James Hurley, the first Black player to make the University of Georgia football team’s roster, will be honored at an award ceremony on Sept. 29.
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History will award Hurley the Uncommon Valor Award because of his impact on the history of Georgia football and his resilience.
Hurley’s path to making the team was more difficult because the university did not recruit or offer scholarships to non-white players, but this did not deter him from trying to make the team. In 1967, Hurley walked onto Georgia’s first-year football team and started at defensive end, breaking a barrier.
Hurley spent two seasons at Georgia before he was offered a scholarship to Vanderbilt University, where he would become a letterman in football. Although Hurley was the first Black football player to play for the university, he was on the freshman team and thus was not honored when the University of Georgia honored The First Five
tom-banner ampforwp-incontent-ad2">Kinnesbrew praised the decision of then-head coach Vince Dooley, telling Rivals, “Coach Dooley made a courageous decision to do what was best for himself, the athletic department, and the school,” Kinnebrew said. “Coming to Georgia could have been much harder, but I think Coach Dooley and his staff did a good job of looking at our backgrounds, academics, and bringing us in as a group. We were lucky to be chosen the first [Black players] to participate.”
According to Fox 5, Hurley currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and told the ASALH that despite the racial tensions
of the Jim Crow South, he believes that the football staff at the University of Georgia, as well as several other students at the university, tried to do right by him and made him feel welcome. The award is scheduled to be given to Hurley at First AME Church on Athens’ North Hull Street.RELATED CONTENT: Quavo To Enroll At UGA, Announces Lids Collab With News