RIO GRANDE VALLEY – On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
 
The decision was the beginning of a long road to desegregate schools, particularly in the South. The decision also helped to push the still developing civil rights movement forward.
 
Still, it was another 14 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and even longer until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
 
It wasn't until 1976 that the Supreme Court ruled that private schools, not including religious schools, could not deny admission to students on the basis of race in Runyon v. McCrary.
 
However, it was only a few months after the initial Brown v. Board of Education decision that legacy institution Pan American University welcomed the first African American collegiate student-athlete to integrate in the history of the State of Texas, D. Joe Williams, who competed in baseball, cross country and track & field.

A member of the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame, as well as the Texas and El Paso Baseball Halls of Fame, Williams broke the color barrier as the center fielder for the 1954 baseball team, hitting .262 to help the team to the Big State Conference Championship. Williams also won a pair of individual conference championships with the track & field team, taking the titles in the 880-yard and one-mile runs.
 
Williams came to Pan American after competing at Booker T. Washington High School in McAllen, a segregated school that existed from 1941-57, where he stole 26 bases as a position player and went 10-3 with 78 strikeouts as a pitcher. This led to him getting scouted by the St. Louis Browns in 1953.
 
Born in Dobbin on March 4, 1936, Williams moved to McAllen as a child, where he picked up baseball at the age of 10. He became one of the first African Americans to play in the Junior League in the late 1940s, where he hit over .400 as a first baseman and once pitched a one-hitter with one eye closed due to injury. He also played in a semi-pro Negro League at the age of 16.
 
After finishing his time at Pan American, Williams coached at Charlie Brown High School in West Columbia for five years before moving to the El Paso area, where he was a teacher and coach for 47 years at Fabens, Socorro and Tornillo High Schools. He led Fabens to three district titles in five years, advancing to the regional finals each time. He coached several players who went on to play in the Mexican League and in minor league baseball.
 
During his time at Fabens, Williams formed, coach and played for a semi-pro baseball team, the Viejos, for whom Williams was a two-time All-Star. He led the league in strikeouts in 1979, his second to last season as a player.
 
Williams also played fast-pitch softball, where he was an outstanding pitcher. After his playing career was over, Williams spent time as an umpire at several levels of baseball.
 
Williams was an original member of the Board of Directors for the El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame, and at one point, served as the president.
 
He passed away on Dec. 15, 2013 at the age of 77, but Williams' legacy lives on.
 
After Williams broke the color barrier, Pan American remained at the forefront of integrating college athletics.
 
The men's basketball team, for example, won the 1963 NAIA National Championship with two Black starters – Mitchell Edwards and Luke Jackson. One of the top players off the bench was Walter Yates, a Black player who started as a freshman before Edwards, who played the same position, arrived.

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