In 1954 the Supreme Court opened the door for integration and almost immediately an African American student applied for admission. The Legislation creating STSTC and TCAI had been specific about this school being created for the “White” boys and girls of this state, and it took almost two years before the first African American woman, was admitted. In the fall ten other African American

students were admitted without incident.  The Board was hesitant, and the Alumni expressed distress, but, the students seemed ready to move ahead on integration in the matter of African Americans.  It took several more years before the Board finally allowed the integration of the dorms.

     One person who did not hesitate to do what he could for integration was the much beloved Coach Gil Steinke.  In 1939 Gil Steinke had played on the A&I football team. He earned Little All American honors and then went on to a very successful career in professional football. In 1954 Coach Steinke returned to the

campus as head football coach and athletic director. By 1959 he claimed the first of six national NAIA championship, three of them consecutively,  for this school. In 1977, his final year the team completed a 39 game winning streak which was the longest active one in the nation, at

that time.  The Javelinas won 10 Lone Star Conference championships; played in five different countries and in 20 different states.  In 1956, when A&I declared itself integrated, alumni and other colleges and universities that played against the A&I teams, voiced great concern. Coach Steinke would not allow discrimination and unequal treatment of his players. When A&I’s first Black football player, Sid Blanks, was refused a hotel room with the rest of the team, the Coach announced that none of the team would stay.  Many players and coaches remember the Javelina team traveling considerable extra distances to stay at accommodations where all of the team could stay together. 

     School life during the 1950s was a happy time. Although the nontraditional student population was growing, it was not yet so large that it was demanding the change that would be called for in the next two decades. Panty raids, socials, fraternities and sororities were popular on campus.  1953 is remembered as the year of the Kleptos. That year A&I students proudly managed to steal the mascot from every school they played in football. Their greatest theft was when they stole “LeRoy” the 600 pound Tiger mascot of Trinity University. While traveling to San Antonio to find LeRoy, they saw the Trinity people transporting the tiger to Kingsville. At an opportune time they stole the tiger, with its trainer, and at the game that night kept it on the Javelina side. Trinity students chanted “We Want LeRoy.” A&I students responded “We Have LeRoy.”  LeRoy was returned at the end of the game.

1951-1967 continued