Solly Walker was a 6-foot-4 basketball player for St. Johns who as a senior led his team with 14 points and 12.2 rebounds per game.
When Walker was a sophomore in 1951, St. Johns was scheduled to play Kentucky, coached by Adolph Rupp, on its home court. Rupp told the St. Johns coach, Frank McGuire, “You can’t bring that boy down here to Lexington.”
McGuire replied, “Then cancel the game.” Walker was allowed to play. Kentucky’s basketball team remained all-white until 1970.
Coach McGuire and some of his teammates stayed with Walker when he was barred from segregated hotels and dining rooms.
It is important that we remember these things. I’ve heard that young people who saw the film “Hidden Figures” found it hard to believe that such racist behavior really occurred. It did.
Information for this post is from an obit by Daniel E. Slotnik, “Solly Walker, 85, Player Who Broke Racial Barriers,” Times, (May 5, 2017), p. A 24.
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