In March 1970, the Tennessean ran a landmark interview with Perry Wallace detailing his experiences as the first African American student-athlete to complete a full career in the Southeastern Conference. Now, nearly 45 years later, the paper is running three days of excerpts from Strong Inside, beginning today with a passage describing Wallace’s recruitment to Vanderbilt.
In addition to the excerpt, check out a photo gallery of images of Wallace from high school through present day:
A big thanks to many current and former Tennessean staffers for making the excerpts possible!