NASHVILLE, Tenn. (FOLLETT) -- Perry Wallace encountered racial hostility as the first African American basketball player in the Southeast Conference at Vanderbilt University from 1966-1970. While Wallace has been honored by Vanderbilt for being a trailblazer, Pearl High School was where he developed the courage and poise to persevere through discrimination.
Perry Wallace was honored at halftime of the Vanderbilt-Baylor basketball game for enduring racism on Vanderbilt’s campus and in cities throughout the SEC conference.
Vanderbilt and Baylor fans clapped as Vanderbilt’s public address announcer declared “the athletic department is proud to announce the creation of the Perry Wallace courage award, which will be presented annually to the Commodore student-athlete or athletic staff member who best embodies Perry’s character, courage, and perseverance to succeed in the face of challenge.”
According to Strong Inside author Andrew Maraniss, Perry’s experience at Peal High enabled him to persevere on and off the court. “He had an incredible support system at Pearl, great teachers that prepared him to be valedictorian high school and a double major in college,” Maraniss said. “I think in a lot of ways Pearl was the foundation for his success.”
Maraniss and Wallace returned to Peal High, now known as Martin Luther king Junior Magnet at Pearl High, as the school honored the pioneer with a homecoming celebration hours before the Vanderbilt game.
“Do these halls feel the same Perry?” Maraniss asked. “Oh they feel good,” Wallace replied, as he walked towards the Pearl High archive that displays jerseys, trophies, yearbooks, and photographs.
Wallace particularly admired the black and white photograph of his 1966 basketball team, taken at Nashville’s Centennial Park with the Parthenon in the background. “Well we went 31-0,” he reminisced. “It was the first year where black teams and white teams were able to compete against one another for the state championship. And we won it.”
Wallace, an American University Law Professor, then spoke privately to the MLK basketball team, urging them to maximize their athletic and academic abilities.
“I had the same types of objectives, you may want to get a scholarship, want to get a chance to play at the highest level of sports that you can,” said Wallace, who played professional basketball for the Philadelphia 76ers.
But the Vanderbilt University and Columbia University School of Law alum also highlighted education.
“And I know that you also want to get a good education. I know that, and I don't have to ask you about that do I. Well you know you’re going to hear from me about the importance of it,” Wallace told the young student-athletes, who dutifully nodded their heads to confirm that the message was received.
School principal, Dr. Angela Carr, formally introduced Wallace to a standing-room only crowd full of students, faculty, and alumni. Wallace was greeted with applause and cheers in the packed gymnasium, echoing the sounds of Pearl High supporters who roared after one of the teenager’s thunderous dunks of years past.
Wallace spoke eloquently and honestly about the difficulties of living in the south during the 1960s.
“We all came along during the time of segregation. And don’t fool yourself, it wasn’t just a matter that ‘well you all live over here, you all live over there,’” he said. “No, this was separation with attitude. Segregation was separation with attitude, bad attitude.”
But Wallace credited the Pearl High community with instilling pride in its students.
“Our teachers, our principals, our administrators and others, they turned it into separate but equalized. Separate but equalized,” Wallace recalled. “Took cast aside into left alone, left alone to pursue excellence. Left alone to pursue even higher goals than you might have seen at the other schools.”
A question and answer section followed Wallace’s speech, with one alum emphasizing how Perry influenced students.
“You and the whole team has been an inspiration for so many, many, many young African American students in this neighborhood,” he said. “I’d like to thank you, and because of you gentlemen, we have gone on and tried to be as established and as successful as we possibly could.”
Dr. Angela Carr is making sure MLK students are aware of Pearl High’s significance.
“We want to make sure that any and everything that Pearl High was about, which was nothing but positive, good, excellence. We want to mirror that and do the same thing,” the principal said. “When students come in as seventh graders, we want to take them back to the archives and let them realize their history and the shoulders that they’re standing on.”
So stories of distinguished alumni like Perry Wallace will live on. You can learn more about Wallace’s life in Andrew Maraniss’ excellent biography, Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South.