Special viewing of ‘Black in Blue’ to be held Saturday

Published 11:50 am Thursday, August 2, 2018

A piece of Middlesboro history, southern history and by extension American history will be represented this Saturday at the special screening of “Black in Blue.”

The film is about the four University of Kentucky football players who broke the color line in the Southeastern Conference.

One of those four players was Middlesboro native Greg Page.

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The documentary has been in the works for a handful of years and is ready to screen.

Page was a star in his own right during his days playing high school football, and he was also one of a select few to ever receive a scholarship to play football at UK and in the Southeastern Conference during that time. This was all very much unheard of in the American south in the 1960s.

Greg’s brother, Mel Page, was quoted in a previous article as saying “Greg chose to go to the University of Kentucky, not to be a pioneer or the integrate sports. He just wanted to play for his home state.”

Tragically, Page died from a random and unfortunate accident before the ‘67 season began. During practice, he suffered a spinal cord injury which left him totally paralyzed from the neck down and took his life 38 days later.

Family friend, local certified public accountant and master of ceremonies of the Levitt AMP Middlesboro Music Series, Dana Greene had a helping hand in crafting the documentary.

“My association with the “Black in Blue” film project is one of the most gratifying things with which I have been involved in in my personal life or professional career. The Page family is offered my deepest gratitude for entrusting me with the efforts I contributed to the project and the legacy of Greg Page.”

The film will be shown at the Central Auditorium at 3 p.m. Saturday.