The RoundHouse | 3/2/2022 3:17:00 PM

Three former Wichita State student-athletes summed up their college experience by advising current Shockers to dive in when given a chance to expand their experience.
 
That approach, they said, will pay off athletically, academically and with a career.
 
"Mingle," said Angela Buckner. "Know no stranger. People will remember you. People want to give student-athletes opportunities."
 
Buckner, women's basketball (2000-04); DePaul Brewer, track and field (2004-2007) and Dr. Eric Sexton, golf (1983-1986) spoke at Monday's Black History Month athlete panel discussion, sponsored by Wichita State's Athletics Diversity and Inclusion Council at Koch Arena.
 
Buckner, recreation director for Wichita Park & Recreation, is a member of the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame (2010) and the Missouri Valley Conference's All-Centennial team. Brewer, a Sedgwick County probation officer, won the MVC discus title and finished second in the shot put in 2008.
 
The panelists talked about the importance of leaning on support from sources such as parents, teammates, coaches, friends and faith during challenges. The diversity of Wichita State's campus became a plus, as did the services offered by the athletic department for academics and mental health.
 
"I got taught from an early age that people are always going to have eyes on you, not just because you're a student-athlete, but because you're a Black student-athlete," Buckner said. "You've got to do better. You've got to be better. I never felt out of place."
 
Brewer, from Oklahoma City, met his wife at Wichita State. His transition to living away from home went smoothly and he said the good relationships between teams within the athletic department helped.
 
"I'm still here today because of the opportunities presented to me after college," he said. "It felt like home, so I stayed here."
 
Sexton, government affairs consultant for Foulston Siefkin LLP, served as athletic director at Wichita State from 2008-15. He earned first-team All-MVC honors in 1986 and helped the Shockers to conference titles in 1984 and 1986.
 
The topics, in front of an audience of around 30 people, ranged from their favorite memories as a Shocker to their experiences as a Black student-athlete to suggestions for mental health.
 
Buckner and Brewer marveled at changes which provide student-athletes more academic support and new facilities. Brewer remembered his days watching VHS tapes of his throws and compared that technology to the current instant feedback available immediately on video. Sexton said his golf team traveled by van to a tournament in Monterrey, Mexico, pulling a trailer with their clubs.
 
"Our throwers room was located underneath (Cessna Stadium), and it was just a tarp," Brewer said. "We just threw our implements into those tarps. When I see the facilities now, we can go over to Heskett Center . . . for track practice. I would have dreamed to have that opportunity."
 
Sexton told stories that demonstrated the challenges Black athletes faced and how Wichita State often played a role in breaking down societal barriers.
 
Linwood Sexton, his father, was a star halfback for the football team from 1944-48. He missed games during his career, either because Black athletes were not welcome or out of fear for his safety. In 1946, teammates took the football home after a game, in which Sexton did not play, at West Texas A&M. The theft angered local fans and Sexton described them rocking the Shocker team bus as it attempted to drive away. The act of support for Linwood Sexton, his son said, cost the university $2,000 in gate receipts that West Texas A&M kept in retaliation. The football rests in a trophy case in the Koch Arena concourse.
 
In 1984, Eric Sexton said, Wichita State withdrew from a tournament in Louisiana played at a club that did not allow Blacks. He said the University of Kansas also withdrew.
 
While Wichita State's record on race relations isn't perfect, Eric Sexton said moments like those are important. The university also led in many other ways.
 
In 1978, Wichita State hired Willie Jeffries as football coach, making him the first Black head coach at an NCAA Division I school. In 2008, Wichita State named Sexton athletic director making him the first Black athletic director at a Kansas NCAA Division I school. In 2021, Wichita State named Isaac Brown head coach. He became the first Black men's basketball head coach at a Kansas NCAA Division I school.
 
Schools in the Missouri Valley Conference recruited Black athletes earlier than most universities in the southern United States. Wichita State, as an MVC member, made Black athletes such as Cleo Littleton and Dave Stallworth, from Texas, prominent figures representing the university during the 1950's and 1960's.
 
The school retired his Linwood Sexton's No. 66 jersey number the day after he graduated, another powerful statement of support.
 
"They did the right thing," Eric Sexton said. "That's why I care about this place so much. It cared about our family in ways you just can't even imagine."

Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.