60: A Year of Sports, Race & Politics

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In 1960, 22-year-old Robert Khayat experienced a year in which his own life, the nation, and the state of Mississippi were forever changed. The same spring that four college students in North Carolina refused to move from a segregated lunch counter, Khayat’s SEC champion Ole Miss baseball team was denied the right to play in the NCAA tournament because they might encounter a Black opponent. At the same time that young John F. Kennedy became a household name, Khayat’s dark-skinned father was making an unlikely ascent to become one of the most politically powerful men in Mississippi. And two high-profile segregationists — Redskins owner George Preston Marshall and Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett — would impact Khayat’s life in ways he could never have imagined. The events of 1960 set the stage for a revolution . . . and Robert Khayat was living in the midst of it all. 60: A Year of Sports, Race & Politics is the story of the year that changed everything for a nation, its culture, and a promising young man from Mississippi.