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David Anthony Showell (October 14, 1924 – December 23, 1955) was an American fighter pilot during the Second World War in one of the all-black Tuskegee Airmen squadrons. After the war he was a prominent player for Lafayette College during the 1948 and 1949 football seasons. The Sun Bowl Committee's decision to exclude Showell from the game due to his race led to Lafayette's rejection of its Sun Bowl invitation and subsequent student protests at the college.

Early life

David Showell was born on October 14, 1924. Showell and his eight siblings spent their childhood at 816 Madison Avenue in Prospect Park, Pennsylvania. During his childhood and adolescent years, Showell attended Lincoln Elementary School, Washington Junior High, and Prospect Park High where he played baseball and football. As a high school senior he excelled in football, and he was the top scorer in Delaware County, Pennsylvania with 135 points during the 1942 season. In the same season, he led his team to three championships: the Suburban Class A and B and the Chester Pike Conference. He was awarded many accolades for his athletic talent and was honored at Ridley Township's annual football banquet when they presented him with a cup for being its most outstanding opponent that season. Showell was also chosen for the All-Delco, All-Scholastic, and All-Suburban teams. The Prospect Park yearbook named him "one of the greatest backs ever to play for Prospect Park High."

Second World War service

After graduating from Prospect Park High in 1943, Showell joined the U.S. Army. During his time in the Army, he attended flight school where he became a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a unit of black Army Air Corps pilots during World War II. Showell first experienced significant racial discrimination when he joined the military, where he and his fellow airmen were rarely called into action because of the color of their skin. Showell was discharged from the U.S. Army in October 1945.

Awards

• Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Tuskegee Airmen in 2006

College and later life

In 1947, Showell began his freshman year at Lafayette College, a small liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he played on the Lafayette Leopards football team for four years, starring at halfback. At the end of the 1948 season, Showell was excluded from an invitation the team received to play in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas on January 1, 1949. This discriminatory event sparked much controversy, not only within Lafayette College, but across the country. Lafayette decided not to send its team to the Sun Bowl in response to the Sun Bowl Committee's decision to exclude Showell from the game due to the segregation laws in Texas, which led to large student protests at the college against racial discrimination.

In 1951, Showell graduated from Lafayette College and earned his bachelor's degree in business. After his undergraduate years, Showell attended the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Death

He was critically injured in a traffic accident on December 23, 1955, when a coal truck he was driving overturned; he died hours later at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, at the age of 31.

See also

• Dogfights (TV series)
• Executive Order 9981
• Freeman Field Mutiny
• List of Tuskegee Airmen
• Military history of African Americans
• The Tuskegee Airmen (movie)
• Tuskegee Airmen

References

1. ^ "WWII Draft Registration Card". December 24, 1942. Retrieved January 6, 2020 – via fold3.com.
2. ^ "Navy Veteran, Ex-Prospect Park Gridiron Star Killed in Accidents". Delaware County Daily Times. Chester, Pennsylvania. December 24, 1955. p. 2. Retrieved January 6, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
3. ^ Pagano, Rich (November 5, 2008). "David Showell". Sports Flashback. Archived from the original on February 29, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
4. John, Leming (September 1998). "A cloud over the Sun Bowl". Lafayette Alumni News.
5. "S.Con.Res.15 - A concurrent resolution authorizing the Rotunda of the Capitol to be used on March 29, 2007, for a ceremony to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Tuskegee Airmen". Congress.gov. US Library of Congress. 6 March 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
6. Marina, Jenna. "The Greatest Game They Never Played". Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014.

Further reading

• Carpenter, Les (December 23, 2015). "The forgotten story of … the Pennsylvania college that took on a southern bowl's racism". The Guardian.

v t e Tuskegee Airmen
Units	99th Fighter Squadron 100th Fighter Squadron 301st Fighter Squadron 302nd Fighter Squadron 332d Fighter Group 477th Bomber Group
Air fields	Chanute Field Mather Field Moton Army Air Field Oscoda Army Air Field Selfridge Air Field Tuskegee Army Air Field
Pilots and crew	Paul Adams Rutherford H. Adkins Halbert Alexander William N. Alsbrooka William Armstrong Lee Archer Robert Ashby Willie Ashley Charles P. Bailey William Bartley Howard Baugh Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler George R. Bolling Herbert V. Clark Granville C. Coggs Woodrow Crockett Harold Brown George L. Brown Roscoe Brown William A. Campbell Herbert Carter Eugene Calvin Cheatham Jr. Milton Crenchaw Lemuel R. Custis Clarence Dart Alfonza W. Davis Benjamin O. Davis Jr. (C/O) Charles DeBow Robert W. Deiz Gene Derricotte Lawrence Dickson Elwood T. Driver Charles W. Dryden Wilson V. Eagleson John Ellis Edwards Joseph Elsberry Raymond Cassagnol James Clayton Flowers Julius Freeman Robert Friend Willie H. Fuller Edward C. Gleed Joseph Gomer Alfred Gorham Oliver Goodall Charles B. Hall Vernon V. Haywood George Hardy Raymond V. Haysbert Percy Heath Mitchell Higginbotham Daniel "Chappie" James Jr. Clarence C. Jamison Alexander Jefferson Carl C. Johnson James H. Harvey William Lee Hill Lincoln Hudson William H. Holloman George J. Iles James Johnson Kelly James B. Knighten George L. Knox II Roy E. LaGrone Herman A. Lawson Walter I. Lawson Clarence D. Lester Wilmore B. Leonard John Lyle Hiram Mann Walter Manning Robert Martin Armour G. McDaniel Charles McGee Walter L. McCreary John Mosley Fitzroy Newsum James O. Plinton Jr. Wendell O. Pruitt Louis R. Purnell Sr. Price D. Rice Lawrence E. Roberts George S. Roberts Curtis C. Robinson Isaiah Edward Robinson Jr. John W. Rogers Sr. Mac Ross Robert Searcy David Showell Wilmeth Sidat-Singh Graham Smith (pilot) Eugene Smith Calvin J. Spann Vernon Sport Lowell Steward Harry Stewart, Jr. Charles "Chuck" Stone Jr. Percy Sutton Alva Temple Roger Terry Lucius Theus Edward L. Toppins Robert B. Tresville Andrew D. Turner James A. Walker Spann Watson Luke J. Weathers Sherman W. White James T. Wiley Malvin "Mal" Whitfield Oscar Lawton Wilkerson Yancey Williams Romeo M. Williams Henry Wise Jr. Coleman Young
Incidents	Freeman Field mutiny
Aircraft	Bell P-39 Airacobra Curtiss P-40 Warhawk North American B-25 Mitchell North American P-51 Mustang Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
Media	Fictional films The Tuskegee Airmen (1995) Hart's War (2002) Red Tails (2012) Documentaries Flight of the Red Tail (2009) Red Tail Reborn (2007) Wings for This Man Other Fly (play) Henry Browne, Farmer "Wingmen"
Legacy	Boeing–Saab T-7 Red Hawk Red Tail Squadron Tuskegee University Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site
Other	Leslie Edwards Jr. Wilfred DeFour Maycie Herrington Buford A. Johnson Thomas Ellis Theodore Johnson Noel F. Parrish Wallace P. Reed Willie Rogers Thomas Franklin Vaughns
Related	African American military history Buffalo Soldier Golden Thirteen 366th Infantry Regiment U.S. Army Black Panthers United States Colored Troops
Category aviation portal

• 1924 births
• 1955 deaths
• American football halfbacks
• Lafayette Leopards football players
• Military personnel from Delaware County, Pennsylvania
• Players of American football from Pennsylvania
• Road incident deaths in Pennsylvania
• Tuskegee Airmen
• University of Wisconsin Law School alumni
• Aviators from Pennsylvania
• 20th-century African-American people