The idealist Jack Trice and the battle for a forgotten football legacy

In 1923, when Jack Trice was 21, he died from injuries sustained in a college football game. He was Iowa State's first (and, at the time, only) Black football player, and he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. Racism was deeply ingrained in sports culture a century ago. Trice wasn't permitted to live or eat with his teammates, and several other teams refused to play against Iowa State as long as they fielded a Black player. But Trice absolutely refused to compromise. He was going to be an athlete; he was going to use his education to help others like him succeed. He died from internal bleeding and from massive injuries to his lungs, and there is some controversy surrounding the way he sustained those injuries (some have suggested he was deliberately targeted on the playing field). Gelber, however focuses not on Trice's death but on his life: his heritage, his upbringing, and his strength and determination in the face of blind hatred and abuse. This is an important, compassionate story about a man whose life and legacy deserve to be remembered today.