Indiana State University Athletics

As part of Indiana State Basketball's annual Alumni Day festivities, Sycamore Athletics will honor the memory and contributions of Clarence Walker during Saturday's Missouri Valley Conference contest against visiting Loyola. The game will begin at 2 pm (ET) inside Hulman Center.

It's been 70 years since a young African American athlete –- a quick 19-year-old guard – stepped alone onto the world stage and changed the game of college basketball. That young athlete was Clarence Walker.  He came to Indiana State from East Chicago Washington High School, recruited by the new Indiana State coach,  John Wooden – not yet a legend.

It was the 1940's and Walker was a member of the Indiana State basketball team – but he didn't enjoy full benefits. When the team traveled, Clarence could not stay in a hotel with the rest of the team.  They had to find someplace else for him to sleep. 

And when the team was on the road and ate in a restaurant, Clarence had to go to the back door of the kitchen to get his food.

Clarence's first season was 1946-47.  Coach Wooden's Sycamore team was red hot and they got invited to play in the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball Championship Tournament.  But the NAIB said Indiana State would have to leave their African-American player – Clarence -- at home. 

Jackie Robinson wasn't even playing for the Dodgers yet.  But Coach Wooden simply would not have it. Coach told the Terre Haute newspaper that "Indiana State couldn't go to the tournament due to a conflict with final exams."

But the real reason was segregation.  And that was one game Coach Wooden wasn't about to play!

The following season – 1947-48 -- colleges around the country put pressure on the NAIB to let African-Americans play in the tournament and the NAIB caved in and offered a compromise.  African-Americans could play -- but they could not otherwise even be seen with the team.

Coach Wooden refused and said that offer was worse than going to play and leaving Clarence behind. That's when the national NAACP got involved and begged coach Wooden to think it through. It would be a start, they said, and Clarence would be making history.  They argued that it would be a monumental first step to break the back of segregation. Clarence Walker would be the first black player to appear in a national tournament!

And so the Sycamores headed to Kansas City. But it wasn't easy The team sat down for lunch in a restaurant and everyone but Clarance was served. When the manager refused, the entire team got up and walked out and left their food hot on the table.

Clarence couldn't stay with the team in the hotel -- he had to board in the home of an African-American minister.

He had come to college as a young student-athlete who just wanted to get an education and play ball. But on that day in Kansas City, he blazed his way into the story of American history as in the Sycamore's very first game in the tournament, Clarence took to the hardwood and scored three points. Clarence Walker became the first African-American to play in a post-season intercollegiate basketball tournament.
 
His daring act changed basketball forever. All because 70 years ago this year, a brave young Indiana State student-athlete named Clarence Walker had the courage to defy injustice.

On that day, it was so much more than just a game.

On Saturday, please join Indiana State University as we welcome to the Hulman Center,  Clarence Walker's son, Kevin Jordan Walker and Kevin's wife, Delta for a special presentation during the game.