Johnny D. Bright (born June 11, 1930, Fort Wayne, Indiana; died December 14, 1983, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) was a professional football player with the Canadian Football League (primarily with the Edmonton Eskimos) and an outstanding college football player at Drake University. Bright is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame, the Edmonton Eskimos Football Club Wall of Honour, Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame, and the Des Moines Register's Iowa Sports Hall of Fame. In 1951, Bright was named a First Team College Football All-American, and was awarded the Nils V. "Swede" Nelson Sporstmanship Award (Gridiron Club of Boston). In 1969, Bright was named Drake University's greatest football player of all time. He was also one of the first recipients of the Drake National D Club's Double "D" Award. The football field at Drake Stadium, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, is named in his honor.
In addition to his outstanding professional football career in the CFL, Bright is perhaps best known for his role as the victim of a savage, most likely racially motivated, on-field assault by an opposing collegiate football player from Oklahoma A&M (now, Oklahoma State University) on October 20, 1950, that was captured in a Pulitzer Prize winning photo sequence, and eventually came to be known as the "Johnny Bright Incident."
College football career
Bright was a three-sport (track, football, and basketball) star at Central High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Following his graduation from Central High in 1947, Bright accepted a track scholarship from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, that allowed him to try out for the football and basketball squads. Bright eventually lettered in football, basketball, and track during his collegiate career at Drake University.
Following a mandatory freshman red-shirt year, Bright began his collegiate football career in earnest in 1949, rushing for 975 yards and throwing for another 975 to lead the nation in total offense during his sophomore year, as the Drake Bulldogs finished their season at 6-2-1. In Bright's junior year, the fullback/quarterback rushed for 1,232 yards and passed for 1,168 yards, setting an NCAA record for total offense (2400 yards) in 1950, and again leading his Drake Bulldogs football team to a 6-2-1 record.
Bright's senior year began with great promise. Bright was considered a pre-season Heisman Trophy candidate, and was leading the nation in both rushing and total offense with 821 and 1,349 yards respectively, when the Drake Bulldogs, winners of their previous five games, faced Missouri Valley Conference foe Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on October 20, 1951.
The "Johnny Bright Incident"
Bright's participation in the Drake vs. Oklahoma A&M football game on October 20, 1951 was controversial, as it marked the first time that such a prominent African-American athlete, with national notoriety and of critical importance to the success of his team, had played against Oklahoma A&M on their home field in Stillwater, Oklahoma. During the first seven minutes of the game, Bright had been knocked unconscious three times by blows from Oklahoma A&M defensive tackle, Wilbanks Smith. While the final, elbow blow from Smith broke Bright's jaw, Bright was able to throw a 61-yard touchdown pass a few plays later before the injury finally forced him to leave the game. Bright finished the game with less than 100 yards for the first time in his three year collegiate career at Drake.
A Pulitzer Prize winning photographic sequence by Des Moines Register camermen Don Ultang and John Robinson clearly showed that Smith's vicious, and most likely racially motivated, jaw breaking blow to Bright had occurred well after Bright had handed off the ball to a Drake teammate, and that the blow was delivered well behind the play. The photographic sequence of the incident was widely disseminated, and later made the cover of Life Magazine.
Because of the incident and because both Oklahoma A&M and the Missouri Valley Conference refused to take any disciplinary action against Smith, Drake University withdrew from the conference for several years. The "Johnny Bright Incident," as it became known, brought about changes in collegiate football rules regarding blocking, and also required the use of more protective helmets with face guards.
Bright's jaw injury limited his effectiveness for the remainder of his senior season at Drake, but he finished his collegiate career with 5,983 yards in total offense, averaging better than 236 yards per game in total offense, and scored 384 points in 25 games. As a senior, Bright earned 70 percent of the yards Drake gained and scored 70 percent of the Bulldogs' points, despite missing the better part of the final three games of the season. Bright finished fifth in the balloting for the 1951 Heisman Trophy, and played in the post-season East-West Shrine Game and the Hula Bowl.
Professional football career
Bright was the first pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the first round of the 1952 National Football League draft. Bright spurned the NFL, electing to play for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. Bright was the first, first-round NFL draft pick to bypass the NFL for the CFL.
Bright joined the Calgary Stampeders as a fullback/linebacker in 1952, leading the Stampeders and the CFL Western Conference in rushing with 815 yards his rookie season. Bright played fullback and linebacker with the Stampeders for the 1952, 1953, and part of the 1954 seasons. In 1954, the Calgary Stampeders dealt Bright to the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos in a mid-season trade. Bright would enjoy the most success of his professional football career as a member of the Edmonton Eskimos.
Though Bright played strictly defense as a linebacker in his first year with the Eskimos (1954), he played both offense (as a fullback/quarterback) and defense for two seasons (1955-56), and played offense (fullback) permanently after that (1957-64). Bright led the CFL Western Conference in rushing four times and was a CFL Western Conference All-Star five straight seasons from 1957 to 1961. Bright's Eskimo teammates included CFL stand outs Rollie Miles, Normie Kwong, and Jackie Parker. Bright helped lead the Edmonton Eskimos to successive Grey Cup titles in 1954, 1955, and 1956. In 1958, Bright rushed for 1,722 yards. In 1959, following his third straight season as the CFL's rushing leader, Bright won the CFL's Outstanding Player Award, the first African-American or African-Canadian athlete to be so honored.
Bright retired in 1964 as the CFL's all-time leading rusher (Mike Pringle and George Reed have since surpassed him). Bright rushed for 10,909 yards in 13 seasons, had five consecutive 1,000 yard seasons, and led the CFL in rushing four times. Bright had a record thirty-six 100-plus-yard games, carrying the ball 200 or more times for five straight seasons. In 1957, Bright rushed for eight consecutive 100-yard games. Bright played in 197 consecutive CFL games as a linebacker/fullback. Bright's #24 jersey was retired by the Edmonton Eskimos in 1983, and currently hangs on the Wall of Honour at the Eskimos' Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame on November 26, 1970.
Post-football career
Bright earned a bachelor's degree in education at Drake University in 1952, putting his degree to use as a teacher and school administrator, both during and after his CFL career, eventually becoming the principal of D.S. Mackenzie Junior High School in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Bright became a Canadian citizen in 1962.
Death
Bright died of a massive heart attack on December 14, 1983, at a hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, while undergoing elective surgery to correct a football knee injury. He was survived by his wife and three children.
Bright is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.