UKC Gains the National Spotlight as First Interracial Team in Televised Trivia Competition

By Julie Bunge

 

The College Bowl medal and newspaper clippings shown here were sent to UMKC by Alvin Easter
(B.A. ’67)

A package arrived at the UMKC Alumni Association office last year. Inside was a single sheet of paper with a contact name and phone number. It also included a medal, tucked inside bubble wrap.

The medal, with “GE College Bowl” embossed on one side and “Alvin F. Easter University of Kansas City” engraved on the other, is a small reminder of the big impact four students had on the university in 1963.

Right around the time the University of Kansas City (UKC) announced its plans to merge with the University of Missouri System to become the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the school was chosen to compete on the popular television show “GE College Bowl.” The program, sponsored by General Electric, pitted two colleges, each with a team of four, against each other in
a trivia showdown.

The young men chosen to represent UKC — Team Captain Elbert Hayes (B.S. ’63), Phil Marcus (B.A. ’63), Bill Williams (B.A. ’65) and Alvin Easter (B.A. ’67) — began an accelerated study program to prepare for the trivia show.

Easter, a freshman who skipped a grade in high school and was just 17 at the time, specialized in history and cinema. Hayes was the music and science enthusiast. Marcus focused on sports and literature, while Williams was the expert on art, geography and nursery rhymes.

Their skillsets were certainly impressive, but this team was different from every other in one important way: Hayes was black, making him the first African-American to compete on the program and UKC the first interracial team.

Their appearance on “GE College Bowl” drew criticism from some and even resulted in death threats for the team. But on a Sunday afternoon the UKC team took the stage, undeterred.

UKC’s episode of “GE College Bowl” was taped live on Feb. 24, 1963. UKC was competing against Norwich University from Northville, Vermont. Easter, who sent his medal to the UMKC Alumni Association for its archives, says he still recalls a few of the questions posed during the show: naming a photo of the crab nebula, the date of the Battle of the Alamo and identifying a line from “Death of a Salesman.”

Ultimately, the team bested Norwich and won $1,500 for the UKC Scholarship Fund. Back in Kansas City, the university was abuzz with excitement. It was the first time UKC had received national media attention, and the win united campus. Hundreds of students watched
the contest to support their hometown team, and many showed up at
the airport to give the team a hero’s welcome.

Although they didn’t claim victory during their next matchup against Wake Forest on Sunday, March 3, the team still received
an additional $500 for the UKC Scholarship Fund and a place in university history.

 

THE BIG WIN

Hayes and Marcus graduated in 1963, with Williams and Easter following in 1965 and 1967, respectively. While they didn’t keep in close touch, all four pursued careers in higher education.

Elbert Hayes (B.S. ’63) went on to earn his Ph.D. in chemistry from Purdue University. He returned to Kansas City and taught at UMKC before passing away in 1992.

Phil Marcus (B.A. ’63) received his Ph.D. from Harvard and taught at Cornell before becoming a professor at Florida International University. One of the world’s leading William Butler Yeats scholars,
Marcus passed away in 2015.

Bill Williams (B.A. ’65) served on the staff of the National Gallery of Art for more than 30 years where he worked as an education department editor and staff lecturer. He passed away
in 2013.

Alvin Easter (B.A. ’67) went on to the University of Minnesota for graduate studies and worked there for more than 30 years. In the early 1990s, he appeared on an episode of “Jeopardy.” He is now retired and still resides in Minnesota.

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