Wichita State University Shocker football legend Linwood Sexton died Wednesday at the age of 90.
Sexton, who graduated from the University of Wichita in 1948, was a charter inductee into the Shocker Sports Hall of Fame and was a Kansas Sports Hall of Fame honoree.
In an interview with KMUW a few years ago, he remembered early life in his football career as the only black player on the team.
"I could not play in Tulsa, I could not play in Amarillo or Canyon, Texas, and even in Kansas if you go to Washburn you had to stay in the black hotels, you couldn’t stay in the white hotels, and there were restaurants that did not want to serve you," he said.
One thing Sexton learned early in life, though, was the value of education.
"If there ever was a way for you to overcome some of the difficulties that you have to face, that you definitely would have to have an education," he said.
Sexton taught school at Wichita’s L’Ouverture Elementary and served on the Kansas Board of Regents. He also has a WSU scholarship named after him.
For decades Sexton was an area sales manager at Wichita’s Hiland Dairy, where he retired last year at 89 years old.
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Carla Eckels is assistant news director and the host of Soulsations. Follow her on Twitter @Eckels.
To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.
