African-Americans have been playing College Basketball since the early 1900s. Determining, who was the very first is impossible but some of the those early names included Paul Robeson, Wilbur Wood, and Fenwick Watkins.
James Owens
Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year was created in 1965.
Nat Northington, who attended the University of Kentucky, was the first African American to play in a football game for an SEC school. The year was 1967 and the game was against the University of Mississippi.
Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year was created in 1968.
Don Brown - American football player - was born in 1937.
Corey Smith - American football player - died in 2009-03.
Russ Peterson - American football player - died in 1971-10.
Charlie Justice - American football player - was born on 1924-05-18.
Charlie Justice - American football player - died on 2003-10-17.
Russ Peterson - American football player - was born on 1905-08-25.
Pat Curran - American Football player - was born on 1945-09-21.
Jack Gregory - American football player - was born on 1944-10-03.