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President Dwight Eisenhower is in the oval office, Ray Kroc is opening the ninth McDonald's in the country, Elvis Presley is getting his first record deal with RCA and way down south 14 players are making history in the Rio Grande Valley.

For the first time ever at the University of Texas Pan American there were the sounds of mitts popping and bats cracking.

1955, the inaugural season for the Broncs' was managed by 2008 UTPA Hall of Fame inductee Jim Brooks.

Not only was Brooks the first coach for the school but he also made another historic mark by recruiting Doris Joe Williams who is believed to be the first African-American athlete to compete at the college level in Texas.

My grandfather, Baltazar Salazar, who was the starting first baseman for the Broncs' that year, said Brooks was a fair and honest person and nothing mattered as long as you could play.

"Brooks was a very impartial man," Salazar said. "He treated everyone the same, it didn't matter your race or background."

Salazar had recently finished a two-year tour in the Korean War for the Marines and ended up with a G.I. scholarship as well as a full ride to UTPA to play baseball.

Despite the widespread racial tension across the country the Valley was somewhat of a safe haven as Williams didn't endure much negativity or hardship as one might have thought.

But even in South Texas where there was some relief from racial dissonance he wasn't completely guarded.

Just before the baseball season began Williams went competed in a track competition in Alamo City where he sat down with his teammates to eat after competition.

A man spotted Williams and informed the manager where he promptly told his coach Charles Beaudry "the colored man" must eat in the kitchen.

Beaudry ordered the meals for the team and as they were being served, one by one the entire team walked out the door leaving their hot meals still steaming from the plate.

The same mind frame was on the baseball team and it showed from the start.

Salazar, Williams and the rest of the squad won four of its first five games of the season that included a win over the Harlingen Air Base team.

The base closed in 1962 but before becoming abandoed World War II bombers used to land on Harlingen soil where the game was played.

UTPA only won one other game that season but and as my grandfather recalls it was the fondest game he had as a ball player.

"We went to Kingsville and it was a close game," Salazar said. "It was the most memorable game I had that year."

The Broncs' won 5-2 over Kingsville Naval Air Station.

UTPA never tasted victory again that year but to the people on the team it didn't matter, because it was their season, the first of 53 years to come.

Ground breaking, historic and for those players and coach Brooks unforgettable.