BUFFALO (AP)  Willie Evans does not know if his mind is failing or whether he has repressed the memories of 50 years ago. For the life of him, Evans is unable to remember the team meeting at which he felt the bite of racism and learned about the power of friendship to overcome it.

If the details have faded, it does not matter. When his University at Buffalo teammates retell the story, they can place exactly where Evans was sitting in the classroom when the team unanimously rejected a chance to play in the 1958 Tangerine Bowl, the university’s first  and, it turns out, only  bowl bid.

“Well, I’m getting old,” said Evans, a former coach and physical education director for Buffalo schools who turns 71 this month. “Maybe I’ve blocked it out. You really don’t understand how your subconscious works all the time, or your conscious. But I really draw a blank.”

Evans was the star halfback on the 1958 Buffalo team, which finished 8-1 to claim the Lambert Cup  awarded to the top small college program in the East. Buffalo initially accepted the Tangerine Bowl invitation.