Read this excerpt from I Never Had It Made. The team went to South Bend, Indiana, for a game. The hotel management registered th
e coach and team but refused to assign a room to a black player named Charley Thomas. In those days college ball had a few black players. Mr. Rickey took the manager aside and said he would move the entire team to another hotel unless the black athlete was accepted. The threat was a bluff because he knew the other hotels also would have refused accommodations to a black man. While the hotel manager was thinking about the threat, Mr. Rickey came up with a compromise. He suggested a cot be put in his own room, which he would share with the unwanted guest. The hotel manager wasn't happy about the idea, but he gave in. Which detail supports the idea that Branch Rickey is personally involved in his players’ struggle for acceptance? "The hotel management registered the coach and team but refused to assign a room to a black player named Charley Thomas." "In those days college ball had a few black players." "He suggested a cot be put in his own room, which he would share with the unwanted guest." "The hotel manager wasn't happy about the idea, but he gave in."
