'It's a great honor': James Means Jr., joins Black pioneers in the Texas Hall of Honor
Alyssa Means can still recall a moment years ago when her last name became a topic of conversation during a math class she was taking at Prairie View A&M.
She always knew that being a member of the Means family meant that she's Bertha's granddaughter. Bertha Means was a prominent civil rights leader and educator in Austin who has one of the city's middle schools named after her. Being a member of the Means family also meant she's the daughter of Carol Adams-Means, who taught at Prairie View A&M.
Means' classmates, though, were more interested in talking about her father that day, and that admittedly confused her. Means knew her father ran track in college, but didn't know much about his achievements. Both Means and her brother recently described their dad as a reserved man who didn't talk much about himself. "To me, my dad was just the guy who taught me how to throw a football, baseball, shoot hoops, change a tire, drive a stick-shift," Means said last Friday.
"Are you James Means' daughter?" Means remembered her classmates asking after her name was called during a roll call.
"Yeah," she replied. "And?"
"Do you not know? Your dad is awesome. We just had a class about him and the things that he did to further civil rights."
Alyssa's father is James Means Jr., who was among the first Black athletes at the University of Texas. His participation in a 1964 track meet integrated the Southwest Conference.
This past weekend, Means was formally inducted into the Texas Hall of Honor. He was part of an 11-member class this year that included former football players Quan Cosby and Jonathan Scott, soccer standout Kelly McDonald and golfing giant Jordan Spieth.
"I wasn't expecting (this)," James Means said. "I never lobbied for it or anything else like that. It's a great honor."
Means began running track in high school after a member of his church suggested that he try out that sport. Did he think he'd ever join the Longhorns? "I didn't even think about it in high school. I didn't think I was that good," he said.
Making history at Texas
Texas also had an athletic department that excluded Black athletes while Means was attending Austin High School in the 1960s. But after Bertha Means pressured Frank Erwin for an explanation as to why her son couldn't run track at UT, the newly appointed regent promised to look into the matter. On Nov. 9, 1963, Texas announced that Black athletes could participate.
Less than three months later, on Feb. 29, 1964, Means competed in three sprint events at a meet in Fort Worth. Texas also sent Oliver Patterson to run in College Station that day. And thus, both the UT athletic department and the Southwest Conference were officially integrated.
"When you talk about legacy, you start with what people before you did and what the people that come after have to live up to," Texas track and field coach Edrick Floréal said. "Anytime someone leaves a mark like (Means did), that's a hurdle you have to jump over. You're talking about somebody that actually accomplished something that took so long to overcome."
Finding his place in SWC lore
Means, 78, was asked about his legacy last week. Did he feel like a pioneer?
"It's obvious I was a pioneer because I was the first Black athlete at Texas and in the Southwest Conference. So yeah, I feel that," Means said. "Everybody in the Black community was suing UT or fighting UT. In the Civil Rights era, just about everybody that was Black was in that movement."
Soon after he helped make history, Patterson left the Texas track team. Means also took the 1965 season off but returned a year later. Means contributed to Texas winning two Southwest Conference titles. In his final race, he was timed at 9.5 seconds in the 100-yard dash at the 1968 SWC championships.
"Against the wind," he noted.
Despite the racial animus of the 1960s, Means said he enjoyed college and described his time at UT as "nonconfrontational." Means lives in Austin and still visits the UT campus to watch shows at Bass Concert Hall and attend the Texas Relays.
"I had good teammates. I never had a personal discussion with anybody about race, me being Black," Means said. "The head coach was Jack Patterson, and he was an excellent coach. He told me that if we had any problems on the road trips, he would basically be there taking care of me like a guardian. So I never had any problems with the coach or anybody else."
Last weekend, Means finally joined other Black pioneers in the Texas Hall of Honor. Julius Whittier, the first Black letterman on the UT football team, was inducted in 2013 and he had a statue outside the Hall of Honor erected in 2020 in the wake of a student-led drive for social reform on the UT campus. Andre Robertson, who was the first Black baseball player to earn a scholarship, went into the Hall of Honor in 2019. Jimmy Blacklock, the basketball program's first Black starter, got his call in 2016. The first Black woman to participate in a sport at Texas, Retha Swindell, was inducted in 2001.
At a reception for the 2023 Hall of Honor inductees on Friday, Means was steadily greeted by administrators and former UT track athletes. Means and Floréal were gathered together for a photo op. The following day, Texas honored its inductees at halftime of the football team's game against Wyoming.
As Means' name was called, Cosby and Scott motioned to the sold-out crowd at Royal-Memorial Stadium to cheer louder.
"Having this validation and this honor bestowed by the school and the people who reached out and really made this possible, it is something that means a lot to me," said Means' son, James III. "It's going to be one of those things that is a continuing link from the past to today."
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Black pioneer James Means Jr inducted into Texas Hall of Honor
