BYU basketball: How the Cougars quietly made history this month
If you weren’t watching closely, you probably missed history unfolding right before your eyes.
Trailing Missouri State 55-53 with 7:44 to play in the second half on Nov. 16 at the Marriott Center, head coach Mark Pope made a substitution during a TV timeout.
Jaxson Robinson and Trey Stewart quietly checked in and Noah Waterman and Spencer Johnson checked out. As play resumed, history was made.
“Seeing five Black athletes taking that picture with coach was really cool. I thought, ‘Wow, BYU has come a long way. It’s great to show the world that this is what BYU stands for. Everybody is welcome here.” — BYU forward Gideon George
On the floor for the Cougars included Robinson, Stewart, Rudi Williams, Fousseyni Traore and Gideon George — five Black student-athletes representing BYU and its predominantly white student-body for the first time in school history.
For the first Black basketball player to take the floor at BYU 45 years ago, it was jaw dropping.
“Wow! That is amazing!” said Keith Rice from his home in Portland, Oregon. Rice turns 65 on Dec. 9. Two of those years were spent making headlines in Provo between 1977-79. Not only was he the first Black to play basketball at BYU, he was also the first to graduate.
Rice was at the Marriott Center for an alumni event on Oct. 15 and watched the basketball team scrimmage. He sat with former Black teammate Danny Frazier and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Me and Danny were sitting on the front row and I’m looking at the players and there were four to five Black guys on the floor practicing,” Rice said. “I’m going, ‘Wow!’ Coming back and witnessing the team this year and the campus and just seeing the change. Man! It’s amazing! I give all glory to God.”
When Pope substituted Robinson and Stewart into the game against Missouri State, making history was the last thing on anyone’s mind. BYU was just trying to figure out how to get the lead back. It wasn’t until afterward that it sunk in.
“Honestly, during the game, I didn’t even think about it,” said Williams, a senior transfer from Hamilton, Ontario. “I didn’t realize how big of a deal it was until we took that picture. It feels good to be part of history.”
With the game over and the crowd dispersed, Pope and the five players returned to the floor for a snapshot at midcourt to commemorate the moment.
“Seeing five Black athletes taking that picture with coach was really cool. I thought, ‘Wow, BYU has come a long way,’” said George, a senior from Minna, Nigeria. “It’s great to show the world that this is what BYU stands for. Everybody is welcome here.”
The picture, long overdue by societal standards, might someday be on display in the inner sanctum of the basketball office, but the visual on BYUtv was for all the world to see.
“I never thought I would see it,” said former BYU athletic director Val Hale, who worked in the athletic department in various capacities between 1980 and 2004. “I remember when the first Black football player (Ron Knight) came in 1970 and what a big deal that was. To go from that to where all five (basketball) players on the floor are Black would have been unheard of 50 years ago. No one would ever imagine that would happen. It’s extremely significant.”
Times have changed. The world has changed and BYU’s reach into different cultures, countries and creeds has changed with it.
Scanning the globe
When BYU announces its starting lineup Saturday against South Dakota at Vivint Arena (1:30 PM, BYUtv) it won’t include any returned missionaries, or even a member of the Latter-day Saint faith, which sponsors the school.
Traore (Mali), George (Nigeria), Williams (Canada), Robinson (Oklahoma), and Waterman (New York) will make up the starting five for the third straight game, due to the knee injury to Spencer Johnson. Atiki Ally Atiki (Tanzania) will be among the first off the bench.
While highly unusual, such a starting five is not unprecedented. Pope made program history last February when BYU was at Loyola Marymount by starting an all non-Latter-day-Saint lineup, including four Black players for the first time.
Pope’s second unit on Saturday will include three recently returned missionaries and highly touted freshmen Dallin Hall (Plain City), Richie Saunders (Riverton) and Tanner Toolson (Vancouver, Washington). The most decorated recruit in school history, Collin Chandler (Farmington), will return from his mission in time for BYU’s second season in the Big 12.
“What coach Pope preaches a lot is, how we can come together. How do we become a family? How do we develop the best locker room in America?” George said. “The dudes are buying into that. I tell guys all the time, you want to play for coach Pope.”
The globetrotter
When Pope drives by the sign on BYU’s west entrance that declares “The World is Our Campus” he believes it. The fourth-year head coach scanned the globe last summer — twice. His frequent flyer miles hit 400,000 as he searched for players that can help BYU in the Big 12.
“It’s just a reflection of what this program is all about and what this university is all about,” said Pope. “We are trying to find the best players that fit BYU right now.”
His to-do list is void of preconceived notions or exclusive denominations. He’s searching for high character kids that, no matter how foreign the campus culture in Provo might be, are willing to give all they have to the program, including living the school’s honor code for as long as they are here.
“I remember Jeff Chapman in the mid ’80s used to joke as we were taking the team picture that he ‘had 14 token white guys on the team with him.’ He used to always laugh about that,” Hale said. “I’m sure for players like him who came and set the stage, it has to be remarkable to see all the Black players now representing and having a good experience at BYU.”
Hit and miss
Sometimes, with help from the transfer portal, Pope strikes gold — as with Arizona transfer Alex Barcello and 7-foot-3 Purdue transfer Matt Haarms — and sometimes he misses. The coach is banking on newcomers from Coastal Carolina (Williams), Arkansas (Robinson), and Detroit Mercy (Waterman) to carry a big load in BYU’s final season in the West Coast Conference. The three combined for 42 points Tuesday against Westminster.
While Pope contends that recruiting Latter-day Saint stars will always be a priority at BYU, globetrotting to find talent, no matter the faith or the color, is mandatory as the Cougars join the most competitive basketball conference in the country next season in the Big 12.
“I think he recognizes the need to broaden the recruiting pool. You just have to,” said former BYU coach Steve Cleveland. “In order for BYU to get to the next level, international recruiting is going to be very important along with developing returned missionaries. It’s a blend of both — tap into the world while maintaining a focus on LDS kids.”
Cleveland’s challenge
Watching five Black players run the floor at the same time at BYU caught Cleveland’s attention, but it didn’t surprise him.
“He’s (Pope) put a lot of time searching the world for players, regardless of color or race,” Cleveland said. “He’s trying to find the best guys. I love the direction he’s taking.”
Cleveland took over a 1-26 basketball program and set out to rebuild it with whatever he could and as fast as he could. He leaned on his expertise at the junior college level and signed seven Black players between 1997 and 2005 — including eventual game changers Terrell Lyday and Keena Young.
BYU coach Steve Cleveland looks on as the Cougars play Utah play in Provo, Utah Monday night Jan. 31, 2005. Says Cleveland of what current coach Mark Pope is doing now at BYU: “He’s put a lot of time searching the world for players, regardless of color or race. He’s trying to find the best guys. I love the direction he’s taking.”
BYU had just 11 Black basketball players in the 93 years prior to Cleveland’s arrival. Not all of Cleveland’s kids were home runs, and some didn’t last very long, but with a diverse and athletic roster, he marched BYU back into the NCAA Tournament as Mountain West Conference champions in four years.
“We took the approach of, ‘How can we best build the program?’ ” Cleveland said. “That is what Mark is doing for the Big 12. You can already see the potential on his roster.”
Granted, Pope didn’t inherit a downtrodden 1-26 program, but no BYU basketball coach before him ever faced the gauntlet of competition that is coming.
Black pioneers
Signing BYU’s first Black basketball player was seen as such a significant occasion that it was reported in the New York Times on May 4, 1974. Head coach Glenn Potter brought 6-foot-3 guard Gary Batiste to Provo from Berkeley, California, to join a roster that included Gifford Nielsen and Jay Cheesman.
Game records show Batiste never played during his one and only season at BYU, but the next Black basketball player that followed him did. Rice, a 6-foot-5 forward, averaged 9.3 points over 51 games between 1977-1979, including 31 points against No. 2 North Carolina during his debut season.
“I came to BYU because I wanted to go to the next league. I wanted to play the best competition,” Rice said. “Some of the things weren’t easy, but in the long run, it’s all been a blessing. What helped me through it was the fans. The people who came to the games — they were special.”
Another Black athlete, Danny Frazier, a 6-6 forward who also played linebacker on the football team, joined Rice on head coach Frank Arnold’s 1977 roster, but saw limited action.
Rice said Frazier, his life-long friend, followed him around like a bodyguard and Danny Ainge, his roommate, was just a freshman, “so I felt like I was babysitting him a lot,” he said with a laugh.
At times, Rice was also a spokesman for the outsider. The 1970s were challenging times for BYU’s sponsor, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On June 9, 1978, the Church announced a policy change allowing Blacks to hold the priesthood.
“I remember waking up the next morning and the press was at my door asking me what I thought about it?” Rice said. “Why are you asking me? I’m not a Mormon. But they wanted to know my feelings about it.”
As Rice has aged and thought back on his time at BYU, the good memories outweigh the challenging ones.
“I know I didn’t always used to think that, but now, as I’ve seen the kind of person I am today, my (BYU) experience has been part of the reason I developed a strong relationship with Jesus Christ,” he said. “During that time, he was there with me and just kept me on course — along with my mother.”
Racial challenges
Even as history is made with Black athletes on the basketball team, and as BYU’s first Black starting quarterback, Jaren Hall, is expected to finish his Cougar career and declare for the NFL draft, the cry of imperfection, with its attached finger-pointing, still comes.
In August, a Black Duke volleyball player accused a white BYU fan of spewing racial epithets at her throughout the match at the Smith Fieldhouse. An ensuing investigation by BYU found no evidence, or even a single witness, to support the claim — not even from the accuser’s own teammates.
As social and traditional media goes, the allegation didn’t need to be true to go viral and it quickly and falsely lambasted BYU as a place where Black students aren’t safe and where they don’t want to be. South Carolina and Pacific even went as far as cancelling future matches with the Cougars out of “safety concerns” for their own student-athletes.
BYU isn’t a perfect place, but neither is South Carolina, Pacific or anywhere else for that matter. The daily news cycle is full of evidence that there is plenty of work for everyone when it comes to race relations and general acceptance of each other.
As for Pope, who was a captain on Kentucky’s diverse 1996 national championship team, winning comes colorblind. Whether it’s his staff, which has two Black assistants, or that his roster will feature six Black players on Saturday, it doesn’t mean the school has mastered societal bliss — it just means that this is the group that gives his team the best chance to win games.
BYU forwards Atiki Ally Atiki (4) and Gideon George (5) battle during game against San Francisco in the 2022 West Coast Conference quarterfinals at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 5, 2022. The two are among six Black players on this year’s roster.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
“We have guys here from all over the world,” George said. “There is love and progress here. I’m proud of what BYU has done.”
College is about opportunity and Pope is cooking with a melting pot of flavors gathered from near and far to a campus that is self-defined by its global reach — starting with a player like Rice who took a chance on Provo.
“Back then it was a big deal that a Black person would come to BYU. Now, they are trying to get the whole world here,” Rice said. “It’s almost like ministering out to the world that this is a place for all people of all color. I see coach (Pope) representing that.”
A special moment
Williams never dreamed of playing for BYU. In fact, one year ago, as a guard at Coastal Carolina, the thought of playing in Provo never crossed the Canadian’s mind. But he’s here.
Watching Johnson beat Idaho State with a late 3-pointer and seeing Hall sink Missouri State with a bank shot in the final seconds has him salivating for his own shot at glory.
“I’m just waiting for my special moment to happen at the Marriott Center,” he said. “I want to do something to be remembered for.”
Standing in a picture with four of his Black teammates and his head coach on the heels of making history may be tough for Williams to top.
“It’s a good start,” he said, with a wide smile.
BYU’s head coach Mark Pope high-fives fans after the Cougars beat the Nicholls at the Marriott Center in Provo on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022. The fourth-year BYU coach has constructed diverse and competitive teams during his time leading the Cougars.
Ben B. Braun, Deseret News
Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret News and is the studio host for “BYU Sports Nation Game Day,” “The Post Game Show,” “After Further Review,” and play-by-play announcer for BYUtv. He is also co-host of “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com.