George Fleming (1937-21) Helped Bring the Huskies National Respect for the First Time
University of Washington football has been a proud tradition in Seattle since its inception, but the Huskies were never taken seriously on a national level until they won their first Rose Bowl.
George Fleming, as much as anyone, made people respect the UW in all corners of the country — and then he made those inside the program treat him with dignity, as well.
On Jan. 1, 1960 against Wisconsin in the Huskies' first appearance on national TV, Fleming returned a first-quarter punt 53 yards for a touchdown, ran back another punt for 55 yards that set up a second-quarter score and caught a fourth-quarter pass for 65 yards that led to yet another TD.
Fleming was named the game's co-most valuable player with his quarterback Bob Schloredt as the UW throughly embarrassed the favored Big Ten team 44-8. It was only fitting, too, that Fleming would make a name for himself in not one but two Rose Bowls when the breakaway back and the Huskies returned to Pasadena a year later and scored a 17-7 victory over the No. 1-ranked Minnesota Gophers. He kicked a game-record 44-yard field goal that day.
This past Monday, this widely recognized UW football player and postseason hero, and later one of the region's first African-American legislators, died at his Seattle home. He was 83.
Fleming's passing comes three months following the death of high-powered running back Junior Coffey and a month after the passing of All-America cornerback Calvin Jones, all players who changed the face and racial makeup of Husky football in a significant manner.
Jones quit the Huskies in 1970, threatened to transfer to Long Beach State and didn't come back until a Black assistant athletic director, assistant football coach and assistant basketball coach were hired in Montlake.
The treatment of Coffey, a huge, powerful back who likewise came from Texas and led the conference in rushing while forced to come off the bench, possibly cost the UW another Rose Bowl win or two.
Fleming was the first African-American player given a prominent role at the UW, yet it came with a personal cost in dealing with Jim Owens' predominantly Southern-raised staff that didn't try to mask its prejudice or know how. The coaches stacked Black players at one halfback position when they were good enough to play side by side, with Fleming backed up in 1960 by Charlie Mitchell, and both of them later played pro football when none of the other backs did. The coaches frequently used racial epithets in practice. Fleming and others stood up to them
"In the heat of the battle, they used the 'N' word," Fleming said in a 2007 interview. "Whether it was racism or not, Owens wasn't used to the black athlete. There were things I could see that were wrong and I was close to leaving the University of Washington. Finally, a bunch of us got together and told the captain, 'You have to go talk to the man and tell him this is unacceptable.' "
It was apropos that Fleming and the Rose Bowl twice came together in glorious fashion. Growing up in Dallas as a youngster, he watched the New Year's Day game and all of its pageantry on TV, and he promised himself that someday he would be part of a game that he considered bigger than the nearby Cotton Bowl in his hometown and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
He came to Los Angeles to play for UCLA and was stashed at a local junior college for a season. After the Bruins cooled on him, suggesting he was injury-prone, the Huskies swooped in and convinced him to come play for them. He took great satisfaction in beating that team 10-8 with a late field goal in 1960.
Following the UW, Fleming played a season with the Oakland Raiders in the newly formed AFL, long enough to kick a league-record 54-yard field goal, and left after a contract squabble. He spent two years with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFL, and kicked a league-record 55-yard field goal.
Back and pelvic injuries led him away from football and into politics. He became a state legislator and was one of the first African-Americans to hold local office, passing several initiatives on behalf of minorities, including the establishment of a local Martin Luther King holiday. He ran for Lt. Governor, but couldn't unseat former Husky coach John Cherberg.
Fleming returned to the Rose Bowl a handful of times as a spectator and he watched as an African-American quarterback Warren Moon led the Huskies to victory over Michigan and witnessed a Stanford kicker break his field-goal record, but mostly he pinched himself over his good fortune.
"I was saying to myself, 'Did this really happen?' " Fleming said. "And not only did my dream came true, amazingly I was able to go a second time."
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