1956 Sugar Bowl The 1956 Sugar Bowl featured the 7th ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets , and the 11th ranked Pitt Panthers . The game was played on January 2 , since New Year ' s Day was a Sunday . Much controversy preceded the 1956 Sugar Bowl . There was controversy over whether Bobby Grier from Pitt should be allowed to play because he was black , and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all due to Georgia governor Marvin Griffin ' s opposition to integration . This stood in stark contrast to the 1956 Rose Bowl , which featured two of the most racially integrated college football teams of the day with six African American players for the UCLA Bruins and seven for the Michigan State Spartans . Ultimately , Bobby Grier played making this the first integrated Sugar Bowl and is regarded as the first integrated bowl game in the Deep South . Teams . Only one month previous , Rosa Parks made her famous protest in the Montgomery Bus Boycott where she refused to relinquish her seat on a Montgomery , Alabama transit bus . A large contingent from the New Orleans community , as well as many related to Georgia Tech , openly fought to bar either Grier , Pitt , or the Yellow Jacket team from the game . However , students and football players from the Atlanta based school , civil rights leaders , as well as a large number of the Pitt community succeeded in seeing Grier take to the gridiron that January day . In anticipation of Bobby Grier ' s presence against Georgia Tech , Georgia governor Marvin Griffin , in December 1955 publicly sent a telegram to his state ' s Board Of Regents imploring that teams from Georgia not engage in racially integrated events which had Blacks either as participants or in the stands . Game summary . The game was a high caliber defensive game . The two teams gave up a combined 7 points , on 453 combined yards . The only score of the game came on a 1 yard touchdown run by quarterback Wade Mitchell . Georgia Tech was held without any points the remaining three quarters of the game , and ended up winning by a 7 - 0 margin . Pittsburgh , despite dominating the game in terms of yardage ( 311 - 142 ) lost because of 2 lost fumbles , and 72 penalty yards . The margin of victory mostly resulted from a disputed first quarter pass interference penalty which was called on Grier . Aftermath . Georgia Tech guard Franklin Brooks was named the game ' s MVP . Bobby Grier ' s participation in the 1956 Sugar Bowl , as well as the support he received from various communities , is seen by some experts as a milestone in American race relations . Brooks went on to have a successful coaching career after a brief stint with the Washington Redskins . Brooks coached at the high school level before returning to Georgia Tech as an assistant coach under Pepper Rodgers . Excelling as an assistant coach , Brooks was poised to become Rogers ' replacement but was untimely stricken with inoperable lung cancer . Brooks was a non - smoker and non - drinker . According to doctor ’ s reports , he developed cancer as a result of exposure to asbestos during a summer job as a teen . Despite his courageous fight over a two - year period , Brooks passed in 1977 . Among friends and family , Brooks ' funeral procession included College and Pro Football greats such as Eddie Lee Ivery and Bill Curry . Brooks ' struggles with cancer contributed to reform and ultimately the elimination of unsafe asbestos production . Governments and businesses all around the world have urgently taken measures to eliminate structures containing asbestos over the last twenty five years .