Photo credit: UB Athletics Archives
Source: ucf.com
Members of the historic 1958 University at Buffalo football team will be in attendance Saturday, Sept. 19, at Bright House Networks Stadium to be honored at halftime during the UCF football game versus the current Buffalo squad.
The epic tale of the bowl-bound 1958 Buffalo team was one of the most prominent storylines during last year’s college football postseason, when the present-day Mid-American Conference champion Bulls received their first bowl bid since that 1958 season, on their milestone 50th anniversary. Approximately 23 members of that 1958 squad, plus spouses and families, were feted during Buffalo’s stay in Toronto for the ESPN-televised International Bowl, where the Bulls faced the University of Connecticut.
The 1958 Buffalo team, whose roster contained two African-American players, Willie Evans and the late Mike Wilson, was invited to play in the 1958 Tangerine Bowl, organized by the Elks Lodge. The use of the stadium was controlled by the now defunct Orlando High School Athletics Association, who maintained a policy banning interracial events. In a show of solidarity for their Evans and Wilson, the entire Buffalo squad, which also included a young Gerry Gergley, voted to not play in the bowl game.
Gergley was an early pioneer of the UCF athletics program, starting both the varsity wrestling and golf teams during his tenure, while also serving as UCF’s first strength coach. Most notably, Gergley was integral figure in forming UCF’s first football team along with the late Dr. Jack O’Leary, the school’s director of athletics at the time. He was later inducted into the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003, and is still active today attending UCF events in Orlando.
The concept of honoring the 1958 Buffalo team began in the Office of the Mayor for Orange County, Richard Crotty, a 1972 UCF graduate, who reached out to both UCF Athletics and Florida Citrus Sports on the idea. All three parties were in unanimous agreement this was the right thing to do to celebrate Buffalo’s visit to Orlando so soon after the 50th anniversary of their first bowl bid. To follow, Buffalo’s athletics administration was engaged, who also firmly believed in the action, to speak with the 1958 squad on the proposal. The response came with unanimous excitement from the 1958 team, who are thrilled that their story is still one that touches the community and to be able to finally come to Orlando as a team.
The ability to stage this landmark recognition on Sept. 19 at UCF’s Bright House Networks Stadium would not have occurred without the generosity of Air Tran, Loews’ Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando and the Central Florida Hotel Lodging Association.
See what team members and others are saying about this landmark event HERE.
