All Guts and No Glory

All Guts and No Glory: An Alabama Coach’s Memoir of Desegregating College Athletics, by Bill Elder (2007)

Elder was born in Alabama but also grew up in Ohio, where his father moved his family to pursue business opportunities. He would later return to the south at the start of his career in college athletics.

The author had a keen eye for racial segregation early on, often asking questions of his parents that they didn’t want to answer. Elder recalls attending a Birmingham Barons baseball game at Rickwood Field, during which he asked his father why there were separate seating arrangements for blacks and whites. Compounding the schizophrenia of the segregated south, blacks and whites were allowed to sit together in the same facility when they attended games played by the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons.

As a sophomore in college, Elder returned to the south to attend school at Howard (now Samford) University. He then earned a master’s degree at the University of Tennessee. The second half of this book recalls the author’s experiences at newly opened Northeast Junior College.

By the end of three seasons, Elder had established a record of 53 wins and 22 losses. This is all the more impressive since he served as a department head, athletics director, and intramurals director in addition to his duties as Head Basketball Coach at Northeast. While he had built a strong program at the school, he still coached an all-white squad.

It was at this point that Elder was asked by the university president to begin recruiting black basketball players. While he received assurances that he would have the full support of school administration, the author quickly found himself alienated among a faculty that were clearly uncomfortable with an integrated athletics program.

Worse for the coach and his young players was the reaction of the broader community, who made it clear on a number of occasions that they did not appreciate black student-athletes. Elder’s struggles to coach in this hostile environment comprise the most compelling pages of this short autobiography.

I was disappointed that more time wasn’t given to Elder’s time after the integration at Northeast. One gets the sense that even over thirty-five years it is not a topic the author enjoys revisiting. In spite of this, I found it a captivating account throughout. Highly recommended.