On April 3, 1941, the Harvard lacrosse team's 18 players arrived at Annapolis, Maryland, to play the Naval Academy in a scheduled intercollegiate match.
That day, the Naval Academy's superintendent, Rear Admiral Russell Willson discovered that Harvard's team included one black player, Lucien Alexis Jr.
He informed Harvard's coach, Richard Snibbe, and athletic director, William J. Bingham, that Navy's squad would not play against a racially integrated team.
[1] Angry at the Naval Academy's stance, Richard Snibbe and Alexis' teammates elected to forfeit the game and return to Harvard.
[4] One week after the incident, Alexis and the rest of Harvard's lacrosse team traveled to West Point, New York, to play a game against the United States Military Academy.
[5] Doris Kearns Goodwin counts this incident among several that pressured President Roosevelt, in June 1941, to sign Executive Order 8802 that prohibited racial discrimination in the defense industry.
[9][10] Brown participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Jeffrey L. Fowler, and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley.