Watch the videoRecently, the University of San Francisco welcomed back esteemed members of the 1951 football team which chose "Honor over Glory." Hear public address announcer Joe Hallisy and USF's Director of Athletics in the Call of the Month for January as the Dons retire the No. 51 to celebrate the impact of the '51 Dons.
The banner now hangs proudly in the hollowed rafters of War Memorial Gymnasium alongside those which memorialize some of USF's greatest athletic achievements and players.
Unlike the others, this banner does not commemorate a championship or a player. It pays tribute to USF's 1951 football team whose supreme triumph came in choosing not to accept an invitation to a bowl game under the condition the team played without its two African-American players, Ollie Matson and Burl Toler.
The team's dramatic stand against racism is perhaps the single greatest symbolic victory in the history of college football and is why the University awarded an honorary doctorate to the team in 2005.
This is the first released segment of Behind the Mask, Episode 6. The latest episode in the ongoing cable series, seen monthly on Comcast SportsNet California, is slated to debut Thursday, Feb. 19, at 4:30 p.m.
