1958 UB Football Team to be Inducted into Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame
UB ATHLETICS: Published June 25, 2021
The Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame announced its newest class of inductees on Wednesday, and the 1958 UB football team will be the second team honored in the GBSHOF as a Team of Distinction.
The 1958 team will be remembered as much for its dominance on the football field as for its unity off it. Following an 8-1 regular season, the Bulls were honored on “The Ed Sullivan Show” for winning the Lambert Cup — a trophy given to the best small school program in the East. The honor came with an invitation to play Florida State in the Tangerine Bowl — UB’s first bowl invitation. However, the invitation came with one condition: that UB’s two African-American players, Willie Evans and Mike Wilson, not attend the game. Without hesitation, the team unanimously voted not to play the game, refusing to leave their teammates behind. The 1958 team’s unified stance against racism was a great and principled action, inspiring others and dignifying themselves, the university and all of Buffalo in the eyes of the entire nation.
