In my 43 years of working at The Sports Museum, one of the most heartbreaking images I’ve come across is this grainy news photo of Boston College star football player Lou Montgomery listening to the 1941 Sugar Bowl, a game in which he should have been a notable participant.
To my knowledge as well as that of many sports historians, officials at Boston College acceded to the single most egregious example of racial exclusion of the pre WWII era of intercollegiate sports. This occurred when they agreed to sit Montgomery, a former Brockton High star and Boston College’s first African-American athlete, for games against southern opponents, both on the road and in the home games they played at Fenway Park and Braves Field. Also included in these games were the 1940 Cotton Bowl and 1941 Sugar Bowl. The accompanying photo was choreographed by the college’s public relations staff for publication in newspapers in an attempt to peddle the lie that Montgomery had willingly agreed to remain home. His smile belies the genuine pain he felt while still wishing the best for his teammates, many of whom had expressed a desire to boycott the game themselves in support of Montgomery.
My good friend Glenn Stout interviewed Montgomery back in the mid-eighties for a profile he wrote for Boston magazine, and learned that Montgomery only became fully enraged at his treatment after his conversion to Catholicism later in life. The hypocrisy of the wrong exacted by the clergy tore at his soul.
Over the past two decades, BC alum Mark Dullea ’62 has assembled a remarkable web page entitled “Lou Montgomery Legacy” calling on the powers at BC to consider re-naming their home stadium after Montgomery. His efforts inspired BC professors John and Susan Michalczyk to produce a critically acclaimed documentary in 2015 entitled “Lou Montgomery, A Legacy Restored.” Both their effort and Dullea’s quest represent a call for institutional redemption and overdue recognition for a great athlete and gentle soul so unjustly wronged.
Take a look at his picture while considering his predicament, and tell me I’m wrong.
