Bobby Grier, the first Black player to appear in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, died on June 30 at a nursing home in Warren, Ohio, his family announced Monday. He was 91.
Grier, a fullback, linebacker and defensive back for Pittsburgh, was the only Black player on the Panthers team, which was invited to the Jan. 1, 1956 game against Georgia Tech.
Pitt accepted the bid on the stipulation that Grier be allowed to “travel, eat, stay and practice,” with the rest of the team although New Orleans was a segregated city at the time. “No Grier, no game,” became a rallying cry.
However, Georgia governor Marvin Griffin demanded that the Yellow Jackets forfeit the game, citing the longstanding tradition of segregated schools not playing integrated teams, saying that “The South stands at Armageddon. The battle is joined.”
But after student protests on several campuses in the state and Georgia Tech officials making it clear they intended to play, Griffin backed down.
Georgia Tech would win the game, 7-0, with the game’s only touchdown coming as a result of a questionable pass interference call against Grier that moved the ball from the Tech 32 to the 1 under the college rules at the time.
Grier was Pitt’s leading rusher in the game. In 2019, he was a member of the second induction class in the Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame.
Sugar Bowl chief executive officer Jeff Hundley called Greir, “a legend of the Sugar Bowl, college football and the Civil Rights Era,” adding, “It was an honor for the Sugar Bowl to have the opportunity to host him when he was inducted into our Hall of Fame.
“Through his life, he was a true gentleman and carried himself with great poise and tremendous grace. College football has lost a great ambassador.”
Before and after the game, Grier said he received many messages of support, including one from the disc jockey in New Orleans that said, “You are as much of a trailblazer as Jackie Robinson.”
Because of the segregation laws in Louisiana at the time, it would not be until the 1965 Sugar Bowl between LSU and Syracuse, featuring Jim Nance and Floyd Little, that teams with Black players would be invited.
After college, Grier would become a captain in the Air Force and then have a long career with U.S. Steel and the Community College of Allegheny County.
He was inducted into the Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022.
“Bobby Grier lived a truly remarkable and impactful life that inspires in so many ways,” Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke said Monday. “The courage and dignity he showed in desegregating the Sugar Bowl stands as one of the most important moments, not only in the history of the University of Pittsburgh but also in the game of college football.
“His legacy, on and off the field, will always burn brightly at Pitt.”