O-H! I-O! Black Students, Black Athletes, and Ohio State Football, 1968–1976

Beginning in the late 1960s at a variety of institutions across the country, black college athletes joined with black students to lead boycotts, walkouts, and demonstrations to demand changes to racially insensitive policies and practices. While news of these events dominated the headlines, they did not occur everywhere. This paper explores why and how many schools managed to avoid black student-athlete revolts during this time of turbulence. Through a case study of Ohio State football from 1968 to 1976, this paper argues that the seeming absence of conflict at many schools around the nation stemmed not from a lack of discontent or from idyllic conditions. Rather it posits that the actions and acquiescence of Woody Hayes and other administrators helped exacerbate differences in conditions and goals between black students and student-athletes, breaking the bonds of support necessary for radical action.