Between the first and second quarters of the Terrapins football team’s 20-3 loss to Syracuse on Saturday, this university honored former Syracuse football player Wilmeth Sidat-Singh and his family.
Sidat-Singh, in a story that garnered much national attention this week, was forced to sit out a 1937 matchup in College Park between the two teams because of his race. Diamondback staff writer Alex Kirshner wrote about the situation for Friday.
During the break between the quarter, the public address announcer at Byrd Stadium recounted Sidat-Singh’s story before athletic director Kevin Anderson and Darryl Hill — who broke the ACC’s color barrier — presented his family members with a framed Wounded Warriors jersey reading “Commitment” with the number “09” on it. Syracuse athletic director Dr. Daryl Gross joined Sidat-Singh’s family on the field, and Orange players wore No. 19 decals on their helmets in honor of Sidat-Singh.
After the game, coaches and players from both teams talked about what the ceremony meant, even though it was happening while they were in the middle of a game.
Terps defensive tackle Darius Kilgo:
“It was pretty impressive. I didn’t quite get to listen to the story, but I heard a couple things about it, and that’s a very impressive thing. I was actually planning on looking into it later on because I didn’t really get a chance to listen, get a chance to sit down and read it. I’m going to take a look at it later on.”
“Times change. Things change over time. It was definitely a new thing that I’ve heard, so I’m not really familiar with it as much.”
Terps coach Randy Edsall:
“It’s wonderful that the university reached out to Syracuse to honor him and his family based on what happened and I think it was a wonderful gesture by our athletic administration and university to honor his family and I was glad to see that that happened.”
Syracuse coach Scott Shafer:
“First and foremost, let us not forget that far more than a victory on a Saturday afternoon is trying to fix things that weren’t right. Hats off to Maryland for honoring Wilmeth Sidat-Singh in today’s contest by bringing in his family and doing what’s right. Seventy-six years ago, a guy wasn’t allowed to play because of the color of his skin. Seventy-six years isn’t very long ago, and that injustice was in some tiny way cleaned up today. The thing I was most proud of the guys for is that during the game they said, ‘Remember who we’re doing this for: his family.’ Couldn’t be prouder of the kids because they realized that was foar more important than the X’s and O’s.”
Syracuse linebacker Marquis Spruill:
“I think it was what we were playing for. You know, it was a history lesson. Coach told us about the day that it went down, and we did it for them.”
