70's Razorbacks Recall Early Days of Integration
By: Mike Irwin
Updated: July 24, 2012
Fayetteville, ARK--Dennis "Dirt" Winston is going into the Razorback
Sports Hall of Honor next month but he almost rejected a scholarship
offer from Arkansas coming out of high school. "I came up to
Fayetteville on a visit," Winston recalled. "There weren't a lot of
black players up here period. I think there were three."
Winston's parents almost stopped speaking to to him when they suspected he was headed to play for Tennessee. His high school coach hid from him a scholarship offer to the University of Texas.
So what changed his mind?
Winston learned that Frank Broyles was giving half of his scholarship offers to black athletes that year. He was also impressed with the athleticism of some of the white players who came on that recruiting visit.
R.C. Thielemann, Bo Busby, Greg Koch, Gerald Skinner got together with Winston and Johnnie Meadors and they all decided to commit.
"All of us ended up starting as freshmen," Winston said with pride. "We won games too."
Meadors and Winston were part of an effort by Broyles to stock the defense with players who could run. "There was a young man from Gainesville, Florida by the name of Elijah Davis," Meadors explained, "He was clocked running a 60 yard dash in 6.0 seconds which back in the early 70's was unheard of."
Meadors confirmed stories that in those days the Hog defense had more overall speed than the offense.
"Yes, we did. We were more into quickness and lateral movement to position ourselves more than we were to take on a blocker. If you could get by him without touching him and get yourself in a better position than the ball carrier there was more impact on him than you."
Meadors said he didn't experience any significant integration issues at Arkansas. He was recruited by assistant coach Ken Turner. "He was a great man," Meadors remembered. "He told me about the opportunities that were there. Didn't make me any promises but he told me if I did come I would have an opportunity to do whatever I felt like I thought I could do."
Turner was right. In 1975 Meadors was named All SWC as a defensive end.
Both Meadors and Winston played on Broyles' last Cotton Bowl team in 1976 as the SEC champions.
Defensive tackle Bryson Manor missed out on that season by a year. A junior college transfer in 1973, Manor was named to the 2011 class of the Razorback Sports Hall of Honor. After his two seasons at Arkansas Manor went on to play for the Denver Broncos and made it to the Super Bowl.
Manor lives in Arkansas today and wants the state motto to be changed back to "the land of opportunity."
"That's what it was for me," Manor emphasized. "Opportunities."
He recalled those early days of integration as a time when common sense served him well. "If you got outside of Fayetteville you knew to be careful. If the speed limit was 30 you went 25. You didn't go looking for trouble but you didn't back down from it if it came your way."
"If that's what it took for me to get where I wanted to go," Manor continued, "I can deal with somebody downgrading me. I don't have to live with people like that. I don't have to see them.
As far as my experiences at the University of Arkansas, I'm still in the state," he concluded. I love it here. Whatever happened in the past if it bothered me I wouldn't still be here."
Monday night Winston, Meadors and Manor spoke about their time at Arkansas in front of an overflow crowd at the University of Arkansas Library. "It was an honor for us to be here," Manor told the Razorback Nation. Most people don't have an opportunity like this to talk about these things."
Winston's parents almost stopped speaking to to him when they suspected he was headed to play for Tennessee. His high school coach hid from him a scholarship offer to the University of Texas.
So what changed his mind?
Winston learned that Frank Broyles was giving half of his scholarship offers to black athletes that year. He was also impressed with the athleticism of some of the white players who came on that recruiting visit.
R.C. Thielemann, Bo Busby, Greg Koch, Gerald Skinner got together with Winston and Johnnie Meadors and they all decided to commit.
"All of us ended up starting as freshmen," Winston said with pride. "We won games too."
Meadors and Winston were part of an effort by Broyles to stock the defense with players who could run. "There was a young man from Gainesville, Florida by the name of Elijah Davis," Meadors explained, "He was clocked running a 60 yard dash in 6.0 seconds which back in the early 70's was unheard of."
Meadors confirmed stories that in those days the Hog defense had more overall speed than the offense.
"Yes, we did. We were more into quickness and lateral movement to position ourselves more than we were to take on a blocker. If you could get by him without touching him and get yourself in a better position than the ball carrier there was more impact on him than you."
Meadors said he didn't experience any significant integration issues at Arkansas. He was recruited by assistant coach Ken Turner. "He was a great man," Meadors remembered. "He told me about the opportunities that were there. Didn't make me any promises but he told me if I did come I would have an opportunity to do whatever I felt like I thought I could do."
Turner was right. In 1975 Meadors was named All SWC as a defensive end.
Both Meadors and Winston played on Broyles' last Cotton Bowl team in 1976 as the SEC champions.
Defensive tackle Bryson Manor missed out on that season by a year. A junior college transfer in 1973, Manor was named to the 2011 class of the Razorback Sports Hall of Honor. After his two seasons at Arkansas Manor went on to play for the Denver Broncos and made it to the Super Bowl.
Manor lives in Arkansas today and wants the state motto to be changed back to "the land of opportunity."
"That's what it was for me," Manor emphasized. "Opportunities."
He recalled those early days of integration as a time when common sense served him well. "If you got outside of Fayetteville you knew to be careful. If the speed limit was 30 you went 25. You didn't go looking for trouble but you didn't back down from it if it came your way."
"If that's what it took for me to get where I wanted to go," Manor continued, "I can deal with somebody downgrading me. I don't have to live with people like that. I don't have to see them.
As far as my experiences at the University of Arkansas, I'm still in the state," he concluded. I love it here. Whatever happened in the past if it bothered me I wouldn't still be here."
Monday night Winston, Meadors and Manor spoke about their time at Arkansas in front of an overflow crowd at the University of Arkansas Library. "It was an honor for us to be here," Manor told the Razorback Nation. Most people don't have an opportunity like this to talk about these things."
