On this episode of Dave Does History, we tackle one of the most controversial and pivotal moments in college football history: the Johnny Bright Incident. On October 20, 1951, during a heated game between Drake University and Oklahoma A&M, star African American quarterback Johnny Bright was brutally attacked on the field in a targeted, racially motivated hit. Despite national outrage and photographic evidence, no penalties were enforced, and the incident went down in history as a glaring example of the racial tensions gripping America in the 1950s.
Join me as we explore Johnny Bright’s remarkable career, the aftermath of that fateful day, and how it reshaped the rules of college football. We’ll discuss how this moment symbolized the broader civil rights struggle and examine the long-lasting impact it had on sports and society. Don’t miss this powerful story of resilience in the face of injustice.
Welcome back to Dave Does History. Today, we’re turning the clock back to October 20, 1951—where a college football game in Stillwater, Oklahoma, turned ugly and sparked a national conversation about race, sportsmanship, and the cost of looking the other way.
Johnny Bright was an African American quarterback for Drake University, a small school in Des Moines, Iowa. But don’t let that fool you—Bright was a powerhouse, one of the best players in the country, and on track to break multiple NCAA records. He wasn’t just good—he was electrifying. As a quarterback, he could throw the ball with pinpoint accuracy, but he was just as dangerous running it. In a sport dominated by white athletes at the time, Johnny Bright stood out—and not just because of his skin color.
But here’s where the tension builds. It’s 1951, and while the country’s slowly making moves toward desegregation, college football, especially in places like Oklahoma, is a different beast. Bright’s mere presence on the field was enough to stir up resentment. Oklahoma A&M—now Oklahoma State University—was one of those schools where Black athletes weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms. In fact, there were rumors swirling before the game that Bright would be targeted, that the Oklahoma A&M players had it out for him.
Unfortunately, those rumors weren’t just talk.
On October 20th, 1951, Drake University took the field against Oklahoma A&M. The game had barely started—it was the first play from scrimmage —when a shocking event happened. Johnny Bright took a snap, handed the ball off to a running back, and after the play was over, a defensive tackle named Wilbanks Smith drove his fist directly into Bright’s head. It was not a football hit; it was a cheap shot—a deliberate blow to the jaw.
Now, to put it in perspective: Bright hadn’t even thrown the ball. He didn’t have it anymore. The play was over. There’s no excuse. This was as dirty as it gets.
Bright’s jaw was broken. And here’s the thing—he didn’t come off the field right away. He stayed in the game for several plays, throwing a 61-yard touchdown pass, before the pain forced him to leave. Talk about toughness. But make no mistake, that hit was no accident. Bright was targeted, plain and simple.
What makes this more than just another brutal football play is what happened—or, rather, what didn’t happen—afterward. No penalty was called. No flags were thrown. It’s as if the refs didn’t even see it, or maybe they just didn’t care. The game went on like nothing had happened.
But thanks to some quick-thinking photographers from The Des Moines Register, the entire thing was caught on camera. They snapped a series of photos showing the moment of impact—the swing of the arm, the hit to the head, and Bright crumpling to the ground. These pictures would soon become infamous, capturing in still images what everyone on that field already knew: Johnny Bright had been targeted, not because of how he played the game, but because of the color of his skin.
And folks, that’s when things really got heated.
College football in 1951 was still a segregated game in many places. The Missouri Valley Conference, where Drake played, wasn’t known for having many Black players, and in the South, it was even worse. Bright was one of the few African American stars, and his success on the field didn’t sit well with everyone, especially in places like Stillwater, Oklahoma, where the home team wasn’t about to let a Black man show them up.
Drake University didn’t take this lying down. After the incident, they demanded an investigation. But the Missouri Valley Conference? They didn’t do much of anything. There was no punishment for Oklahoma A&M, and Wilbanks Smith, the player who threw the punch, never faced any real consequences. The lack of action was a slap in the face, not just for Bright, but for the whole idea of fair play. Drake was so disgusted by the conference’s inaction that they pulled their football team out of the Missouri Valley altogether.
But there’s a silver lining here. The photographs of that hit sparked a national conversation, one that couldn’t be ignored. This wasn’t just a football story—it was a story about race in America, about the challenges African American athletes faced when they stepped onto the field. And it had real consequences for the sport. In the wake of the Johnny Bright incident, the NCAA introduced new rules requiring players to wear face masks on their helmets to prevent similar injuries. It might not sound like much today, but back then, it was a big deal.
And Johnny Bright? He didn’t let this incident define him. Despite that brutal attack, he went on to have a Hall of Fame career in the Canadian Football League, where he dominated for years and became one of the league’s greatest players. After his playing days, he became an educator, making an impact off the field just as he had on it. He took what could’ve been a career-ending moment of violence and turned it into a legacy of strength, perseverance, and class.
Oklahoma State, for their part, took a long time to acknowledge what happened that day. It wasn’t until 2005—more than fifty years after the game—that the university officially apologized to Drake University and to Johnny Bright’s family. It was a moment of reckoning, and while it didn’t erase what had happened, it was at least an acknowledgment that wrong had been done.
The game and its aftermath are a reminder of the struggles that African American athletes faced in a world where their achievements were often overshadowed by the prejudices they had to overcome. It’s a story about resilience in the face of injustice. And it’s a lesson in how sports, for all their flaws, can sometimes serve as a mirror for the larger battles happening in society.
Johnny Bright stood tall, even when the system tried to knock him down. And that is why we remember him today.
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