LOS ANGELES — C.R. Roberts, whose record-setting efficiency helped Southern California beat Texas in a 1956 highway recreation performed within the segregated state, has died. He was 87.
Roberts died of pure causes on Tuesday in suburban Norwalk, the college stated Wednesday.
Roberts, a fullback, set a single-game speeding report with 251 yards on 12 carries within the Trojans’ 44-20 victory in Austin, a mark that stood for 20 years. Fearing rioting by the segregated crowd, USC’s teaching employees pulled Roberts early.
Upon arrival, the Trojans tried three completely different lodges earlier than discovering one that will enable its Black gamers to remain. USC officers had permitted Roberts to journey regardless of Texas’ segregation legal guidelines.
“I used to be upset that they did not need me down there,” Roberts stated in a 2015 USC on-line article for Black Historical past Month. “Rattling proper, I had one thing to show to them.”
The lodge housekeepers had been Black and so they tried to persuade Roberts and his different Black teammate to depart. He assured them he was allowed to be there as a part of the workforce.
Roberts recalled Black individuals who lived within the space got here by, getting into by way of the again of the lodge and donning employees uniforms so they may greet the Black gamers staying in a whites-only lodge.
“That evening, perhaps each black particular person on the town should have come by to see us,” Roberts stated within the article. “They had been simply so proud to see us in that lodge.”
Roberts was hailed as a hero in his return to campus. Alumni flew again on the workforce aircraft and an exhausted Roberts could not sleep whereas besieged by boosters congratulating him.
It was fairly a change from when Roberts first arrived on campus and confronted backlash by the predominantly white scholar physique. Nevertheless, he was welcomed amongst his teammates on the soccer discipline.
Born on Feb. 29, 1936, Cornelius R. Roberts grew up in Mississippi and moved to California in grade college. He graduated from Oceanside Excessive north of San Diego after being named the 1953 state soccer participant of the 12 months as a senior, having scored 65 touchdowns.
After graduating from USC with a level in enterprise administration, Roberts was taken within the 14th spherical of the 1958 NFL draft by the New York Giants.
Nevertheless, he selected to signal with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Soccer League. He rushed for 595 yards and 5 touchdowns, together with TD runs of 67 and 85 yards, in 10 video games.
Roberts then turned a casualty of the 12-man quota that restricted the variety of U.S. gamers on the Argos’ roster and he was launched. He tried out for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1959 however did not make the workforce.
He performed with the San Francisco 49ers from 1959-62.
He’s survived by daughters Cathy Creasia and Chandra Roberts; son Craig; and 4 grandchildren.
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Printed : 2023-07-13 01:32:42
