At UK, they integrated SEC football. Now, they are heartbroken by enduring racism.
During the turbulent 1960s, Kentucky Wildcats football players Nate Northington and Wilbur Hackett were on the cutting edge of social change.
In 1967, Northington, a defensive back from Louisville, became the first black football player ever to play in a Southeastern Conference football game.
Two seasons later, Hackett, a linebacker from Louisville, was the first black player ever elected a team captain in the SEC.
Having played a role in breaking down societal barriers in Kentucky and the South, Northington, 72, and Hackett, 71, feel profound frustration that the United States is now again in a period of racial tumult following the recent deaths of black citizens at the hands of police or, in one case, what appears to have been a group of white vigilantes.
“It breaks my heart to see the things that are taking place, the societal and and racial injustices that are still continuing to happen,” Hackett says. “We have made progress, but what we are taking now are giant steps backwards. These are not small steps, these are giant steps.”
Northington says society has changed for the better since the time he was breaking the color barrier in SEC football.
“But this is definitely a situation where you thought we had come farther (as a society) than, most likely, we probably have,” he says. “There are still these lingering issues that affect African-Americans even today. It’s disappointing that we are not farther along.”
Hackett says video of the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police has impacted him deeply. Floyd, who was black, died after a white policeman, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes while three other policemen either helped hold Floyd down or stood nearby.
All four policemen involved in the May 25 incident have been fired and are now facing charges in Floyd’s death.
Says Hackett: “You see a man of color, an African-American man killed, die on TV at the hands of a police officer and nobody says a word? That’s just not right. That’s just like lynching. That was like, ‘Let’s go get him and lynch him.’ There’s no difference. It’s a crime. And those four guys need to be punished.”
Northington says the proliferation of cell phone cameras has allowed people to shine a light onto what had previously been dark areas of American life.
“Racism has not changed,” he says. “But with the videos, people are able to see those things as they happen. It brings more things to light when you see it with your eyes.”
Choosing to play football for UK in the 1960s was signing up for something hard. It meant road trips to the Deep South at a time when players who looked like Northington and Hackett were not welcome.
Nevertheless, in 1966, Northington and Middlesboro defensive end Greg Page, became the first two black football players to accept scholarship offers from Kentucky.
The following year, two more black in-state prospects, Hackett and Daviess County running back Houston Hogg, followed suit.
Their time as racial pioneers in Southeastern Conference football was tinged with sadness.
Before ever getting to play a varsity game at Kentucky, Page suffered a neck injury in a non-contact pursuit drill during a UK preseason practice that left him paralyzed.
After 38 days lying in the hospital unable to move, Page died late on the night before Northington made history by logging 3:17 of playing time against the Mississippi Rebels.
Soon after, a grieving Northington decided to leave UK. Before he departed, he called together his remaining black teammates and told them they had to stick it out and finish the job of integrating football at Kentucky and in the SEC.
Hackett and Hogg, who died in January at age 71, did that.
For whatever reason, it took decades for the level of appreciation to catch up with the significance of what the four University of Kentucky football racial pioneers achieved.
In 2016, UK unveiled a statue of Northington, Page, Hackett and Hogg that stands outside Kroger Field.
There is a school of thought that the successful integration of SEC football had a substantial impact on changing everyday interactions between blacks and whites in the South. “Football definitely helped make a transition in the South,” Northington says.
Both Northington and Hackett believe sports can also play a role in helping guide our country out of its current situation.
“I think athletes have to take a more active role in the community,” Hackett says. “Interact with the police. Interact with the black community. Interact with the white community. They have a platform, they need to use it.”
Northington points out the fierce controversy that arose when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick would kneel during the national anthem before NFL games as a means of drawing attention to mistreatment of blacks by some members of law enforcement.
“Now, you are seeing policemen kneeling (as a gesture of reconciliation),” Northington says. “That’s why I think sports can definitely be a tremendous factor that can make a difference.”
