First Black University of Colorado Basketball Player Dies
Billy Lewis, who died recently at 72, made his mark at the University of Colorado as the first Black to play for the basketball team.
Billy Lewis, who died recently at 72, made his mark at the University of Colorado and beyond. The first African-American to play for UC’s basketball team, he also testified against housing and job discrimination and was elected as a university commissioner by fellow students. The Howard Law School grad later became the first Black corporate lawyer in IBM’s headquarters before opening his own law firm in Colorado. He was also a Howard University general counsel and a corporate executive. In 2008, Lewis was inducted into the Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame. There are only 192,000 Blacks among Colorado’s population of 5 million.
(Photo: www.cualum.org)
