John Rainey was a Southwest Virginia football star who would be the first in his family to attend college. He was also a member of the first class of African-American scholarship football players at the University of Virginia. Rainey recounts the experiences on the final installment of “No Shoulders to Stand On.”
Navigating: Football
The first African-American scholarship football players at UVA
The University of Virginia admitted its first African-American football players in 1970. This series chronicles the four men who broke the color barrier at UVA.
Kent Merritt
Kent Merritt was a key part of the first UVA football recruiting class to include African-American student-athletes. Merritt joins us for our “No Shoulders to Stand On” series to talk about life on Grounds in the early 1970s.