[97fan]

Has anyone seen the new Ken Burns documentary on Jackie Robinson? I've only seen a 40-minute excerpt of the 4-hour film, but it asserts that when Robinson was deciding on where to enroll in college, a Stanford alum offered to pay his full tuition if he would attend a school that didn't play against Stanford. This story sounded a bit far-fetched to me - the film offers no detail or elaboration - but who knows? Maybe Stanford boosters in the late '30s were pioneers of SEC-style recruiting sketchiness. I do think that Ken Burns strives for accuracy, which makes me more inclined to believe the story than I would be otherwise.

In the same scene of the film, Stanford is described by the narrator as "all white." Is that accurate? Was Stanford all white in 1939?

[97fan]

Has anyone seen the new Ken Burns documentary on Jackie Robinson? I've only seen a 40-minute excerpt of the 4-hour film, but it asserts that when Robinson was deciding on where to enroll in college, a Stanford alum offered to pay his full tuition if he would attend a school that didn't play against Stanford. This story sounded a bit far-fetched to me - the film offers no detail or elaboration - but who knows? Maybe Stanford boosters in the late '30s were pioneers of SEC-style recruiting sketchiness. I do think that Ken Burns strives for accuracy, which makes me more inclined to believe the story than I would be otherwise.

In the same scene of the film, Stanford is described by the narrator as "all white." Is that accurate? Was Stanford all white in 1939?