Fifty years ago, Bob Nichols suspended one of the stars of the Toledo basketball team for repeatedly missing his political science class.
The player — Bob Miller — happened to be black.
And a firestorm raged.
During introductions before the next game at the Field House, another Rockets standout, senior captain John Rudley, joined teammate Jim Miller and several dozen fellow black students at midcourt in protest of Bob Miller’s suspension. As boos crashed down from the mostly-white crowd, the demonstrators then walked out of the gym.
Rudley returned to the team after one game, but the episode bitterly divided the Toledo community and gave rise to the whispers that — no matter how misguided so many believed them to be — would follow coach Nichols.