Georgia U. made HG very happy as the ferocious Dawg Defense throttled Alabama and won the National College Football Association Championship by a 33-18 score. (Quarterback Stetson Bennett also contributed to the win). The Freeman family has had a long, affectionate relationship with Georgia. HG’s late cousin, Dr. Gustave Freeman faced certain discrimination from Ivy League schools who had limited admission policies for Jewish applicants; thus, Gustave graduated from Georgia in the mid-1920’s – he was a college boxing champion and later a noted cancer researcher, first to link smoking with the disease. HG’ s late elder brother, Bernard, graduated in the 1930’s (he was a freshman football star known as “The Russian Bull”; his athletic career ended due to a tragic plane accident; he lived but lost most of his right leg). His son, the late financial /real estate luminary, Paul, went to Georgia as did Paul’s sisters. More family followed. So, the Dawgs and the Freemans go back almost 100 years. After high school HG visited the Georgia campus but found racial segregation horrifying (‘WHITE” and “COLORED” signs everywhere). HG was also shocked by seeing a chain gang working on a highway. African-American prisoners in stripes, chained together; sweltering in the summer heat; overseen by a rifle toting white officer. Seared in HG’s memory. HG matriculated at New York’s CCNY, where leftist intellectuals would battle against any type of discrimination except merit. While watching the many African-American grid warriors on the Dawgs-Crimson Tide teams, HG mused that college (and pro) football had become a much better and more exciting game once Black people began to play a major (often dominant) role. Blacks, of course, transformed basketball into a spectacle.
Leave a Reply