Homecoming in the 1960's

The Golden Bulls were a very good football team throughout the 1960s. The first JCSU player to turn professional was tight end Pettis Norman, who graduated from Smith in 1962 and was drafted by the AFL’s Dallas Texans in the 16th round.  Norman opted to play for the nearby Dallas Cowboys instead, and manned the tight end position for them for more than a decade.  Known for his toughness and blocking, he started in Super Bowl V and split time with fellow tight end Mike Ditka when he joined the team in 1969.  Norman began the tradition of great Cowboys tight ends that continues to this day, and in 1977 he was inducted into the CIAA Hall of Fame.

Another player inducted that year was Eddie McGirt, who went from being an all-CIAA fullback under Coach Eddie Jackson in the 1940’s to head coach of the Golden Bulls from 1959-1977.  Coach McGirt, affectionately known as “Cut,” is credited with lifting the struggling Bulls to a respectable season in his first year, and for the rest of his tenure  JCSU ranked near the top of the CIAA standings.  He retired having won 118 of 191 games at Smith, and even coached the university’s basketball team from 1959 to 1962. His teams won one championship and two divisional championships, and were runners-up twice.

By 1961, more than 30 women had been crowned "Miss Johnson C. Smith" as Homecoming Queen, and an effort was made to reunited all past queens in a reunion.  Some of those who returned, including Miss JCSUs from 1930, 1936, 1938, 1943, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1954, 1957, and 1959, are gathered for a group photograph seen below.  1960's JCSU Queens included Ann Martin (1960),Shirley Vaughn, (1961), Annie Wallace (1962), Virgie Daniels (1963), Josie Foster (1964), Ida Bouler (1965), and Bettie Crawford (1966).  The Centennial Homecoming in 1968 was an especially lavish event, as Smithites celebrated 100 years of Johnson C. Smith University.  

Homecoming in the 1960's