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

[Maris61]

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!

[Beansballcardblog]

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!

[Maris61]

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.

[TanksAndSpartans]

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