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SEC to honor 50th anniversary of integration of football in the conference

Given the current climate both politically and sports-wise, this may have come at a good time for everyone.

On September 30, 1967, Nate Northington played for the Kentucky Wildcats in a game against the Ole Miss Rebels at the old Stoll Field in Lexington. It was a historic moment as it marked the first time that an African-American played for one SEC team against another team from the conference.

One week before, against the Indiana Hoosiers, the cornerback broke the SEC color barrier by playing against the Big Ten school.

Northington breaking the SEC vs. SEC color barrier was tinged with sadness, however, as Greg Page, a fellow African-American who signed with UK in 1966 along with Northington, died exactly one day before the Ole Miss game from a neck injury he had sustained during a drill in a late-August practice.

“The seeds of change planted by these men and so many others have blossomed today into hundreds of opportunities in every SEC sport and in the academic programs of our universities,” said SEC commissioner Greg Sankey in a statement. “Those who endured in the early moments of change serve as reminders of our mutual responsibility to support opportunities for today’s young people, make certain we foster their education and graduation, and bring together our communities through our universities and athletics programs.”

The anniversary of the groundbreaking integration will be commemorated throughout the league in Week 5. From the conference’s release:

The Southeastern Conference will commemorate the event with a one-minute video message that will air during every SEC football game on CBS and all ESPN platforms on Saturday. The video, titled “Together, It Just Means More,” will include a tribute to Northington as well as Vanderbilt’s Perry Wallace. who broke the color-barrier in SEC men’s basketball the same year, plus imagery from all 14 institutions.