One of the many steps in ending segregation at the University of Mississippi was through the integration of athletics. Here are the first Black athletes to break the color barrier for the four big Ole Miss sports — football, basketball and baseball.
Football: Ben Williams and James Reed
Robert Jerry “Ben” Williams, also known as “Gentle Ben,” was among the first two Black student athletes to sign a football scholarship at Ole Miss.
Williams was a four-year letter-winner for the Rebels. In 1975, Williams was the first Black Ole Miss football player to earn All-American honors.
“Gentle Ben’s impact on our university, the SEC and college football as a whole is immeasurable,” Ole Miss Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics Keith Carter said in a May 2020 Ole Miss athletics press release. “Ben not only helped break the race barrier for our football program but was also the first African-American student to be elected by the student body for what is now known as Mr. Ole Miss. He was a great person, player and ambassador for our university and will forever be beloved by Rebel Nation.”
Throughout his career, Williams recorded a program record 37 sacks, 377 tackles and a single season record of 18 tackles. In his senior season, he recorded a career high 116 tackles.
Williams graduated from Ole Miss with a degree in business administration in 1976, and the Buffalo Bills selected him in round three of the 1976 NFL Draft as the 78th overall pick. He became the first Black Ole Miss Rebel to be chosen in the NFL Draft.
The Rebel had a 10-year career with the Bills, including a Pro Bowl selection in 1983. Williams played in 147 Buffalo games, starting in 140 of them.
Williams was inducted into the Ole Miss Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. He continued to receive awards from Ole Miss and the SEC Foundation.
James Reed joined Williams as one of the two first Black student athletes. Reed’s Ole Miss career began in fall 1972.
Reed played played as a tailback, rushing 1,309 yards and scoring nine touchdowns in three years. Reed was drafted in the ninth round in the NFL’s Cleveland Browns 1976 draft, just after Williams.
After a brief career with the Browns, he returned home to Madison, Miss., to pursue a career in law enforcement that lasted 36 years.
“I worked with many law enforcement, counterintelligence and counter terrorism personnel to provide analytical support to the U.S. military,” Reed stated in a previous interview for Ole Miss Sports.
When coach John Vaught returned to the Ole Miss Rebels in 1973, in a game against Tennessee, Reed was selected as the offensive player of the game and Williams was the defensive player of the game.
Ole Miss dedicated the Williams-Reed Foyer in the Manning Sports Complex to the duo in April 2006.
Men’s basketball: Coolidge Ball
Coolidge Ball was the first Black athlete to play at the University of Mississippi in 1970.
While recruiting Ball, the university brought him to and Ole Miss basketball against Kentucky and introduced him to the fans. When he and his stats were announced, he was met with an overwhelming positive reaction from the crowd.
Ball decided not to join the Rebels and went to New Mexico State his freshman year. Ball later enrolled at Ole Miss. Ball said he faced little to no issue concerning his race while at the university, according to an Ole Miss Athletics release.
Ball scored 1,072 points in his three years with the Rebels. He led Ole Miss to three consecutive winning seasons for the first time in more than 30 years. He was voted team captain and most valuable player.
The university honored Ball with a plaque and statue outside the Sandy and John Black Pavillion. He was inducted into the Ole Miss Hall of Fame in 1991.
Ball became an artist and graphics designer after his basketball career. He traveled to arts and crafts shows to sell his products. After his career, he settled down in Oxford with his wife.
Women’s basketball: Peggie Gillom-Granderson
Peggie Gillom-Granderson was the first Black female athlete at the University of Mississippi. She was a four- year starter for the Ole Miss Women’s Basketball team and is the all-time leader in points and rebounds with 2,486 and 1,271, respectively.
She is one of only two Lady Rebels to score more than 2,000 points and more than 1,000 rebounds at Ole Miss. She also organized 51 double-doubles in 144 games.
Gillom-Granderson later became the Ole Miss assistant coach alongside Van Chancellor, helping the Rebels to 14 NCAA tournament appearances. In the 1991-92 season, she led Ole Miss to its first-ever SEC regular season title.
She later coached the USA Basketball team and helped guide the 1999 U.S. Pan American Games team to a bronze medal and the 2000 U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal.
Gillom-Granderson was inducted into the Ole Miss Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.
In 2008, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum began presenting an annual trophy in her honor to Mississippi’s top women’s basketball player. She now serves as the women’s director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Ole Miss and as the treasurer of the Greg Gillom Scholarship fund.
Baseball: Roy Coleman
A Jackson, Miss., native, Roy Coleman was recruited to Ole Miss as a quarterback for the Rebels but was also talented in baseball, as he was awarded as a letter winner for baseball in 1979.
Coleman led his high school football team to an undefeated season and a state championship in the 1975-76 school year. He was awarded the Mississippi Player of the Year as a senior and honored as the state’s most valuable player.
Coleman received his college degree from Ole Miss and later became a firefighter. Coleman had three daughters and a son and died on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013.
