from where we were to play, so I went in with the coach to introduce him to the hotel manager. And the hotel manager said he would take everyone but Burghardt and the other black on the team. So our coach said, "Well then, we're going someplace else." And the manager said, "I think I might as well tell you that no other hotel will either."
Now I was horrified. I suppose it was one of the first real jolts I'd had about this thing. It's what I meant when I said that grew up in an era when the country didn't even know it had a racial problem. This wasn't the Deep South - this was northern Illinois. And this was being said to our teammates. Our coach was so made that he said, "We'll sleep in the bus." And I stopped him then, which wasn't easy because I had that feeling that a fellow frequently has for a coach - you don't argue with him. But I said, "Mac, if you do that it will be worse for them [the blacks]. They'll feel that everyone has been made uncomfortable because of them. Why don't you go out there and tell them that you can only take part of the squad in here." He had previously told me that I would have to stay with the squad, that I couldn't go home - there in my hometown. So I said, "Tell them that we're going to have to split up. Then I'll take the two of them home." And, mad as he was about it, he looked at me kind of wide-eyed and said, "You, really ...?" And I said, "Well, yes, of course. No problem."
IS: That was not a common occurrence in those days.
REAGAN: No. But I knew my folks. I'd been raised with a hatred for bigotry. because my father was Catholic and my mother was Protestant, I knew what it was like to go to school and hear the kids talking about the Catholic church; the basement being full of guns for the day when the Pop was going to conquer America. And, Go bless them, my parents never even blinked. I got there with my two black teammates and told my mother there wasn't enough room in the hotel for all of us.
IS: Dr. Burghardt remembers it well.
REAGAN: I didn't know Burgie ever knew that....You know in those days, if you had a black playing on your team and the other team didn't, he took an awful lot of abuse - verbal and otherwise. And I remember what it would do to the rest of the team. One day, when the other team was 14-0 ahead with three minutes to go in the first half, the players started on Burgie. By the half it was 14-14 and we won the game 43-14. And I know that the way they treated Burgie really inspired us.
In another game, Burgie and the fellow opposite him were having a blood battle. Burgie had a bad knee, and the fellow knew it. The things this fellow was saying to him - and being right there beside him at guard, I heard every bit of it. Looking across the huddle at Burgie and seeing his lip bleeding from where he was biting at it, some of our players wanted to get this guy. But Burgie said, "This is my fight." There was nothing dirty done, but Burgie literally beat this guy into the ground, just with legitimate football. And in the fourth quarter, they took this fellow out, and he started off the field, and he was wobbling. The all of a sudden he stopped, turned and came back - I have trouble telling this. He elbowed his way through the two teams, to where we were standing, waiting for play to resume. Tears were running down his face, and he stuck out this hand and he said, "I just want you to know - you're the whitest guy I've ever met."
And I thought, that was a lesson learned in football.