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January 1943. Daytona Beach, Florida. "Bethune-Cookman College. Football is the favorite sport." Eleven Wildcats in an awesome team photo by Gordon Parks for the Office of War Information. 4x5 inch acetate negative. View full size.
These players could be an ad for smooth shaving Gillette razors.
...and the men were steel.
A few of these guys can hardly keep from snickering at the camera that has been placed on the ground, which was probably a very innovative idea back then!
Just think how much we would have missed if these handsome young men had been wearing face masks?
Rarely does one see images from Black college football and especially from in the 1940s. Parks' 4x5 negative does a great job in capturing detail.
Shorpy, thanks for bringing this online!
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