Honored A&I alumnus Sidney Blanks
In honor of Javelina alumnus Sidney “Sid” Blank, a social justice pioneer and All-American member of the Texas A&I football team, the Sid Blanks Social Justice Symposium was held on Nov. 4, giving students an opportunity to present their research in the field of social justice.
Blanks played on the football team from 1960 to 1963 and was also a member of the Javelina track and field team. Blanks’ acceptance onto the Javelina football program made him the first African American to play at an integrated school on a football scholarship in the state of Texas, and the first African American football player in the Lone Star Conference.
In 1960, Hall of Fame Head Football Coach Gil Steinke offered Blanks a football scholarship to play at Texas A&I University.
Blsnks’ acceptance made him the first African American to play at an integrated school on a football scholarship in the state of Texas. In 1989, Steinke told The Houston Chronicle, “We integrated football in Texas. We had Sid Blanks before anyone else integrated.” In spite of being the only African American player on the football team, Blanks would eventually lead as team captain.
He went on to play for the Houston Oilers in 1964 and championed social justice issues during a boycott of the 1965 All Star football game, where racist acts targeted African American football players, according to a school-wide email sent by Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Dr. Jarett Lujan.
“The purpose of this symposium is to gather everyone that has done research in the social justice field and share the knowledge of our community,” Lujan said.
“We are really excited to honor [Blanks] as a pioneer for the social justice movement, during the time of civil unrest.”
While Texas A&M University-Kingsville hosts the symposium annually, a different individual is honored each year. Sid Blanks was honored at this year’s symposium.
During the first hour of the event, students were able to attend a poster presentation to showcase their research on social justice.
“Our research poster is the impact Roe v. Wade is having on our students, or just women in general,” Social Work major Jacqueline Holliday said.
Only 10 percent of students in college think about condoms Holiday said of research done at a Detroit college.
The rest of the symposium consisted of speeches from a keynote and invited speaker and breakout rooms attendees had the opportunity to attend.
Dr. Enrique Alemán, the Lillian Radford Professor in Education at Trinity University, directs the Trinity Tomorrow’s Leaders Program and co-directs the Center for Educational Leadership. His areas of research include Critical Race Theory in Education, Social Justice Leadership and Educational Policy. Alemán was the keynote speaker invited to the Blanks symposium and spoke about “Remembering Our Past to Create Our Future: Racial Consciousness in the Building of Educational Pathways.”
“My main message is to share ideas about how we can learn from our past and hopefully inform the kinds of pathways communities, like Kingsville, can learn from,” Alemán said. “A lot of the work I do focuses around studying educational equity and creating more pathways to college.”
The second speaker invited to the symposium was NBA career veteran ,team executive, representative and former professional basketball player and son of Sid Blanks, Lance Blanks. Blanks is also the current ESPN and The Longhorn Network College Basketball color analyst and spoke about “The Legacy of Sid Blanks.”
“It’s important to discuss my dad today because he took part in advancing society with the university, key people in the community and throughout Texas, at a time that was tumultuous for our nation,”Blankssaid.
Blanks’ speech conveyed the message of the importance of social justice, while also using his father’s legacy and experience with social justice as an example for others to hopefully follow.
Sid Blanks passed away on Dec. 12, 2021, leaving an impact on civil rights and the sports world.
