Good vs. Evil, Garrett vs. Wildermuth

In a highly anticipated and deliberated decision, the All University Committee on Names is recommending that the Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center be renamed the William L. Garrett/Ora L. Wildermuth Fieldhouse.

Largely an exercise in semantics, the name proposal honors William Garrett, the first black basketball player at IU, while retaining recognition for Wildermuth, a former IU trustee who espoused segregationist views.

The Committee’s recommendation to the Board of Trustees will also include the creation of an annual “signature series” lecture and a conference that focuses on the name change.

Given the intense coverage generated by Wildermuth’s racist views, the Committee’s decision strikes us as an act of cowardice, an act that seeks to placate all sides without addressing the real concerns here. While administrators might have us believe that the juxtaposition of names serves as an educational opportunity, it only helps cheapen and degrade William Garrett’s legacy, one that deserves its own recognition.

Garrett’s basketball career started in the Shelbyville Golden Bears team, which won the Indiana high school state basketball title in 1947. He was later named Indiana’s Mr. Basketball for his achievements as a high school player. Despite these on-court successes, a “gentleman’s agreement” prevented black basketball players like Garrett from joining the Big Ten Conference.

In 1948, due to pressure from community activist Faburn DeFrantz, IU head basketball coach Branch McCracken recruited Garrett, making him the first black basketball player in Big Ten Conference history.

Once at IU, Garrett’s record spoke for itself. He was the Hoosiers’ leading scorer and rebounder, and his own teammates voted him IU’s most valuable player. Off the court, Garrett struggled with discrimination, including separate public facilities like restaurants and restrooms for blacks and whites.

Thanks to the Committee’s disappointing decision, however, Garrett’s personal journey will now be inextricably linked with that of Wildermuth.

His many accomplishments will be evaluated in relation to Wildermuth, and this makes a mockery of the hate that Garrett endured in his lifetime. Worse yet, Garrett’s death ensures that he cannot object to the inclusion of his name with a segregationist.

The one piece of irony here is that Wildermuth would have likely objected to the inclusion of his name with a black man. This renaming satisfyingly comes after Wildermuth expressed his staunch opposition to the “intermingling of the colored race with the white” and referred to blacks as lacking intelligence.

The call to rename the intramural center offered IU a unique chance to address the issue of race relations. On a campus overwhelmingly dominated by whites, honoring Garrett would have sent a powerful message of tolerance and acceptance to all. Instead, we’re left with a move that insults our sensibilities and of course, the memory of Garrett.