Column: A tribute to the trailblazers of college football

ATLANTA (AP) — When racial protests rocked the nation last summer, the College Football Hall of Fame became a target of the anger.

The glass facade that looks out over Centennial Olympic Park was shattered. The gift shop was vandalized. The final toll was a quarter-million dollars in damage.

Fortunately, nothing of real value was harmed. Even better, those who run this shrine to the gridiron in downtown Atlanta realized that a change in priorities was needed.

Before the protests, they had been planning a tribute to Southern football -- which, for all the towering figures and glorious exploits, is still tinged with the stain of segregation.

”In light of everything that had gone on, Southern football didn’t seem like the right thing to do,” said Kimberly Beaudin, the hall’s chief executive officer.

Instead, curator Jeremy Swick quickly assembled an expanded tribute to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, better known as HBCUs.

That's where many of the forgotten stars of Southern football played the game, chipping away at the barriers face by people of color.

“There was a lot of courageous change that happened,” Beaudin said. “That courage is what we need today."

Speaking of courage, the Georgia Bulldogs will be honoring a group of their most influential players Saturday during a game against South Carolina.

Richard Appleby, Horace King, Chuck Kinnebrew, Clarence Pope and Larry West were the first Black players to receive scholarships to play football between the hedges — hallowed turf that had long been the domain of white players only.

“The First Five” made their debut on the freshman team a mere 50 years ago. A blip in time, when you really think about it.

“It certainly sounds like a long time,” West said,...