[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 10 (Wednesday, January 21, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E92]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING PROFESSOR PERRY WALLACE FOR OVERCOMING ADVERSITY IN SPORTS 
                      DURING THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA

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                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 21, 2015

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Professor Perry 
Wallace, a Vanderbilt University graduate who integrated basketball for 
the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and current professor at American 
University, for overcoming the racism and violence he experienced as an 
African-American collegiate athlete during the Civil Rights era. While 
Wallace never viewed himself as a pioneer or a change agent for civil 
rights, he nonetheless helped break the color-barrier in the SEC as the 
first African-American basketball player in the Conference.
  Like many African-American college athletes at the time, Wallace 
faced tremendous challenges, both physical and emotional, that 
highlighted the ugly reality of race relations in America. One 
significant memory Wallace has when his health and life were threatened 
was during a 1968 game between Vanderbilt and the University of 
Mississippi that was played in Oxford. During this game, Wallace--who 
was the only African-American player on the team--was subjected to 
racial epithets, taunting, threats of lynching, and physical violence 
when he received a swollen eye due to a thrown elbow just before 
halftime. Perry eventually returned to the game after tending to his 
injury, but he was mindful of the fact that after halftime, no members 
of his team stayed behind to accompany him back to the court. He went 
on to help his team win 90-72.
  Unfortunately, the incident at Oxford was not the only time when he 
had to endure racism at an away game. Wallace and his teammates have 
recounted a noose being dangled near the Vanderbilt bench at a game in 
Knoxville and items being thrown at him, including Cokes, coins, ice 
and even a dagger. Perhaps adding insult to injury, many of the venues 
were very small and the sounds of racism could be easily picked up and 
broadcast over the radio for all to hear, including his mother who 
listened to the game against Ole Miss from her hospital bed. Despite 
the intolerance he experienced, Wallace remained steadfast in his 
resolve to not succumb to those who wished to see him fail. He was 
fortunate, in this manner, to have such mental strength to survive. 
Others, including Henry Harris, who also played in the SEC, and Nat 
Northington, one of the first two African-Americans to play football at 
the University of Kentucky, found the pressures all too great.
  In a stand against the injustices of the Jim Crow laws that made 
segregation legal and gave protection for acts of violence and death 
toward African-Americans, in his last game played in Nashville against 
Mississippi State, Wallace ended his college basketball career with a 
slam dunk--a play that was deemed illegal at the time. The illegal play 
was allowed to stand and he finished the game scoring 28 points and 27 
rebounds. He dedicated the game to his mother who passed away a year 
earlier.
  Perry Wallace graduated from Vanderbilt and was drafted by the 
Philadelphia 76ers in 1970. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Columbia 
University in 1975 and moved to Washington, DC where he worked in the 
Executive Office of then-mayor Walter E. Washington before becoming an 
adjunct professor of law at George Washington University. Professor 
Wallace then served as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of 
Justice and later rejoined academia as an associate professor of law at 
the University of Baltimore School of Law.
  Today, Perry Wallace is a professor at American University Washington 
College of Law where he specializes in environmental, corporate and 
international economic law, business and environmental studies, and is 
the Director of the JD/MBA Joint Degree Program. Perry has received 
numerous awards for his accomplishments in academia and his list of 
publications and writings is extensive. In 2003, he was inducted into 
the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and in 2004, his Vanderbilt jersey, 
number 25, was retired. In 2014, Andrew Maraniss, a Vanderbilt alum and 
former associate director of media relations at the school's athletic 
department, published Wallace's biography entitled ``Strong Inside: 
Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South.''
  Vanderbilt University has a program called VUcept where freshmen 
students are paired with upperclassmen to make their transition to the 
school easier. As a freshman there, I was fortunate to have Wallace as 
my VUceptor. I ask all of my colleagues to join me in recognizing Perry 
Wallace for his tenacity in the face of adversity and for his many 
professional accomplishments and contributions to academia.

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