Undergraduate Research at Virginia Tech

College Football: Inspiration for Research

By Alyssa Haak, English major

College football is of interest to many people at Virginia Tech, but, for senior honors student John Cassara of Centerville, Va., it served as an inspiration for undergraduate research.

Having always been an avid sports fan, particularly of college football, Cassara wanted to learn more about the history of sports programs. He began his undergraduate research career as a sophomore in Peter Wallenstein’s Historical Methods class, where he researched two stories of race and baseball in 1950s Virginia, and then began researching the history of race and football as a junior for Wallenstein’s History of Higher Education course. This class requires researching and writing a major paper related to higher education. Cassara selected the subject he loves; his paper focused on the first two African American college football players at a predominantly white college or university -- William Henry Lewis and William Tecumseh Sherman Jackson, both at Amherst College in 1889. The class assignment became the starting point for his undergraduate thesis research, which aimed to show the many faces, figures, and personal histories of the students who integrated collegiate football.

Focus

One of Cassara’s core findings was that there is no Jackie Robinson figure in collegiate football integration. It is impossible to have a single figure to shatter the racial lines when there never was an official color line throughout the sport. Rather, Cassara demonstrated that collegiate football integration was an arduous 80-year process led by “unknown and unappreciated students,” he said.

Another focus of his research was the code of appeasement, which stated that integrated schools must bench their black players when they played segregated schools. The history of the gentleman’s agreement surprised him; there were examples going back to 1892 where schools would refuse to play their opponent due to the appearance of an African American on the roster.

By the 1950s and 1960s, most of the games between integrated/segregated schools would take place at the integrated institution – that is, a Southern school would travel North. “By that time, most segregated schools had grudgingly accepted the fact that they would have to face black players on the road,” Cassara said. “But they still generally would not allow integrated teams to participate in their segregated home stadiums, or they would insist that the black player be withheld. So games between integrated and segregated schools did take place with black players on the field, but they were almost exclusively played at the integrated school's stadium or at a neutral site in the case of a bowl game.”

For example, in 1952 Ed Bell of the University of Pennsylvania played at home in Philadelphia against the segregated University of Georgia squad, Cassara explained.

“In instances where an integrated school would be traveling to face a segregated school, by the 1950s and 1960s, generally games would simply be canceled if the segregated school would not allow the black player(s) to participate,” Cassara said. “This would be done before the team actually traveled down, as the athletic directors or some other school officials would discuss the arrangements about the game. An example from 1946 was when Penn State was scheduled to travel to Florida to take on the University of Miami. Penn State canceled their trip rather than bench their two black players, Wally Triplett and Dennie Hoggard.

“So, by the 1950’s and 1960’s, integrated schools were no longer giving in and honoring this ‘gentleman’s agreement,’ which reflected the changing racial atmosphere of the times,” Cassara said.

Process and rewards

The sometimes-overwhelming process of looking at the more than 80-year history of the integration of college football began with basic research in the school library, where Cassara was surprised by what he found, or rather what he did not find. He discovered a large gap in the academic and comprehensive research on collegiate football. This served as one of his motivators: what could he do to fill the gap? Cassara used interlibrary loans, which he found to be very useful, as some schools and larger libraries naturally have a different selection. Next, he searched microfilm and online databases. Finally, Cassara e-mailed archivists at universities that played important roles in the process of integration of collegiate football. Not only did they often send him articles and archives free of charge, since he was an undergraduate, but many took an enthusiastic interest in helping Cassara and his subsequently award-winning research.

He has presented many of his findings at undergraduate research conferences, including at Virginia Tech and at the 81st meeting of the Virginia Social Science Association, where he won a Best Presentation award. Cassara also won the Virginia Tech History Prize, which goes to the best history research paper done by an undergraduate. His paper was based on his thesis research. The College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences’ Undergraduate Research Institute awarded Cassara a research grant that allowed him to travel to Amherst College in fall 2007. As the site of integration by the first two African American collegiate football players, this trip was important to Cassara’s research. “It was really cool,” he said. “I got to go through special collections and archives; I felt like a real historian.” The trip to Amherst is one of Cassara’s favorite research memories.

The research and the feeling of “discovering something new,” Cassara describes as his favorite aspect of thesis writing. However, the abundance of research also caused him the most grief. After writing piles of notes and facts, the researcher must sort and select what will most benefit the paper. This leaves a lot of proud research out of the thesis. Cassara warns that this process has been a lot of work, and even a little more than expected. “In your head, a year sounds like enough time, but it really isn’t.”

Cassara said he feels that his paper is not as complete and comprehensive as he wants it to be and hopes to possibly use it as a starting ground for his master’s thesis at George Mason University next year. After that, it can be published in academic journals or even as a book, perhaps written as his Ph.D dissertation.

Cassara stresses that it is important to be able to ask for help along the way if help is needed. Peter Wallenstein, a Virginia Tech history professor, and Amy Nelson, Cassara’s honors advisor, took active roles in helping him and his research. Wallenstein was always available for questions and guidance and Nelson was able to help him through the administrative processes that include signing forms and gaining clearance. Cassara encourages students interested in undergraduate research to “find a professor you can rely on and is willing to help.”

He also strongly encourages others, especially in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, to find a subject they love and are passionate about and pursue undergraduate research. He warns, however, to make sure that it is a topic you could research and work with for a year and still be interested. As he says, “Research becomes a lot harder if you no longer like what you’re researching.” Furthermore, he advises those already involved in undergraduate research to not become frustrated. “At the end of the day you’ll be proud of what you create and find.”