Kent Merritt

Well, at that time back in the early ’70s, a lot was going on.  Civil rights was a big issue back then.  UVA had no Black football players.  And then here I come and others — Harrison, John, and Stanley.  Here we were Virginia kids, and we were in their backyards.  And they knew — I mean I think there was substantial pressure to integrate the football team.  And I was the closest one here plus Dr. McCue and others were not involved with Lane High School necessarily, but he was our doctor on the sidelines so there was a natural familiarity with some of the people associated with UVA’s program.  We didn’t know at the time, but we subsequently found out about that.  So there was some sort of an interaction between Lane High School and the university.  But there was a lot of political issues involved in those decisions, more so than just a program in the school itself.