University of Virginia Library

Black Athletes

Like many Cavalier Daily
readers I have been following Mr.
Robert Cullen's fairly insightful
comments on black athletes and
Virginia athletics. And, I was happy
to note that the consensus among
coaches and recruiters seems to be
in favor of an all out drive to
integrate Virginia teams.

Therefore, it was somewhat puzzling
to read in the December 5th
issue of the Daily Progress that the
athletes chosen for the fifth annual
All-Central Virginia high school
football squad were feted Saturday
(December 7th) at Buddy's:

"Players selected on the first
team for either the large
school squad or the Group
Two squad plus head football
coaches and principals at
the 14 schools in the Progress'
circulation area will be
honored at a dinner
Saturday night at Buddy's.
Guest speaker will be George
Blackburn of Virginia, the
ACC Coach of the Year for
1968."

For those who have wondered
about that "Closed to the Public"
sign that graces Buddy's, the reason
for its being there is that the
management preferred to turn its
original restaurant operation into a
catering service rather than serve
Negroes. Now, even though
Buddy's may have changed its
policy in regard to whom it will and
will not serve and though it may be
that there are no Negro high school
athletes involved, the fact remains
that Buddy's has a less than savory
reputation (deserved in this writer's
opinion) among both the entire
Charlottesville black community
and many whites as well. In fact
this reputation for racism forced
the football team in the recent past
to remove its training table from
Buddy's. That the training table
was put there in the first place is of
course almost unbelievable. At any
rate, I am curious to know why Mr.
Blackburn, if he is concerned with
recruiting blacks, was willing to
attend a dinner whose location is an
affront to the very athletes he
hopes to lure here?