The Trailblazers (1956-1960)

“Bud wrote a book, but I made that book real. He had written it before I got there, but he needed an athlete to make it real. All Bud’s stuff came about because of me.”
Ray Norton discussing his impact on Coach Bud Winter’s training techniques.

San José State sprinters Ray Norton and Robert Poynter came of age during a period in which the United States experienced periods of significant social progress: From the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education in May of 1954 to its decision in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in December of ’56, it appeared that a new era of race relations was beginning to jolt America.

When Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white man and stand in the back of a Montgomery, Alabama, bus on December 5, 1955, her bravery marked the formal birth of the Civil Rights Movement. Norton and Poynter were then 18. (In fact, Poynter celebrated his 18 th birthday that day.)

Like Parks, Norton and Poynter were the forerunners of a movement that would place the discrimination that they felt as individuals within the context of the discrimination that affected all Blacks. Because Black athletes at San Jose State would eventually see their problem as collective, their ability to unite as one, rather than regard themselves as individual victims, was strengthened. (Interestingly enough, Norton attended high school with other Black athletic superstars, including Bill Russell, who became the first Black head coach in the National Basketball Association; Frank Robinson, who became the first Black manager in Major League Baseball; and Curtis Flood, who became the first major leaguer to test the reserve clause, bringing about free agency and the astronomical salaries enjoyed by players today.) Poynter’s mother, IdellaPoynter, who is related to television’s Oprah Winfrey, moved across the country from Georgia to Pasadena, California, with another pair of Black athletes who would make history: Mack and Jackie Robinson. Mack competed alongside Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympic Games, and Jackie was the first Black to play major league baseball in the modern era.

Though Winter had coached Olympic-caliber athletes in previous years, it was not until Norton’s arrival on campus during the fall of ’56 that his genius became known.

Winter, Norton said, had a knack for dissecting the running styles of top sprinters. He knew “what was unique about each one,” and devised a blue print for the super sprinter. But he needed someone to buy into it. “I bought into it.”

Norton graduated from high school in December of ’55, and went to Oakland City College that spring. By the next academic year, however, he was at San Jose State. Though he may not have made much of an impression as a Spartan his first season, by the spring of ’58 he had proven Winter’s theories correct.

“I equaled the world record in the 100 yards my junior year,” said Norton, who raced to a world record of 9.3 seconds in San Jose on April 12, 1958. Throughout his career, he would set or break that record three times. He, too, would set or break world records in the 100- and 200- meter dashes.

Eventually, San Jose would become somewhat of a magnet for athletes from as far afield as Brazil (Jose Azevado), Jamaica (Dennis Johnson), Nigeria (Jimmy Ogmabemi), and Venezuela (Lloyd Murad).

But not all was as glorious in San Jose as songstress Dionne Warwick sang in her hit Do you know the way to San Jose? (“ There'll be a place where I can stay . . .”)

Although these world-class athletes were “on scholarship,” they sometimes went hungry. “On weekends

when we didn’t have anything to eat, we would just stay in the house,” said Poynter, who notes how Coach Winter would divide six scholarships amongst forty athletes. “Sometimes we would eat walnuts off the tree in the backyard and drink sugar water, or if Chuck Alexander would hash (wait tables) at a fraternity or sorority house, he would bring home chicken for us.”

At one point Norton, who other athletes teased about being “Bud’s favorite,” approached Winter to discuss his famished teammates. Soon, Winter had set up a “reward system” in which everyone, from Norton, the World’s Fastest Human, to the slowest person on the team would be fed. “It was interesting because he knew the athletes who were hungry,” Norton said. “But Bud would do it so that he wouldn’t embarrass anyone.”

Winter’s wife, Helen Winter, and his assistant’s wife, Betty Bonanno, began to bake cakes and pies for the athletes. Winter also was able to get restaurants including Original Joe’s – still located at 301 South First Street in downtown San Jose – to feed the athletes in the afternoon or in the evening. “If you did well in practice and Bud liked it,” Norton said, “Bud would give you a little chip and you could go over there and get a milkshake and a hamburger.”

Despite the fact that Norton and Poynter, amongst others, brought worldwide recognition to the City of San Jose, they still were forced to live in segregated housing along with a dozen or so other Black males who attended SJSC, and called themselves the Good Brothers.

“We had to help each other in order to survive, so that’s what we did,” Poynter said. “All of us were determined to succeed because we knew we couldn’t just go back home.”

Amongst the Good Brothers who helped maintain the household were Alexander, Tom Broome and Eddie James. Alexander, a member of the football team, made sure the rent was paid. Broome, a member of the track team, and James, a student, held study sessions for the students who may have been ill prepared to attend college.

Clearly the lives of these trailblazers were difficult. That they were able to attain the success they achieved was remarkable. But their vision for future generations of Black athletes was clouded. “When you’re doing something for the first time, you don’t know where it will lead,” Poynter said. “All I knew was that I didn’t want to do what my father did. He was a good man and he worked hard six days a week as a custodian at Kress’s (Department Store).” Back to Top