Calvin Huey was the first

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

to play

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

at the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

, a doctor, coach, teacher, and businessman.

History

Huey was born October 27, 1942, in Sartinville,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

, to Harold Magee and Eartha Lee Huey. Huey was a 1961 graduate of Carver High School in Pascagoula,

. At Carver, he was team captain, MVP, and all-city, receiving all-city honors as a basketball player as well. Upon graduating, he briefly attended the

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a Private university, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was f ...

, then went to Oakland City College, where he was selected as an honorable mention All-American Junior College quarterback. Huey applied to his congressman in Mississippi for an appointment to the Naval Academy, but was refused on the grounds that he would be a "stain on Mississippi". A California representative was willing to nominate him, and he was accepted by the academy as a student, with no mention of his football prowess. When he reached Navy he tried out for the football team. Because there were so many quarterbacks trying out, he decided to try out as a wide receiver instead. He sufficiently impressed coaches Carl Schuette, Lee Corso and Steve Belichick to make the team; he also tried out for and made the basketball team. When Navy played Georgia Tech in 1964, he became the first black player to play at Bobby Dodd Stadium. He also became the first black person to play in an Army–Navy Game. In 1963, as a plebe, wearing number 49, he began the season as an end, before moving to flanker behind Navy's top receiver, Ed Orr. When Orr was injured during the third-from last game of the season, Huey earned the starting position and caught four touchdown passes from quarterback Roger Staubach. In 1967, Huey was one of two African-Americans to graduate from the academy. He was assigned to the USS ''Perry'' and served two tours of duty in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. He earned a PhD in chemistry from the University of Maryland (degree awarded in 1976), and returned to Navy as a professor and assistant football coach in 1973. He then left Navy to work for

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

for fourteen years, before retiring due to kidney failure. In 2012, the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill titled "Calvin Huey; commend accomplishments and legacy of as Naval Academy academic and football phenomenon", recognizing Doctor Huey for his outstanding achievements in academics and athletics, overcoming the substantial barriers in his path. In 2017, the city of Pascagoula placed an 18-foot-tall image of Huey, along with Jimmy Buffett, Trent Lott, and Sara Bailey Thomas on Main Street. Huey died from kidney failure on September 1, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huey, Calvin People from Pascagoula, Mississippi United States Navy personnel of the Vietnam War Navy Midshipmen football players Navy Midshipmen men's basketball players United States Navy officers IBM people 2018 deaths American men's basketball players African-American sportsmen Sportspeople from Mississippi 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen Deaths from kidney failure in the United States