Just Follow Me: James Owens and the Integration of Southeastern Conference Football

Description:

In 1969, James Owens (1951-2016) made sports history as the first Black football player at Auburn University--a significant milestone that marked the beginning of the end of segregation in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Owens, a running back, was an exemplary athlete who battled racism and immense scrutiny during his time at Auburn. Yet his strength, his faith, and his family's support emboldened him to persevere and break the color barrier, which ultimately opened the door for other Black athletes.

Just Follow Me: James Owens and the Integration of Southeastern Conference Football chronicles Owens's remarkable life and career--from growing up in Fairfield, Alabama, to his first day on the gridiron as an Auburn Tiger, his work as a coach and pastor, and his later years when he was plagued by heart issues. Through personal interviews with Owens and his former teammates, friends, and coaches, authors Thom Gossom Jr. and Sam Heys reveal the struggles faced by Owens and his contemporaries both on and off the field, all within the broader historical context of the civil rights movement. Just Follow Me is an honest, inspiring account of not only a trailblazing football player but also a resilient and influential leader in the sports community.

Brief description: Sam Heys, who covered the integration of southern college athletics for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is author of Remember Henry Harris: Lost Icon of a Revolution, A Story of Hope and Self-Sacrifice in America, winner of the Kirkus Star, given to only two percent of books reviewed by Kirkus.

Review Quotes:

James would be the first scholarship Black football player at Auburn. He would be one of 149 Black students among a student body of 14,000. The pressures were enormous, to be a trailblazer and not disappoint the Black family and neighbors who were rooting for you. The authors put it this way: " playing football at Auburn was easier than living at Auburn, or going to class at Auburn, or walking across Auburn's campus." Students stared; some shouted racial slurs. There were few African Americans to socialize with, in Auburn proper, no place to get a haircut. . . . Auburn, and for that matter the SEC in general, did little to make life tolerable for these students. They needed information, communication, emotional support, counseling: instead they got "the initial stages of White backlash over integration." During a game, he told fullback Terry Henley "Just follow me." Also, as one of the first Black students, he knew others would follow. . . . Auburn did finally honor Owens 40 years later, with the Courage Award, named after him, and an honorary Bachelor of Humane Letters. It should have been a doctorate.