Historical film at Leeds rescheduled

NOTE: After this arti­cle was first pub­lished, Leeds Center for the Arts issued the fol­low­ing announce­ment: Due to the poten­tial for severe weath­er, Black in Blue has been RESCHEDULED to Friday, Feb. 11^th at 7:00 PM. We hope you’ll join us!

This Friday, the pro­jec­tor at Leed’s Center for the Arts will fire up once again for a show­ing of an impor­tant his­tor­i­cal doc­u­men­tary. Black in Blue is a 2019 fea­ture-length doc­u­men­tary writ­ten and direct­ed by Lousiville native and UK grad­u­ate Paul Wagner. 

From the film’s web­site:

“On September 30, 1967, University of Kentucky foot­ball play­er Nate Northington became the first black schol­ar­ship ath­lete to play sports in the Southeastern Conference — the col­lege sports league that was the sym­bol and sub­stance of white suprema­cy in the South. But as Nate entered the game against Olé Miss, his achieve­ment was the last thing on his mind. That morn­ing, Nate learned that his team­mate, room­mate, and fel­low civ­il rights pio­neer, Greg Page, had died — died in a man­ner so trag­ic, that it would hang like a dark cloud over Nate’s achieve­ment.

“Three weeks lat­er, a despon­dent Nate left the team and the uni­ver­si­ty. But two oth­er black play­ers who had been recruit­ed to UK, Wilbur Hackett and Houston Hogg, would pick up the baton of change, fac­ing racism on cam­pus at Kentucky and, espe­cial­ly, on trips to games in the deep south. Ultimately, their courage and the bonds of team loy­al­ty between the black and white play­ers would insure the suc­cess of inte­gra­tion at UK and all across the south.”

Presented by the Winchester Black History and Heritage Committee, the film will run on Saturday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. There is no admis­sion charge, but reg­is­tra­tion is request­ed. Please use the link in the infor­ma­tion box on this page to register. 

Black in Blue tells the com­pelling sto­ry of four University of Kentucky foot­ball play­ers who broke the col­or bar­ri­er in the Southeastern Conference in the 1960s. 

Greg Page was a defen­sive end from Middlesboro, Kentucky, and a charis­mat­ic team­mate who died as a result of an acci­dent dur­ing prac­tice his sopho­more year. 

Nate Northington was a run­ning back and an out­stand­ing stu­dent from Thomas Jefferson High School in Louisville. Nate was recruit­ed to play at UK by Gov. Ed Breathitt.

Wilbur Hackett, a diminu­tive line­backer who hailed from Louisville Manual High, was elect­ed by his white UK team­mates as team cap­tain — a first for a Black per­son on any team in any sport in the SEC.

Houston Hogg was a coun­try kid and an out­stand­ing run­ning back from Daviess County High School. Mr. Hogg is rec­og­nized and hon­ored today for his com­mu­ni­ty work in his home­town of Owensboro.