Abstract
On a chilly December day in 1962 just before the New Year's holiday, the University of Florida (UF) Gators football team played the Penn State Nittany Lions in the eighteenth annual Gator Bowl. Penn State entered the game a heavy favorite. The media and coaches ranked the Nittany Lions ninth in the country, and the Eastern College Athletic Conference awarded the team the Lambert Trophy as the best team in the East. The game was Penn State's second consecutive Gator Bowl appearance. The Nittany Lions made history the previous season as the first desegregated team to play in the Gator Bowl, when they defeated Georgia Tech 30 - 15. Led by their All-American African American (wide receiver or tight end) Dave Robinson, Penn State looked for a repeat bowl victory over the lightly regarded Gators.1
Recommended Citation
White, Derrick E.
(2009)
"From Desegregation to Integration: Race, Football, and "Dixie" at the University of Florida,"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 88:
No.
4, Article 4.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol88/iss4/4
