…comes to us via Ole Miss Sports, who shared this photo of Ben Williams, the first African-American man to play football at Ole Miss, wrestling a gosh damn bear, while the long lost brother of Ole and Arn Anderson assists. You might think this is a little on the RAYCESS side of things to promote a picture of a black man, in Mississippi, in front of what is likely a majority white audience, wrestling a bear in a ring….until you consider that the All-American campaign for Williams during his playing days at Ole Miss centered around the “Gentle Ben” TV show, where Ron Howard went around the country wrestling wild bears at State Fairs for meals and loose change*, then you’re allowed to just enjoy the picture’s awesomeness, and how much of a bear-rasslin’ badass Ben Williams was, without all of the racial uncomfortableness. [Via]
*may not have been what actually happened on the show, I never saw it
2 responses so far ↓
1 Friday morning Audibles: FSU trolling, UK crazy fan, and golf made fun | College Football Section // Sep 21, 2012 at 6:00 am
[...] The Awesome Old School Football Picture of the Day… – FOTP [...]
2 Chris Smith // Sep 21, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Seeing how this is exactly how one of the greatest coaches of all time, Paul “Bear” Bryant got his name I’m just not sure about any inherent racism from just this picture. Not saying their wasn’t racism but I just don’t see any in this picture.
Leave a Comment