Walk-On

by Thom Gossom Jr.

On a beautiful sunny day in October, black students from all over campus joined together in a march on the president’s office to demand change at Auburn University. Resentment had been simmering for a while, after earlier discussions had been held asking for reforms at the university. There had been no answer.

If silence was supposed to be an answer, the students were not going to accept it.

Thom Gossom Jr. did not set out to be a groundbreaker. He did not apply to Auburn University with the goal of being the first black athlete to graduate from the almost all-white college. He just knew that he wanted to play football and he wanted to play football at Auburn. A gifted athlete and good student, Gossom was accepted to Auburn University in 1970 and forever left the comfort of his segregated hometown boyhood to enter into a world of privilege that was just starting to grapple with desegregation. Loneliness, anger, jealousy and overt racism awaited him on and off the football field. As Gossom fought for his place on the team and on campus he became part of the movement to make the world a better place for those who were to come after him, and in doing so, became a part of history.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports

253 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 2008

About the author

Thom Gossom Jr. was the first black athlete to graduate from Auburn University in 1975. A walk on, Gossom defied the odds, earned a scholarship and became a three-year starter. He is featured in the HBO special, Breaking the Huddle, about the integration of Southern college football. His film and television credits include Reckless, The Fight Club Jeepers Creepers 2, Miss Evers Boys, Boston Legal, NYPD Blue and In the Heat of the Night.

His published memoir, Walk On: My Reluctant Journey to Integration at Auburn University is in its third printing.

The short story collection trilogy, "A Slice of Life" "Another Slice of Life" and "The Rest of the Pie" has just been published.

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great look at the Integration era of Auburn University and the challenges faced by African American athletes

[Rachel Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

#21

Walk-on is an auto-biography by Thom Gossom Jr., the first African-American athlete to graduate from Auburn University. In this book Gossom describes his life growing up in segregated Alabama in the sixties, and his time at Auburn, a time when the confederate flag was still hung and saluted to.

Both of my parents attended Auburn University, so I have spent my entire life loving and cheering for Auburn. This book shows Auburn in a different light, one I am not so proud of. This book was given to my sister by a stranger she met on the street because she was wearing Auburn earrings. The man who gave the book to my sister had spent his time carefully jotting down notes and underlining passages, something that was cool to read because it gave me something to think about while reading it. Mr. Gossom is a truly inspirational man, and his book is one I will forever keep.

[Alex Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspiring written novel, Walk-On is definitely worth reading. The plot moves quickly, showing his journey from middle school until college. Thom’s desire to be accepted by the whites in the community adds depth to the story. To make the autobiography as accurate as possible, Thom had to show all the racism which was going on in the Alabama and the racism that he received, it was sad to see the pain that Thom had to go through in his life. Walk-On might be a novel that relates to African-American people but it is likely to appeal a wide variety of cultures because it helps people learn what the world used to be like.

[Brandy Bacala · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was...ok. And just ok. I feel sad rating this book, because I had much higher hopes for it. The subject of Walk On is certainly important, but the execution of it was off for me. The writing felt forced and the storyline jumped around too much. I think more time should have been spent delving into the characters as many of his college friends/acquaintances/teammates all blurred together as I was reading this. Maybe a die hard football fan would enjoy this book more, but unfortunately for me, I was underwhelmed. I won this book through a Goodreads Giveaway.