Medgar Evers’ Forgotten Football Legacy at Alcorn State

Before Medgar Evers was a household name, he was a football player at Mississippi’s own Alcorn A&M College (now Alcorn State University). His athletic pursuits (which also included track), are overshadowed by his later activism. Evers’ time at Alcorn was a hinge between his military service and his civil rights leadership roles. And a lot of his time at Alcorn was spent on the gridiron. 

After serving in World War II in the European theater, Evers returned to Mississippi enrolled at Alcorn with his brother and fellow veteran Charles Evers. Charles later recalled their time together on the field: “Medgar played halfback and I played center. … Medgar could run that ball. He was fast. He could really run.”

The brothers brought military discipline and burgeoning leadership skills to the Braves’ locker room, all of which served Alcorn well. Though official records from the early 1950s are incomplete, Alcorn’s 1950 football team finished 8–2 and clinched the South Central Athletic Conference championship, followed by an 8–3 season in 1951. Evers was admired for his cool head during games and was elected team captain during his senior year.

Teammate Davis Weathersby remembered: “Medgar was just a great guy, a natural leader, one of our captains. He was a good player, a good runner, but we had a lot of really good running backs at that time.”

Evers’ time at Alcorn of course extended beyond his football career. He ran a small cleaning business with his brother, participated in student government, and was part of half a dozen other clubs. He was also maintaining a high GPA and starting to enter the world of voting rights activism. 

He graduated in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, balancing coursework, athletics, and community engagement. His time at Alcorn cultivated the leadership skills he would soon exercise as a Civil Rights organizer in deeply segregated Mississippi.

Nearly fifty years after he last donned the Braves football uniform, Evers was inducted into the Alcorn State University Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 for his excellence in football. And while his alma mater of course lauds his activism, Alcorn’s own historical notes highlight that: “While attending Alcorn A&M College, Evers was a standout student-athlete and scholar.”

When Alcorn State celebrated 100 years of football in 2021, university president Dr. Felecia M. Nave reflected on the institution’s storied legacy: “The legacy of the football program is rich and one of triumph. From the days of Alex Haley serving as a water boy on the football team, civil rights icon Medgar Evers suiting up in uniform, and the legacy of the McNair brothers, the name Alcorn resonates throughout the state and beyond; because of this storied tradition of excellence.”

Medgar Evers’ football career at Alcorn State is more than a footnote. His time as a student athlete encouraged him to make tough decisions, effectively manage a group, and trust his teammates. And though Evers was undoubtedly a tenacious and incredibly intelligent person before his time as a Brave, his tenure on the gridiron gave him yet another opportunity to lead and succeed. 

Author administrator Corinne Ellington