Cougars of Any Color

After years of playing sub-par teams in weak athletic conferences, the University of Houston athletic program sought to overcome its underdog reputation by integrating its football and basketball programs in 1964. Cougar coaches Bill Yeoman and Guy V. Lewis knew the radical move would grant them access to a wealth of talented athletes untouched by segregated Southern programs, and brought on several talented black athletes in the fall semester, including Don Chaney, Elvin Hayes, and Warren McVea. By 1968, the Cougars had transformed into an athletic powerhouse and revolutionized the nature of collegiate athletics in the South.
This book gives the Cougars athletes and coaches the recognition long denied them. It outlines the athletic department’s handling of the integration, the experiences of the school’s first black athletes, and the impact that the University of Houston’s integration had on other programs.

Katherine Lopez is an assistant curator of education at Blaffer Gallery, Art Museum of the University of Houston in Texas. She lives in Houston.

Katherine Lopez
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 220
Bibliographic Info: 21 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3721-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2067-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      v

Preface      1

Introduction      3

1: UH Integration: A Fait Accompli      11

2: Rogue Athletics      27

3: Hunting Cougars      36

4: Coach, Meet My Mother      56

5: “Two Different Races … Two Different Sides of the World”      75

6: Ready or Not, Let the Redvolution Begin      99

7: Losing the Battle but Winning the War      127

8: Game of the Century      143

9: A Cruel Deception Indeed      159

Conclusion      175

Chapter Notes      183

Bibliography      205

Index      211