Mr. Toler died Sunday in California. By all accounts he was a gifted college athlete, a member of the legendary 1951 University of San Francisco football squad. Though undefeated, the school was not invited to any bowl games. The San Francisco Chronicle explains,
The Dons of 1951 were one of the greatest college teams of all time, but they weren't invited to a bowl game. Publicly the reason was USF's soft schedule, but apparently the real reason was that the Southeastern Conference, which controlled the bowls, didn't want any African American players. USF had two, Mr. Toler and [Ollie] Matson.For all of our persistent problems, it is encouraging to know that we have--through great organizing, resistance, and struggle, including the refusal of the USF team to be forced to play a bowl game without their black players--been able to heal some of our sicknesses.
USF had defeated College of the Pacific 47-14 at Stockton in a game that was supposed to determine which team went to a bowl. Instead, Pacific went to the Sun Bowl, and the Dons (9-0) got nothing.
There was talk at the time that the Dons could have gotten a bowl if they were willing to leave Mr. Toler and Matson behind. To a man, the Dons wouldn't think of it.
Condolences to the family of Mr. Toler.
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