Transcript Staff Writer

The headlines of The Transcript stretched across hundreds of miles in early September of 1957.

In Birmingham, Ala., the Rev. F.L. Shuttlesworth was beaten as he led a charge to enroll black students at the all-white Phillips High School. Parents of 20 first-graders withdrew their children from Nashville, Tenn., elementary schools in response to integration. A police escort was required to protect the young, black children from a mob of 200 white adults.

And in Little Rock, Ark., the crowd was 500. It wouldn't be until Oct. 24, before the eight black students could enter Central High School free of military accompaniment.

Seven pages deep into the same Monday, Sept. 9, edition, near the bottom of Jack Bickham's sports column, "The Transcribe," the reporter revealed the only barrier for one Norman High School student was on the other side of the offensive line.

"Yet the halfback drawing the most praise is a transfer student from Shawnee, a spindly-legged 141 pound Negro boy named Don Johnson.

'It's a pleasure to coach him,' (NHS football coach Buddy Brothers) said. 'Sometimes in these drills I'll have a bunch, and I'll tell them what I want them to do, then they'll do it wrong anyway. I'll have to stop and tell them over again.

"It isn't that way with Johnson. You tell him once, and he remembers, and he does what you tell him. He wants to be a ball player, and he is going to be one.'"

Brothers was right about Johnson's skills. He would go on to be a gridiron standout for the Tigers. But Johnson's greatest accomplishments can't be found in a box score or captured in a black-and-white yearbook still frame. It's what Johnson and his sister Etta did for themselves, their mother and Norman that has remained relevant.

Together Don, 65, and Etta, 66, integrated the city's schools and help shift the attitudes and social norms of the then sleepy college town.

"It wasn't anything we wanted to do," Don, 65, recalled. "My mom made us go. She pretty much insisted. At the time we were living away from home."

Home was Stella, a small farming community north of Little Axe. Etta was a year ahead of Don and was sent to live with relatives in Oklahoma City so she could attend Douglas High School. Don was shipped to Shawnee a year later.

In 1955 the Johnson children made an attempt to enroll at Norman High, but "problems" occurred with their transcript and the transfer was denied. Their mother didn't give up. She wanted her children home and going to the local school. She tried again for the fall of 1956, and Don and Etta were accepted as students. It would take a while for them to be counted as peers.

"It was hard the first day," Etta said. "I cried all day. I didn't want to go."

Her lonely, silent bus ride from Little Axe was compounded by the absence of her brother. Neither can remember why Don didn't go, but it's now a sense of pride for Etta.

"I'm the one that integrated the school," she said. "He wasn't there for the first day. I was."

Don's arrival on campus wasn't any better. He wasn't playing football at the time so the common ground of sports wasn't there. After three days of silence, stares and nerves, he said the ice broke.

"A group of guys came over to me. I don't remember who. I thought there might be some trouble, but they introduced themselves," he said. "The whole thing was different, really, really different. When you consider I was a country boy, just being surrounded by a crowd of a lot of people was difficult. But being around a lot of white people was really difficult. It took some getting used to."

The apprehension also was felt by several white students including Wallace Collins. Long before Collins, 65, was the House District 45 representative he was a child of the 50s "dragging Main Street" in his '47 Chevy.

"It was a surprise to us," Collins said of Don's and Etta's arrival. "I didn't have any idea Norman was going to be integrated that year."

Integration appears to be a secret Norman kept. The September 1956 papers didn't report the Johnsons enrollment. It may have been due to Norman's dubious description as a "sundown town" -- a segregated city that allowed blacks to work but not live in town.

"It is kind of miraculous that Don and Etta had few run-ins," Collins said. "It was just the social attitudes of that time. It's a blight on Norman."

Don and Etta were aware of the atmosphere and decided to ignore it by keeping to themselves. Their unity made it possible to endure those first days. And they recognize things could have been much worse for them during the "feeling-out" process. They knew they were suffering great hardships just to sit at a desk.

"Since it was just the two of us," Etta said, "we had it easier than most. They didn't feel intimidated by two black teenagers. Then, it got easier and easier. We made friends."

Don has similar recollections.

"It was a cake-walk compared to what others had to go through," he said alluding to the violence in other locations. "We didn't have anything like that. It took time for us to warm up to the transition, but we made it and they made it through it just fine. We became friends."

Those friends turned into supporters. Etta remembers walking downtown with friends and not being allowed to enter certain establishments.

"After a few refusals, they wouldn't go in either," she said.

Sports helped Don on the field and off. One Friday, rather than go home before a football game, Don decided to stay in town and wait it out. Collins saw him. Together they ran the Main Street strip on 50 cents worth of gas in the Chevy.

"After a while, we got to know the people and places in town," Don said. "I didn't notice or pay attention to negatives. They were just classmates and people."

But others like Collins were impressed. In 2001, Collins, with the help of other leading Democrats, recognized Don and Etta with a special citation on Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday.

"It was the 45th year since they integrated Norman," he said. "They were pioneers, and I felt they deserved it. Now it's the 50th anniversary. It's a milestone ... an accomplishment."

As an achievement, integration is major, but Don takes a more "big picture" approach. Since 1961, he has worked at Bob Seat Cover Shop, 1208 N Flood Ave. In 1972 he became a part owner and by 1994, he was the sole owner. Over the years he has seen Norman shift and transform beyond September '56.

"Norman is a good town," he said. "It had to make some changes, and of course we did too. In my mind there are still a lot more we can do as a society. There is room for government and citizens to try harder and reach a common ground. Things have changed so much now. Race is not the main reason to not succeed in life."

Etta currently lives in Oklahoma City and spent more than 30 years working for Lucent Technologies in its various forms. She said she used to travel to Norman a lot to take her mother shopping, but Don keeps her informed. She has her hands full with grandchildren.

Years in the automotive business has given Collins many reasons to see his old friend at Bob's Seat Cover Shop. Throughout the years and visits, Collins said Don is the same, "friendly, kind, ready to help and easy to get along with."

The same characteristics a young, black teenager and his sister needed to get through a stressful time.

"I'm proud of Norman and Don and Etta," Collins said of the integration 50 years ago. "They paved the way for others and broke Norman's color barrier."

Don takes that acknowledgment the same way he did on the practice field in the summer of 1957. His natural athleticism and willingness to finish his assignment caught the eye of the coaches. When he was asked who taught him to read and recognize the defense, he said,

"I don't guess anybody did. I wasn't even thinking about it. I didn't even know I did it."

Fifty years later, that's Don and Etta. They shared a quiet strength for an entire community and did it with a sense of style and grace known by many except themselves.

"It was significant," Don said. "Probably more significant than Etta and I are willing to take credit for."

Tony Pennington 366-3541 schools@normantranscript.com