UT 1st black basketball player

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Hey, it's Black History Month.

I used to think that Larry Robinson, a really good forward that played on the 1971-72 and 1972-73 teams, was UT's first AA BB player. Turns out that UT credits Wilbert Cherry from Karns as the first. He was on the 1970-71 freshman team and played varsity with Robinson in 1971-72.

HOWEVER... Rupert Breedlove was on the team in the fall of 1970 and was suspended in Dec 1970. So why is he not credited as being the first varsity AA BB player? I guess he didn't participate in a game.

Interesting info that I found from a 1974 Black Task Force document:

While all of them appeared to respect David Moss, Mike Jackson, Bernard King and Larry Robinson; they also agreed that the first Black player, Rupert Breedlove, negatively affected U.T.'s interest in recruiting Black players. Apparently, he fought without sufficient provocation, stole, and was excessively rough on the court, and did not try to establish a friendly relationship with whites.

http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=utk_blacktaskissues

 

[DeepSpringsVol]

Hey, it's Black History Month.

I used to think that Larry Robinson, a really good forward that played on the 1971-72 and 1972-73 teams, was UT's first AS BB player. Turns out that UT credits Wilbert Cherry from Karns as the first. He was on the 1970-71 freshman team and played varsity with Robinson in 1971-72.

HOWEVER... Rupert Breedlove was on the team in the fall of 1970 and was suspended in Dec 1970. So why is he not credited as being the first varsity AA BB player? I guess he didn't participate in a game.

Interesting info that I found from a 1974 Black Task Force document:

While all of them appeared to respect David Moss, Mike Jackson, Bernard King and Larry Robinson; they also agreed that the first Black player, Rupert Breedlove, negatively affected U.T.'s interest in recruiting Black players. Apparently, he fought without sufficient provocation, stole, and was excessively rough on the court, and did not try to establish a friendly relationship with whites.

http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=utk_blacktaskissues

Uh oh...Jamie Naughright will probably sue over this as she likes african american men.

 

[Special Ed]

February is also heart month.
So - maybe we should fire Dave Hart?

 

[Fullfillmer]

Hey, it's Black History Month.

I used to think that Larry Robinson, a really good forward that played on the 1971-72 and 1972-73 teams, was UT's first AA BB player. Turns out that UT credits Wilbert Cherry from Karns as the first. He was on the 1970-71 freshman team and played varsity with Robinson in 1971-72.

HOWEVER... Rupert Breedlove was on the team in the fall of 1970 and was suspended in Dec 1970. So why is he not credited as being the first varsity AA BB player? I guess he didn't participate in a game.

Interesting info that I found from a 1974 Black Task Force document:

While all of them appeared to respect David Moss, Mike Jackson, Bernard King and Larry Robinson; they also agreed that the first Black player, Rupert Breedlove, negatively affected U.T.'s interest in recruiting Black players. Apparently, he fought without sufficient provocation, stole, and was excessively rough on the court, and did not try to establish a friendly relationship with whites.

http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=utk_blacktaskissues

David Moss and Mike Jackson were great guys, just nice people to hang around with and very friendly people, Bernard was Bernard - possibly one of the most gifted athletes of all times - but didn't appear to be very social although always seeming to carry himself as "super cool", he was looked upon as a hero, much like a Peyton, or a Condridge. Rupert Breedlove was from AE here in town as I recall and his skill sets consisted largely of being large, and aggressive. That isn't necessarily a bad thing on the basketball court if it is channeled but it sounds like he had his struggles. I don't recall him being a particularly talented basketball player. I think Stu Aberdeen recruited Bernard - and I think our recruited struggled after Stu left.

Larry Robinson was also very talented and I think he played some in the NFL after his college basketball career ended here.

 

[BigorangeBoy]

My sister worked for Gus in the early 70s and I remember Rupert got busted shoplifting a transistor radio from a drug store on the strip.

Didn't we also sign DeCarsta (Bird) Webster and he left really soon thereafter? I remember Jeff Hagood telling me a story about him, but I can't remember. Webster ended up at ISU with Larry B.

 

[wtorange]

David Moss and Mike Jackson were great guys, just nice people to hang around with and very friendly people, Bernard was Bernard - possibly one of the most gifted athletes of all times - but didn't appear to be very social although always seeming to carry himself as "super cool", he was looked upon as a hero, much like a Peyton, or a Condridge. Rupert Breedlove was from AE here in town as I recall and his skill sets consisted largely of being large, and aggressive. That isn't necessarily a bad thing on the basketball court if it is channeled but it sounds like he had his struggles. I don't recall him being a particularly talented basketball player. I think Stu Aberdeen recruited Bernard - and I think our recruited struggled after Stu left.

Larry Robinson was also very talented and I think he played some in the NFL after his college basketball career ended here.

Larry played for the Cowboys on special teams primarily as a KR. He and Dan Reeves were dual returners.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Larry played for the Cowboys on special teams primarily as a KR. He and Dan Reeves were dual returners.

You probably mean Mel Renfro.

 

[wtorange]

You probably mean Mel Renfro.

nope. Renfro did some returning but he was mostly a DB. He was too valuable to take the chance on injury returning kicks full time.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

nope. Renfro did some returning but he was mostly a DB. He was too valuable to take the chance on injury returning kicks full time.

Dan Reeves retired in 1972. Larry Robinson was at TN 1971-73.

I thought that you meant Dual Returners as two guys that returned kicks together.

 

[apevol]

I love talking hoops history with people who were alive back in the 50s 60s and 70s. I think its a shame how obscure the lore has become. Wish I'd had the chance to see King and others at UT.

 

[biganbad]

C J Black

 

[MidTennVol]

Tennessee's first black basketball signee was actually Spencer Haywood.

"A Mississippi native raised as a teen in Detroit, Haywood accepted a scholarship offer from Tennessee, supposedly making him the Southeastern Conference's first black basketball player."

Stu Aberdeen got him but he was not academically eligible so he went to JC.

Decarstra Webster signed with Tennesee the same year as Bernard King but, again, was not eligible.

 

[MidTennVol]

One other Tennessee basketball tidbit - a year or so before Tennessee signed DeCarstra Webster they also signed a Dutch basketball player named Kees Akerboom

"Mears also grabbed another 7-0 giant from The Netherlands in Kees Akerboom"

Akerboom decided at the last minute to stay in Europe and became a Dutch Basketball legend.

Can you imagine the Ernie and Bernie years if they had a big man like Akerboom or Webster in the mix.

 

[BigorangeBoy]

Webster was a pretty good player at Indiana St, by the time they made their final four run he had used up his eligibility. The guy that played center for them that year was about 6'5 but a real jumping jack. And they had Larry and a real solid guard named Nicks.