Perry Wallace

Perry Eugene Wallace Jr. (February 19, 1948 – December 1, 2017) was an American lawyer who was a professor of law at Washington College of Law. He was the first African-American varsity athlete to play basketball under an athletic scholarship in the Southeastern Conference, playing for Vanderbilt University. His experiences at Vanderbilt are the subject of the book Strong Inside, by Andrew Maraniss, published in 2014.

Education

Wallace attended Pearl High School in the then segregated Nashville public schools. He helped Pearl High School's basketball team go undefeated and win the team's first integrated basketball state championship. He was a straight-A student, valedictorian of his class and was named a high school All-American athlete.

Wallace was recruited by many colleges, In 1967, Perry became the first black scholarship athlete to play basketball in the Southeastern Conference.

Wallace was generally welcomed by his teammates, but traveling with the team was difficult, and Wallace was often threatened from opposing teams with verbal taunts and roughness on the court. He became the first black athlete to complete four years at an SEC school,

graduating with a degree in engineering in 1970, and was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers. He responded with a press interview in which he described some of the loneliness he had felt on campus throughout the four years, ranging from small slights and the lack of true inclusion by or friendship from well-meaning people to overtly racist professors and racist incidents, such as a demand from the University Church of Christ, located across the street from the campus but not affiliated with it, that he not attend church services there because of his race. He became a professor of law at The American University Washington College of Law in 1993, where he specialized in environmental law, corporate law and finance.

Honors

1966 – Recruited by many colleges and enrolled at Vanderbilt 2003 – Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame