Unresolved Grievances
Despite multiple meetings between Chancellor John Corbally, other University representatives, football coaching staff, the boycotting student-athletes, and their advisors, tensions continued to mount. Coach Schwartzwalder had not hired a Black assistant coach. Because they had missed spring practice, he had suspended the Syracuse 8 from the football team and assumed they would not play that season. The University administration disagreed. In June 1970 Vice Chancellor Jim Carleton directed Schwartzwalder to contact the student-athletes to determine their status in the upcoming 1970 season. Chancellor Corbally charged him to hire a Black assistant football coach by September.
Coach Schwartzwalder’s Decision
In July 1970, Carlmon Jones was hired as an assistant football coach, making him the first Black coach in any sport at Syracuse University. However, neither the administration nor the football coaching staff took any other steps to address the boycotting student-athletes’ other grievances. By the first half of August, Coach Schwartzwalder decided that only two of the players, Greg Allen and Robin Griffin, could be reinstated to the football team and declared that the “adverse attitude” of the others would undermine team morale and discipline. Griffin returned to the team and played that season, but Allen chose not to return unless everyone else in the Syracuse 8 was asked back on the team.Carleton reported to Corbally about directing Coach Schwartzwalder to contact the members of the Syracuse 8.
Directed by the University administration to reach out to the boycotting student-athletes to determine their status on the team before the fall season, Schwartzwalder wrote the same letter for each of the Syracuse 8.
The boycotting student-athletes had the support of advisors on campus, including Dr. Allen Sullivan, who was a graduate student; Rev. Dr. George Moody, Director of the Martin Luther King On-Campus Elementary School; Dr. Charles Willie, professor and chair of the Sociology Department; and Dr. John L. Johnson, professor of education and then Provost and Director of Minority Affairs. They served as spokesmen, provided meeting space, and worked behind the scenes to assist the Syracuse 8.
The Human Rights Commission Steps In
Three of the boycotting student-athletes (A. Alif Muhammad, Dana “D.J.” Harrell and Duane Walker) filed discrimination complaints with the Human Rights Commission of Syracuse and Onondaga County that summer, and on September 3, Muhammad filed a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights. Attempting to coordinate a resolution, Syracuse’s Human Rights Commission met with members of the Syracuse 8, Coach Schwartzwalder, Athletic Director Jim Decker, and Vice Chancellor Jim Carleton. The Commission recommended that both the coach and the Syracuse 8 identify commitments they would need from each other and work together in “good faith” to reinstate the student-athletes back onto the team.
Corbally approved of the recommendations and the return of the boycotting student-athletes to the football team, but only if they signed a statement that justified their suspension. The Syracuse 8 refused to sign the document, though, because the language of the statement placed full blame of the conflict on them and did not acknowledge their grievances. Even after the University administration revised the statement, the Black student-athletes refused again to sign for the same reasons, and the fall 1970 football season began without them.
The Syracuse 8 refused to sign this or the revised statement because both placed full blame for the conflict on the boycotting student-athletes and did not acknowledge their grievances.
In the second row, Robin Griffin, who had boycotted in the spring but returned in the fall, was the only Black student-athlete who played that season.
Jim Brown
On September 1, Jim Brown ’57, the All-American #44 who went on to become an NFL running back, arrived on campus. He met with the Chancellor and other administrators, the boycotting players and their white team members, and Schwartzwalder and his coaching staff. Holding a press conference on September 3, Brown acknowledged the allegations of the Syracuse 8: “I refuse to believe that the Syracuse Community, the large alumni of this great institution knowing that Blacks have fought so diligently for Syracuse’s recognition in all endeavors will tolerate the persistent demonstrated acts of discrimination which are so evident…. I’m convinced that these acts will not go unchallenged.” In the end, Brown’s visit did not result in a resolution, and he did warn the Syracuse 8 that if they continued their boycott, they would lose their chance to play professional football.
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“Mythical Reinstatement”
Following negotiations with Coach Schwartzwalder, Chancellor Corbally announced the reinstatement of the boycotting student-athletes on September 22. They reported to practice the next day only to find just three of them were academically and physically eligible to play. The Syracuse 8 were surprised to learn that four of them were declared academically ineligible; this was not something they were aware of, especially since they had been told they would all be allowed to return to the team. After word got out through the Daily Orange that white members of the football team said they had felt coerced into accepting them back, the Syracuse 8 realized the reinstatement was disingenuous and continued their boycott. Chancellor Corbally abandoned negotiations, and the student-athletes never returned for the 1970 season.