Forty-six years ago today, July 25, 1968, Perry Wallace addressed Vanderbilt chancellor Alexander Heard and other administrators in a specially called meeting of the university’s Human Relations Committee. Earlier that spring, Wallace had completed ... [Continue Reading]
Perry Wallace’s Pioneering: As Tough as Any
On July 22, I had the chance to talk about Perry Wallace and Strong Inside for the first time on the radio, joining Willy Daunic and Darren McFarland from Nashville's 102.5 The Game. We discussed the basic framework of the book, why I decided to ... [Continue Reading]
Advance Review Copies On Their Way
It has been an exciting week in the progress of the book as the Advance Review Copies (ARCs) arrived at Vanderbilt University Press. The ARCs are now on their way to book reviewers and long-lead media around the country. For the last eight years, the ... [Continue Reading]
The Day Stokely Carmichael Dined at Vandy
Throwback Thursday to April 8, 1967, when Black Power activist Stokely Carmichael ate lunch with some unlikely companions -- a group of mostly frat boys and sorority girls at Vanderbilt University. Carmichael was in town to speak at Vanderbilt’s ... [Continue Reading]
Separate But Equalized
Saturday, May 17 marked the 60th anniversary of the famed 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case that upended “separate but equal” schools. Perry Wallace entered elementary school in the fall of that year, 1954, and attended segregated schools in ... [Continue Reading]
From Darkness to Light
Immediately adjacent to the offices of Vanderbilt University Press is a large parking lot, part of which used to be the land where the University Church of Christ was located. On the recommendation of Clyde Lee, perhaps the most beloved basketball ... [Continue Reading]
Farewell, Dr. Jack
Sad to hear of the passing of the great NBA coach Dr. Jack Ramsay. A Perry Wallace connection: It was Dr. Jack and the 76ers who drafted Perry out of Vanderbilt. When it became obvious Wallace would not make a roster loaded with veterans, Ramsay set ... [Continue Reading]
The Past is Never Dead
“The past is never dead. It's not even past.” – William Faulkner The Faulkner phrase was on my mind this morning as I sat down to eat breakfast with my three-year-old daughter. As she munched happily away, I snuck a glance at the newspaper and ... [Continue Reading]
Was the Dunk Banned to Thwart Perry Wallace?
While most basketball historians solely "credit" the NCAA's banning of the dunk in the late 1960s to the emergence of Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) at UCLA, an argument can be made that Perry Wallace at Vanderbilt had quite a bit to do with the ... [Continue Reading]
Now That Was Different
Woke up early this morning to speak to the Franklin (morning) Rotary Club, which meets at the Vanderbilt Legends golf club each Wednesday. While I was part of a panel at last week’s talk with the SPJ chapter, this was my first chance to talk to a ... [Continue Reading]