researching obscure college football player--1951 Topps Magic #65 Bill Matthews
 

Hello! I am trying to research an apparently fairly obscure American college football player by the name of Bill Matthews, also whose card (#65) in the 1951 Topps Magic seems to be the only horizontally oriented one in that set. It looks like Matthews may have been a halfback (though I forget where I read that). He played for New York University. His birth date (going backwards from his age printed on the trading card) was around 1925. Also, he hailed from Carteret, NJ. While there are several archived newspaper game reports online (along with one interesting feature from an old Univ. of Michigan student/alumni paper called “Conning the Campus,” when it seems Matthews tried to switch from NYU to play elsewhere), for me the trail has gone cold immediately after his college playing days with NYU. So far I have also had little luck with the few online reference databases that I’ve tried searching (such as www.pro-football-reference.com, http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/, and http://www.aaregistry.org). Finally, I wonder if he was African American. Almost all of the black football players from that era (even the college ones) have been pretty well documented, so chances are that he was not. . . . In any case, I am trying to dig just a bit more to find out whatever little else I can about this unknown college football player. (After the forums, my next research stop may be NYU athletics or the alumni folks.) Any help is appreciated!

I just want to say "good luck" and that I hope you follow up on here if you find anything.

It's not card related, but there was a goalie at Colorado College in the 1950s that shares my name. It's spelled differently, but I still am intrigued. I can't find much on him either so I completely understand what you're wanting to accomplish.

Best of luck!

And another total unknown barrier breaker--1951 Topps Magic #74 Lawrence Hairston
 

Well thank you anyway for the well wishes, wvu_class_of_2001....
I still haven't found out any further info about the player.
In fact, I came across another early African American player/card from the same set w/ equally scant-to-nonexistent bio. info available: 1951 Topps Magic #74
Lawrence Hairston.... Even if they're "barrier breakers" (relatively) given their era, I guess the utter lack of info on these early black football players is not too unusual for this college athlete set.

Matthews career may have been cut short when the NYU football program was cancelled, March 10, 1953. The 1950-52 New York University were a less than impressive aggregate, led by Coach Hugh Devore who compiled a career record with the Violets of just 4 wins, 17 losses, with 2 ties.

One of the few highlights I could find of Matthews playing days was in a 21-13 victory over the King's Point Mariners when he scored two touchdowns, one a 78 yard punt return for a score (The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 6, 1951) His play could not overcome the lackluster team, described as "a weak outfit" (Syracuse Post Standard, November 26, 1950), who "dropped six in a row" in 1951. (Syracuse Post Standard, November 25, 1951)

There is probably much more about his playing days in one of the New York city newspapers, but they are not archived online. I'll see what else I can dig up, but it may be a day or two before I can get to it. Best of luck.

Given the era, I don't think black college athletes at northern schools is that ground breaking.

Here is a good article: http://espn.go.com/espn/blackhistory...ard&id=3254974

And a quote:

"Generally, the conferences north of the Mason-Dixon line integrated much earlier than the SEC and ACC. William Henry Lewis was an African-American All-American football player at Harvard in 1892 while attending Harvard Law School. William Edward White played baseball on Brown's 1879 team."

Great topic - I love researching the obscure players that appear on cards. I think since these players never played pro football, this is a tough assignment. Imagine a player who made all conference 10 years ago, but was never drafted by the NFL - a good player, but even in the internet age - you may not find a lot of info....

Great article!

Omitted were colleges out West. Where, Ernie Tanner (1889-1956) integrated the Whitworth College football team (1908-09). Frequently compared to Jim Thorpe, Tanner was professed to be "the greatest athlete ever produced in the state of Washington" in his 1956 obituary. He was a phenomenal four sport/four year athlete in high school, who led tiny Whitworth College to an upset victory over the University of Oregon on the gridiron in 1908 (16-10).

He was also an influential African American labor leader on the Tacoma waterfront for decades. Just picked up the ca. 1905-07 Tacoma track photo with Ernie Tanner below (never thought I'd get an image of him, my favorite pick-up in years).
http://www.blackpast.org/aaw/ernest-c-tanner-1889-1956

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psvnekmkor.jpg

Great info - thanks Ty and nice pick up!

Ty, thank you for the info on NYU's program--as well as the bio and fantastic photo of Tanner.

And thanks for the other input, John. Also, I think I consider players as "barrier breaking" a little more loosely than some others would use that term. And even in baseball, for exmple, there were different periods where a few black athletes played very early before the majority colluded to ban them--and then of course another, bigger wave with integration much later on beginning w/ Robinson. But still some very good points. And it does appear that some schools were integrating well ahead of other schools (and ahead of the professional leagues). Again, though, from the article and other random sources, I'm still unclear how pervasive the integration was for many of the schools--even those that may have had, say, one player of color, which is far from demonstrating a program was peacefully "integrated." And I like how that article alludes to the difficulties of those who may have been the lone athlete of color on their team or even in their entire school. . . . Even if some school has one black football player twenty years prior, I'd still credit another black athlete as a barrier breaker if they're among the first such athlete in whatever their own region or individual school. . . . In any case, I appreciate the dialogue on this--and that ESPN article.

Thanks Maris61 - great points. 99% of my reading is focused on pro football history - so I'm in many ways not the right one to ask about anything related to college football :).

Similar questions though have been interesting to me - for example I've wondered if football had a Satchel Paige type figure. I came up with Kenny Washington who appears in both the 48 Bowman and 48 Leaf set. From what I've read, he didn't get the first team AA honors he deserved and then on top of that despite interest from Halas, he didn't get drafted by the NFL. Going from memory, he basically didn't get to play in the NFL until after his prime although I do believe he did play in a Pacific Coast league. And then like you said, being the only black player couldn't have been great. I'm sure I have some of this wrong, but there was a road trip where where Hugh McElhenny would see Joe Perry at practice, but not in the hotel or at dinner. On the way home, Hugh said - "Joe, where have you been?". Turns out Perry had to stay in a private residence.

Awesome points everyone. It's nice when a community of reasonable people can contribute to a board.

I recently completed a book on the integration of professional baseball by Jimmy Claxton, May 28, 1916. When the project began, I thought Claxton was an anomaly who passed as Native American, and was probably remembered more for his baseball card than integration. I did not understand the scope of both failed and "successful" attempts to integrate the game.

By the end I realized he was just the tip of the iceberg. The nearly anonymous careers of Ernie Tanner, Ike Ward (possibly the first African American manager of a white baseball team, Colville 1913-15), Bruce Petway (who integrated baseball in Oakland long before Claxton, 1904), "Big Chief" Dick Brookins, Owen "Bazz" Smaulding, John Prim, Carlisle Perry, Eddie Jackson, Charley Allen, Lang Akana, Vernon Ayau, Tom "Circus" Mooney, Albert "Smiley" Clayton, Foy Scott, etc.... Were just as fascinating and implausible. These men integrated college teams, and the lower levels of organized baseball out West prior to WW2.

Point being: that one card, the 1951 Topps Magic Bill Matthews probably represents tens or hundreds of other individuals who struggled against exclusion in sports. While an NFL career never materialized for Matthews that could be for any number of reasons. Was he Jackie Robinson? No. Was he Marion Motley or Ben Willis? No. But, I would say any individual who integrated the college or professional gridiron or baseball diamond prior to the Civil Rights Movement (1954-68) was a ground-breaker.

I think I’m just rehashing what’s known:

Violet halfback Bill Matthews scored after a long march on a three yard buck over center.

Link: http://spectatorarchive.library.colu...ia-ARTICLE----

And found this: Hooks Mylin, who at best has not many football players at NYU got an awful shock the other day when Bill Matthews, flashy sop halfback phoned the news that he was transferring to Michigan.

Link: https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...,7552285&hl=en

Finally, newspapers .com mentioned his race, but I couldn’t view more of the article.

While the trail on Matthews is cold, here is a card of a barrier breaker who played college, but not pro football, who was much easier to research. Before I gave up on 48 Leaf, this was my write-up on the registry:

1st African American captain of Yale; After playing football on the Camp Lee team in Virginia for the U.S. Army, he turned down an offer to play for the New York Giants. That would have made him the first African-American to play in the modern National Football League.

Definitely one of the things I really like about this hobby is learning about players who I would have not known about where it not for their cards.

Did ya lose interest, or cost issues on the '48 leaf? ..moved on to chicle instead? Just got the curious bug this mornin.

Great Levi Jackson card!

Bill Matthews ran track at NYU in 1951 as well, according to the NYU yearbook on Heritage.com, but I cannot find him in New York after, or at Michigan. He's not part of the 1952 or 1953 Michigan Wolverine rosters. Here's a strange guess, but is Bill Matthews the son of William Matthews who integrated baseball's Northern League in 1905? William also went on to be an influential Boston lawyer until his death in 1928. Are these two related? Both NYU and Michigan are known for their Law Schools. If so, to skip an NFL career to study and practice law is perfectly reasonable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Clarence_Matthews

Hi Ty, I suspect Matthews never actually went to Michigan, but I have no idea why that fell through.

I noticed that William Clarence Matthews was much easier to find info on as he kept showing up in all my searches - it would be amazing if they were related, but it just seems more likely its a coincidence.

Hi Shawn, I was about halfway done with Chicle when I started on the Leaf. I think I made it up to about 40 cards. it sounds strange, but I kind of got burnt out on it - the eBay auctions were constant - it started feeling more like a job than fun. And the rarer high numbered cards were mostly of college players and often didn't fit with my interest in NFL history. I don't regret having started it, I just don't think I had the budget or commitment for it. I really like the early Bowman sets too, but I think I'll be happy just doing some player runs so I have some cards from 48-55 without going after entire sets.

I may have a lead - check out this link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ie=UTF8&btkr=1

Wanted to share a PFRA link that turned into an interesting discussion. My other alias "TanksAndSpartans" steps into the fray on page 2:

http://www.profootballresearchers.co...=3498&start=10

Looks like there was another new documentary "The Forgotten Four" and like "Before the League" it was only available to Time Warner subscribers. I still haven't seen either. Anyone catch them?

John- The Forgotten Four is playing on the NFL Network, don't have a viewers guide in front of me but I watched it last Saturday night. It is well done, have never caught Before the League.

Thank you all for adding to the discussion and what little info is available to the knowledge base for Matthews. (Also, I'd just started a new job, so I got a bit distracted from checking back in here.) The additional mentioned book resource(s) for this topic look(s) promising, too. . . . And agreed on that 1948 Leaf Levi Jackson card--it is indeed a pretty nice pick.
Thanks again!

Maris61, happy to add to the thread - glad you started it.

Mike, NFL Network is good news!, of course I had to downgrade when my promotion ran out a few months ago, but I'll try to find a way to catch it.

I get SCD second hand from a friend when they are done and there was a good article on 1950 Topps feltbacks recently - it mentioned Levi Jackson and Deacon Dan Towler as "among the black players" and the first thing that came to my mind was is Bill Matthews in there? Here is the article:

http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.co...pps-felt-backs

One last thing - I really like this chart that Neal Rozendall gives us:

1920 – 2 (Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall)
1921 – 4
1922 – 5
1923 – 5
1924 – 3
1925 – 5
1926 – 5

1927 – 1 (Duke Slater)
1928 – 2
1929 – 1 (Duke Slater)
1930 – 2
1931 – 2
1932 – 1 (Joe Lillard)
1933 – 2 (Joe Lillard and Ray Kemp)

It shows that participation by black players in the early NFL was never that great and after some teams folded before the 27 season, it was very limited. Football wasn't that different than Baseball after all. Images of these guys would make for a nice "pioneer" collection. Something else I learned - Duke Slater is a pretty solid HOF candidate - another player lost in the shuffle of history - I plan to read up some more on his career myself.

John - I really enjoyed the felt back article. I picked up four at a local show a couple of weeks ago and in my 40 plus years of collecting they are the first I have ever owned.

Fantastic stuff, John! Really enjoyed the links to Neal Rozendaal's blog entries about the Forgotten Four as well. Great, great stuff.

I just read Joe Carr's bio and recall there were some discussion in it about this issue and will have to go back now and see how well this discussion aligns with Neal's thoughts.

jeff

More on "Common" Barrier breakers--and relative unknown Bill Matthews
 

This was a LOOONG time coming, but I wanted to share it after I dug a little deeper on Bill Matthews--largely with the encouraging help and support provided here at Net54--and the idea of the "common" card players who were nevertheless barrier breakers in their own rights. Also, one essential artifact that I found online (some scans from an ebay auction I believe) but sadly subsequently misplaced or mistakenly deleted on my computer was an inside page from a 1950 NYU vs. Fordham football game program that pictured and mentioned Matthews. If anyone here has that particular program or stumbles on it and wants to share, please do. I would love to add that to my sports ephemera blog post on this subject.
Be well!