30 ■ THE WOLFPACKER
HOLMES
IRWIN
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BY TIM PEELER
I
rwin Holmes never really intended to be a two-sport athlete
during his academic career at NC State.
He was never completely convinced he would be able to
compete in one, let alone two, given that no Atlantic Coast
Conference school had ever had a black student-athlete in any
sport when he matriculated in the fall of 1956.
But the Durham native and three other Triangle-area high
school students were admitted to NC State shortly after the
North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in a 1955 decision that
the state's public colleges could consider African-American
applications. All four were accepted into State College's School
of Engineering.
Holmes wanted to study electrical engineering, thanks to a
Holmes, who had been ranked as high as the No. 2 African-American tennis player in the
country in high school, joined the Wolfpack tennis team in 1958 to become NC State's and
the ACC's first African-American athlete. During his senior year, he was elected one of the
team's co-captains.
PHOTOS COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS
