written by @shanny4055
College football integration’s saga lost another pioneering giant. And the sports journalism world that missed the story in 1964 continues to fumble it in 2025.
Bill Tate, who died June 24 at age 93 in a hospice in Omaha, Nebraska, was Wake Forest’s head coach, 1964-68. In his first season on the job, Tate desegregated the program by recruiting three Black players in his freshmen class, Bob Grant, Butch Henry and William Smith.
The Atlantic Coast Conference school was the first from a major southern conference to commit to defying Jim Crow and living the Declaration of Independence, although Maryland, which was then an ACC member, has been credited as the first with Darryl Hill, in 1963. But Hill was a senior transfer from Navy. He was a polished product who played one season. Maryland didn’t commit to recruiting more Black players until later in the decade.
That’s the significant difference.
Tate continued to add Black players to his roster, including Freddie Summers and Bill Overton. Summers was the South’s first Black starting quarterback, in 1967. But in the 1960s, the sports media avoided race. It missed Tate’s story as well as other milestones taking place throughout the decade.
The obituaries on Tate passing were limited to the Wake Forest website and media outlets in Omaha, where Tate lived in his retirement years.
There was nothing posted on ESPN, in The New York Times’ sports section run by “The Athletic,” Sports Illustrated or other national outlets. If we can’t count on mainstream media to understand college football’s true integration story, how can the public learn it?
A result of the national media failing to recognize Tate’s career, Tate’s Wikipedia page simply listed him as born in 1931 until news of his death reached its editors a week later. That’s not to criticize Wikipedia. The fault lies with national media not understanding Tate’s place in history. He shouldn’t be overlooked in the national conversation.
Tate was the ACC Coach of the Year in 1964 for taking over a 1-9 team and posting a 5-5 record behind the play of Brian Piccolo. Tate arrived at Wake Forest from Illinois, where he was an assistant coach and former player. His Illinois career included earning the 1952 Rose Bowl MVP as a fullback who ran for 150 yards and two touchdowns.
At the Big Ten school, he had played with and against and coached Black athletes. Recruiting Black athletes was as normal to him as his playing and coaching careers.
Grant was Tate’s first recruit to make an impact, although in 2021 Wake Forest honored Grant and Henry with its inaugural Trailblazer Award. A year later the NCAA honored Grant with its Inspiration Award. But none of this was noted in national media outlets when Grant died, in 2024. The negligence failing to report Tate’s obituary is a repeat of Grant’s overlooked story.
The Tate and Grant legacies desegregating the South are tied at the hip. They are American history stories. They are bigger than the local coach and local legendary athlete.
Grant was the first Black player to earn All-ACC honors as a defensive lineman in 1966. Grant also was the NFL’s first Black player drafted from a major southern conference when Baltimore Colts took him in 1968 in the second round. Grant played five NFL seasons, including Super Bowl III and a ring from the Super Bowl V championship.
Tate joined THE END GAME, my video podcast on race in sports, in April. Here is the link to Episode 34.
Another guest for the episode was a Tate recruiting target who got away, Jack Pitts of Decatur, Georgia. Pitts ultimately rode Michigan State coach Duffy Daugherty’s Underground Railroad, but through Tate’s pursuit of him in 1966, Pitts met Dr. Martin Luther King and Willie Mays called him to urge him to attend Wake Forest.
Grant originally planned the Underground Railroad out of Georgetown High, a Black school in Jacksonville, N.C., until Wake Forest president Harold Tribble informed Tate of is commitment to integrating the campus. Grant, who died in 2024, said in an interview for Episode 20 of THE END GAME that he also credited the courage of Tribble and Tate to defy the Ku Klux Klan.
“They were crazy!” Grant said. “They had to be out of their minds to do what they did at that time in the South. Nobody wanted sports integrated.”
Another major southern school to desegregate was Houston, when Bill Yeoman, a former Michigan State assistant under Duffy Daugherty, signed Warren McVea as the school’s first Black player. Houston was an independent program at the time, but Tate and Yeoman helped set integration in motion.
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Quotes from Wake Forest’s website on remember Bill Tate:
- Former Wake Forest AD Dr. Gene Hooks:
- “Hiring Coach Tate in 1964 remains a great moment in Wake Forest’s history. He was the right man at the right time—not just for our football program, but for our entire University community. Bill brought in exceptional young men who helped lay the foundation for the 1970 ACC Championship team, and he did so with integrity, courage, and vision. His legacy is one of character, leadership, and lasting impact.”
- Vice President & Director of Athletics John Currie:
- “I had the privilege of meeting Coach Bill Tate during our very first Trailblazer Award ceremony in 2021, and I’ll never forget the stories I heard from his former players and others whose lives he touched. He was a man of principle who helped move our University—and college athletics in the South—forward. His commitment to doing what was right, even when it was difficult, left an indelible mark on Wake Forest and our broader community. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones during this time”
- Football Head Coach Jake Dickert:
- “I’m incredibly thankful for the legacy Coach Tate left behind at Wake Forest. His courage, vision, and leadership paved the way for so many who came after him, including me. As we continue to build this program with purpose and integrity, we do so standing on the shoulders of pioneers like Coach Tate who helped shape the path.”
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