Sandy Stephens
*Sandy Stephens was born on this date in 1940. He was a Black football player and civic leader.
Sanford Emory Stephens II was raised in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, to athletic parents Sanford Sr. and Helen Pryor Stephens. Sanford Sr. was an outstanding multiple-sports athlete who met his wife on a tennis court. The oldest of four children, Sandy, and his younger brother Raymond excelled in sports. Stephens lettered for three years in football, basketball, track, and field and was a baseball player.
Before graduating from high school, he received scholarship offers from fifty-nine colleges and tried out with the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates. He chose to attend the University of Minnesota because it was a Big Ten school; he wanted to compete for the right to go to the Rose Bowl, the oldest bowl game with the finest reputation and the biggest arena at the time.
Stephens was the first Black man to play quarterback at the University of Minnesota and remains the only quarterback to take the Gophers to the Rose Bowl (1960 and 1961). In 1960, he led the University of Minnesota to a national championship. Stephens led Minnesota to an 8-2 record that year and in the championship game. Stephens scored two touchdowns the following season as the Gophers beat UCLA 21-3. Stephens became the first Black college All-American quarterback and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting. "I was going to be more than a Big Ten quarterback who was black," Stephens said. "I was going to be a Big Ten quarterback who took his team to the Rose Bowl."
Stephens was a second-round NFL draft choice of the Cleveland Browns and the fifth overall selection in the AFL draft by the New York Titans. Both teams said they wouldn’t use him as a quarterback, and he had never played a down in either league. The Canadian Football League (CFL) welcomed him as a quarterback; Stephens’ contract with Montreal was not an issue in 1962 when he led the Alouettes to the Grey Cup Finals. The change in head coach the next year resulted in a relationship full of friction. Stephens’ contract was richer than the coaches, they disagreed philosophically, and the coach eventually made it impossible for him to stay.
After a short stint with the Toronto Argonauts, Stephens tried out as a walk-on with the Minnesota Vikings. The night he made that decision, he was involved in a near-fatal accident. Doctors were unsure how he survived the crash and were certain he would never walk correctly again. Stephens signed with the Kansas City Chiefs two years after the accident as a fullback. He was willing to play any of the back positions and continued to dream of playing as a quarterback in the NFL. However, the writing was on the wall when the Chiefs signed another quarterback to back up Len Dawson. Sandy ended his active football career in 1968.
He became an ardent supporter and participant of the Vikings Chapter of the NFL Alumni Association. Thirty years after he left football, Stephens was named to the University of Minnesota All-Century Team, the Star Tribune 100 All-Century Top Sports Figures (No. 30), and awarded NCAA Legends status.
He was inducted into the University of Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame and the Western Pennsylvania All Sports Hall of Fame and nominated for induction into the National and College Football Foundation Hall of Fame. One of his most coveted recognitions was his induction into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1997.
Sandy Stephens died June 6, 2000, at age 59. In a letter read at Stephens’ memorial services, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. recalled, "(Sandy) made us feel so proud, with his poise and dignity, as well as his athletic ability.… I am convinced his dreams of having an even playing field for his skills to be demonstrated were broken, but his non-negotiable dignity and private pride were never broken." In the introduction to his still unpublished memoirs, Sandy expresses his perspective on the change in atmosphere. "As a pioneer in the field – First Black Consensus All-American Quarterback. My experiences leave me feeling like the Moses of Black quarterbacks – able to see the Promised Land, but unable to enter it."
Judge Dickson, Stephens’ college roommate and friend, said of Stephens, "He (Sandy) was so much more than a tremendous athlete. He always made people feel good. This is why Sandy truly was a legend. He was more than just a player; he was a leader, a friend, and a great person." His family and friends remember him as a caring, thoughtful, socially conscious champion of the less fortunate, fiercely loyal, competitive, music-loving, a believer in injustice, and a patriot.
