Sport: Shall We Dance?

Bing Crosby's languid baritone drifted through the University of Omaha field house—"drifting and dreaming, while shadows fall." The brawny, crew-cut young men in T shirts and gym shorts couldn't wait for the shadows. A boulder-built (5 ft. 6 in., 150 Ibs.) wingback named Jerry Hunter sidled up to a hulking (6 ft. 3 in., 220 Ibs.) Negro tackle named Al Brown and asked: "May I have this dance?" Another time, another place, and Hunter might have earned a poke in the teeth. But this was Physical Education 251, and Tackle Brown minded his classroom manners. "Certainly you may," he said. "Thank...

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