By Richard Tucker
XULA employee, 1979-2019
Originally published in Xavier Gold alumni magazine, spring 2007
5-page PDF of Xavier Gold article
To those who were there at the time, the 1959 football season at Xavier didn't seem all that much different
than most of the ones preceding it.
As usual, the University fielded a spirited and competitive squad.
The Forty-Niners, as they were called back then, had their share of
talented athletes — ballplayers who on any given Saturday could go head-to-head with the best teams in the Southern
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. To be sure it was a young team —
not as experienced and poised as some more heralded XU teams of the past —
but that did not temper their enthusiasm.
And the spirit was contagious. Football, a much-anticipated weekend social event for students, drew large crowds to
each of the team's four home games.
When it was all over, Xavier had won just four of its nine games, but
fans and players alike were pretty upbeat, basking in the glow of a big season-ending win over their
cross-town rival on Thanksgiving Day.
But then the bombshell dropped.
Suddenly and with little fanfare, Xavier administrators, looking for ways to curtail overall
spending in the aftermath of the death of St. Katharine Drexel just a few years earlier,
announced their decision to discontinue all intercollegiate sports at the University.
There would be no phase-out period — as of that moment, athletics at Xavier was history.
Otis Washington '61, team captain of the '59 squad, said the news hit him like a brick. He recalls walking through the
Quad on an otherwise normal spring day when a fellow student handed him a pamphlet bearing the bad news.
"It came as a great disappointment to all of us," confirmed Amos Evans, a junior reserve offensive
guard and linebacker/nose tackle on the '59 squad, now a retired purchasing director for Gillette
in Los Angeles. "We had a lot of talent coming back for the 1960 season and were really
looking forward to having a breakout year."
"While I was upset about not being able to play out my senior year, my biggest concern when I first got
the news was about my financial aid," said Lester Lee '61, a junior tight end/defensive end.
"I'm happy to say that none of us lost our awards or scholarships. Xavier found a way to take care of us."
Nevertheless, with their athletic careers suddenly in jeopardy, some players opted to leave Xavier —
while others chose to stick it out.
"I seriously considered giving pro baseball a try," said Washington, an All-Conference
linebacker/offensive guard who was being scouted by several professional teams.
"But my mother insisted that I stay in school and finish my education."
His mom died shortly after, but Washington stayed true to his promise, eventually getting a coaching job at St.
Augustine High School in New Orleans, where he became a local legend — winning three state football titles.
Grant Ward '65, a freshman quarterback/defensive back, took things one step further.
"My reaction was to pack up and leave," said Ward, a former general manager for the
Transit Authority in Chicago, Ill., where he still resides today. "I went back home
and worked for the post office. After about a year, I took a good look at myself and
said 'No, you can do better than this' and returned to Xavier."
At the time, many of the athletes were bitter about the sudden turn of events. But upon later
reflection — much later reflection — they concede that the Sisters
probably made the right decision that fateful day.
The reality of the situation was that University was competing against large state schools
that had nearly 100 players on their rosters. The XU program — applying some tougher academic standards and cutting program
costs to the bone even before making the difficult decision to call it quits — hadn't
fielded a squad of more than 35 players in the past three years.
"We were usually much smaller physically than the teams we were playing against,"
said Leroy Holmes '60, a guard/linebacker on the team,
"and we were always outmanned. And this was before integration, so all of the
best players were still playing for these Black state schools."
And football itself was a different game in 1959.
There was none of the "free substitution" that prevails today
where players come in and out of the game on almost every play.
The rules of the day required starters to play both offense and defense —
and for extended periods of time — so over the course
of a whole season, XU players would invariably take a beating.
Still, going into the '59 season, the players were optimistic
of improving on their 3-3-1 record of the previous year. There was a good mix of wily veterans and
talented newcomers, and heading up the program was long-time head coach and athletic director
Alfred Priestly, a man to be both feared and admired.
"Priestly was a real intelligent coach who knew how to get the
best effort out of the players he had," said Clarence '(mo)Lasses' White '61, a junior offensive
and defensive lineman on the squad. "We always felt that if we did what coach told us to do we
would have a chance to win, no matter who we were up against."
Evans, one of those who left XU after the announcement, eventually graduating from California State, agreed.
"Playing for Coach Priestly was an experience in itself," he said. "I still tell my grandchildren some of
the things he said and did."
One of those quirks was the old coach's habit of calling just about every
player on the team "Jim" no matter what their real name. Not that anyone particularly minded –
they were playing for a legend, and they all knew it.
"Priestly ran a real tight ship – he was a no-nonsense kind of guy," said Lee, a retired
research chemist for the U.S. Navy now living in Ft. Washington, Md. "He was so rigid
with his discipline that we couldn't even take photos with our girlfriends and family after the games.
He considered that showboating."
"When traveling we were all well-dressed and required to display a high level of decorum,"
he added. "Coach always reminded us that we were "Xavier Men" and that we were
representing the University."
While the season itself began with high hopes and expectations, the opener at Tuskegee
was a foreteller of future disappointments to come.
Although XU running backs had a field day in the open field on that rather hot Saturday afternoon,
the Forty-Niners could put only one touchdown on the board despite getting inside the Tuskegee
25-yard line on six different occasions. That lone score – a four-yard, second quarter plunge by
freshman running back George Love '63 – held up until the last minute of the game, when
the Tuskegee's two highly-touted All-SIAC players hooked up on a forty-yard scoring pass.
They kicked the winning extra point as time expired.
Ironically, the Tuskegee game was a life-altering event for Love, who suffered what
eventually would be a career-ending injury after having worked himself up from backup to starter during pre-season drills.
"I tore a knee ligament during the first week of practice, but I was too young to know how badly I had injured myself
and too proud to tell the coaches I was hurt," said Love, now owner of a real estate partnership in Denver, Colo.
"I took a hit directly on the knee late in the game that pretty much finished me for good."
It was a blessing in disguise. Love, who confessed he did little but "play football and chase girls" while
he was an athlete, suddenly had to hit the books. When then Dean of Students Norman Francis passed
along the word that all former athletes needed to pull a "C" average to retain their scholarships,
Love got the message. By graduation he was a solid "B" student and had served as student body president.
Next up on the schedule was Alabama State, and the Forty-Niners rebounded from that opening loss with
a 19-14 win before a capacity crowd in their home opener. Running backs Donald Bisbee and Albert
"Mr. Powerhouse" Williams led the way with 159 and 91 yards rushing, respectively, as XU built
up a 19-0 lead and then held off a desperate fourth quarter State rally.
"Bisbee and Williams were as good as any players I saw in 32 years of coaching," recalled Washington,
the first African American to coach football on the collegiate level at LSU and still a resident of Baton Rouge.
"They could have been All-Americans anywhere."
Floyd Banks '60, a junior center/linebacker, made a tackle in the Alabama State game that still resonates with him today.
"I came up from linebacker spot and hit the tight end so hard he had to leave the game," laughed Banks,
a retired principal now living in his hometown of Memphis. "Some of the guys from Selma took exception
to that, but it was a legitimate hit."
Southern University of Baton Rouge came to town the following week. The match-up drew another full
house to the XU field, but the Forty-Niners — totally outgunned and outmanned — proved no
match for the powerful state squad, dropping a 38-12 decision. Among the few highlights for the Xavier faithful
that day were Ward's return of an interception for a touchdown, and a 45-yard, fourth quarter TD pass
reception by Lee.
For White, however, now a retired therapist in Sartell, Minn., it was the best of times. He was having
a pretty good defensive game, easily getting around his blocker and sacking one of Southern's two
quarterbacks several times.
"Every time I hit him I'd say something like, 'Hey, how come your teammates don't block for you like they do for the other guy,
don't they like you?" said White. "He never answered, but you could tell he was rattled. Unfortunately the other guy had a great game."
Xavier returned the favor in the week four game against Alabama A&M. Dominating the Bulldogs by a score of 22-6,
the Forty-Niner defense had perhaps its best showing of the season, holding A&M to just two first downs.
Again it was Bisbee leading the offense, running for 179 yards and a touchdown, while reserve quarterback Ward scrambled for the other two scores.
"(Grant) Ward, my home boy, who was just a freshman, came in after our
regular quarterback (Herman Bacchus) was injured and really did a great job in that game," said Lee.
Unfortunately the promise and optimism that prevailed during that 2-2 start abandoned the
team in the weeks that followed. Injuries to some key players took much of the bite out of
the Xavier offense and in two of the next three games, the Forty-Niners were shut out,
losing to Lane College 6-0 and Bethune-Cookman 28-0.
Sandwiched into between those two setbacks was a heartbreaking 32-28 loss to Clark College
that put a damper on homecoming activities. Xavier actually led 28-26 with just under
two minutes remaining, but a pass interference call gave the Panthers new life and
they later scored on a 20-yard run in the closing seconds. It was Xavier's second
gut-wrenching loss of the season.
But just when all seemed lost, however, the Xavier squad put it all together again one last time.
In their big season finale with bitter archrival Dillard, the Forty-Niners crushed the Devils
in their own backyard by a score of 21-9. Bisbee scored two touchdowns and Lee another as XU dominated
the game from start to finish. It was the 11th time in 14 games that Xavier had defeated its cross-town
rival in the "Bone of Contention" series, which ran from 1946 to 1959.
"That one game sticks out in my mind," said Washington, recalling one of the top performances of his career,
which included a blocked punt, several quarterback sacks, a few hole-opening blocks on offense.
Evans echoed the sentiment. "As I recall it was our first win on the road in three years," he said,
"so that one was pretty special." And just that quickly it was over, although at the time no one
knew how "over" it really was.
"Looking back, I think we can all fully appreciate the opportunity we had to get the kind of
education we received at Xavier," said Holmes, now a retired salesman living in Detroit, Mich.
"Getting to play football was just lagniappe."
As events played out — and to borrow a phrase from Mark Twain — the death of athletics at the
University was largely exaggerated.
In just seven years, Xavier men were back on the basketball court. In the decades that followed
the intercollegiate athletic program expanded and now includes men's and women's basketball, cross country and tennis.
Xavier football, however, had taken its last snap.
| 1959 XULA Football Schedule |
| Date (Day) | Opponent | Site | Result | XULA | Opponent |
| Sept. 26, 1959 (Sat.) | Tuskegee | A-Tuskegee, Ala. | L | 6 | 7 |
| Oct. 3, 1959 (Sat.) | Alabama State | H-Xavier Stadium | W | 19 | 14 |
| Oct. 10, 1959 (Sat.) | Southern | H-Xavier Stadium | L | 12 | 35 |
| Oct. 17, 1959 (Sat.) | Alabama A&M | H-Xavier Stadium | W | 22 | 6 |
| Oct. 24, 1959 (Sat.) | Lane | A-Jackson, Tenn. | L | 0 | 6 |
| Nov. 7, 1959 (Sat.) | Clark (Ga.) | H-Xavier Stadium | L | 28 | 32 |
| Nov. 14, 1959 (Sat.) | Bethune-Cookman | A-Daytona Beach, Fla. | L | 0 | 28 |
| Nov. 26, 1959 (Thu.) | Dillard | A-New Orleans, La. | W | 21 | 9 |
