In the shadow of integration, John Paul McCrumbly became a household name in Dallas after a Feb. 25, 1968 story in the Dallas Morning News started off like this:
"It isn’t often that a 15-year-old Negro boy is the weekend guest in the home of the district attorney and is chosen as a captain of a predominantly white football team."
Kevin Sherrington with the DMN writes a great story about McCrumbly, who went on to play on Woodrow’s state semifinal football team as a junior, rushing for more than 1,400 yards and scoring 19 touchdowns. Read the story, and you’ll notice some bigtime Woodrow names also mentioned, including Dallas County district attorney Henry Wade and longtime Woodrow football coach Cotton Miles.
McCrumbly was honored at Woodrow’s recent 80th anniversary celebration with induction into the school’s Hall of Fame.
