Jerry Levias

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Jerry LeVias was the first African-American scholarship athlete and second African-American football player in the Southwest Conference. Born in Beaumont, Texas, LeVias played quarterback for Hebert High School. LeVias was listed as 5'9" and 177 pounds, (but actually measured closer to 5'7" and 140 pounds out of high school) but made up for his size with great speed. He was recruited to the Southern Methodist University in the spring of 1965 by Coach Hayden Fry. LeVias had over a hundred scholarship offers, but none from the traditional historically black college football powers he expected to play for (like Grambling, Alcorn St., Southern, Prairie View etc.) He was deemed too small by those schools to be offered a football scholarship.