Is racism the reason why college football and NFL players wear face masks for safety on the football field? Let’s talk about it. In 1951, in the midst of the Jim Crow era, a black Drake University football player was an Heisman contender, NFL prospect, and already regarded as the greatest Drake University football player ever. Regardless of all his accomplishments, Johnny Bright was just viewed as another N word. When he became the first black football player to play in Oklahoma against Oklahoma State University in October of 1951, they wanted Johnny to know that he wasn’t welcome. So when the game started, they knocked him unconscious immediately. And within seven minutes, he was knocked unconscious three times, and he also had a broken jaw. Because the coach at Oklahoma State University at the time told his players to take that N word out. Johnny Bright, who went on to become a hall of Famer in the Canadian Football League, as well as a professor and educator in Canada, wore a face mask afterwards to prevent any more injuries. That soon became the norm in college football because of this. And you also noticed that a few years later in the 1950s, the NFL implemented the same policy, all because of racist attacks on the football field.