I consider myself very fortunate to have experienced challenges in my family. I had a million of those situations with my pop growing up, and when I came to put my name on this page, it was through such a challenge.
It seems the generation gap had driven a difference of opinion wedge between Sam Lacy and yours truly. I know he was the pro, but I was convinced that some of his views were antiquated. During one such discussion (argument) he instructed me to put my views in print and shut my mouth. As fate would have it, he suffered a bout of illness and I was called upon to fill some space on his page to give him some relief. My efforts became popular, and “Another Viewpoint” was born. I was convinced to continue my efforts and he changed his column head to “Viewpoint” and our battle continued in this periodical.
I grew up in a family full of jocks, and Sam was the big dog. Although I was 15 years younger than my nearest cousin, I was still allowed to hang out with the big boys as long as I pulled my weight. I was never one to whine, and I would fight at the drop of a hat. For this reason I was never considered a pain-in-the-butt tag along.
Around 1943 I remember hearing of a local boy who had lit up the sports world a few years back. The remarkable thing aside from the talent of this local boy was the fact that this guy was a Hindu. I can’t remember any Indian athletes in any sport so I paid attention. This guy was named Wilmeth Sidat-Singh. He was born in D.C., and had moved to New York. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School and lit up the landscape as a football and basketball star. He attended Syracuse University in 1935 on a scholarship and excelled in both sports.
The local interest went through the roof when the University of Maryland was set to face Syracuse in football when Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, popularly referred to as the “Walking Dream”, was on the team. The local excitement level generated by this University of Maryland home game was initially high—but it went crashing to the ground when somebody dropped a fly into the ointment. Sam Lacy was the fly when he stepped up and said, “Hold the phone!” The Syracuse “Walking Dream” was none other than a local kid initially named Wilmeth Webb. Sam felt an obligation to set the record straight, so he printed the story that this young man was born to Elias and Pauline Webb. When Elias died, Pauline married a med student from India, Samuel Sidat-Singh. Samuel adopted Wilmeth and gave him his name.
When this news broke, the powers that be at the University of Maryland announced that, “Ain’t no colored boys playing here.” The” Walking Dream” was therefore not allowed to play with the White boys and Maryland won the 1937 Maryland contest between the schools, 13-0. The following year, 1938, Syracuse was scheduled to play University of Maryland in Syracuse. This time the University of Maryland team was forced to play by the Syracuse home team rules and was thus compelled to finally deal with the the Syracuse “Walking Dream” secret weapon. It turns out that the Wilmeth Sidat-Singh weapon was no secret and Syracuse stomped Maryland, 53-0.
Faced with no pro opportunities following graduation from Syracuse, Wilmeth played a little barnstorming basketball. Tiring of this he returned to D.C. and joined the police force. As fate would have it, WWII stepped in his path and he went to Tuskegee to join the all Colored Airmen. On a training mission in May, 1943, Lt. Wilmeth Sidat-Singh drowned in Saginaw Bay when his engine sputtered out and his plane crashed.
On November 9, 2013, the University of Maryland finally apologized for their treatment of him.
My spouse is another antagonist when it comes to sports, and we have plenty differences of opinion. One of her go-to weapons is to remind me that she went to Maryland and I went to Morgan State. My retort is always to remind her of the 53-0 beatdown. I can’t win them all, but the competition is welcome.
