The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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high school teacher who inspired him to pursue that field instead of going to medical school, his original dream. A good student, he had hoped to get a scholarship to Howard University or perhaps another historically black college with a strong reputation in engineering. When word got out, however, that he had been accepted to NC State, he had little option but to take on the role as pioneer. "Somehow, it got into the papers that I was accepted to NC State, and all of my family and friends started congratulating me," Holmes said. "I really didn't have any plans to go there, but Howard turned me down for a scholarship. "After that happened, I started thinking more about going to NC State." Meanwhile, his Durham Hillside High School classmate Walter Holmes (no relation), the son of Hillside's principal, was also admit- ted, along with Raleigh Ligon High School's Manuel Crockett and Ed Carson, who were also accepted into NC State's engineering school. Together, they changed the face of NC State's student body, and opened the door for thousands of black students and athletes who fol- lowed in their footsteps. During a freshman physical education class, both Irwin Holmes and Crockett excelled in running and jumping. Holmes had been a quarter- miler at Hillside, finishing second at the state meet his senior season. "We all went through a series of physical tests, which helped them determine what PE classes we went into," Holmes said. "Somebody suggested I should go run for the track team. I said, 'OK, I'll try that.' Manuel was invited because he did well on the PE tests as well." So on Feb. 11, 1957, in an indoor dual track meet against UNC Cha- pel Hill at what is now known as Dorton Arena, Holmes and Crockett competed in the 600-yard run, a standard middle-distance event on 150-yard indoor tracks. By running in the race, they became the first black athletes to com- pete in an ACC-sanctioned sporting event, changing college athletics in the South forever, even though they never really set out to be barrier- breaking pioneers. "We didn't perceive it to be that big a deal at that time," Holmes said. "We were probably worried about passing a math exam or something. So it wasn't that meaningful at that moment. "We thought maybe someday when we were old men, maybe some- one would make a big deal about it. We didn't do it for that purpose. We did it for the same purpose as everyone else: just to have fun." Holmes, used to running a 400-yard race, didn't have the best show- ing on that day. "That extra 200 yards is a loooooong way," he said. It was the only track meet either of them ever ran at NC State. Crockett eventually left NC State and graduated from North Carolina Central. But later that spring, Holmes joined the freshman tennis team and went on to become a three-year varsity letter winner and the first black captain of an ACC varsity team. Holmes, a champion ping pong player as a youth, took up tennis in high school, mainly because his father — a former All-American football player at North Carolina Central — didn't want his son to play the sometimes violent sport. He snuck onto the court of an upscale private black club in Durham and eventually earned his way onto his high school team by winning an open tryout tournament. By the time he entered NC State, he was a nationally ranked junior. He was the top singles player on the freshman team, and spent his three years on coach John Kenfield's varsity squad playing in the No. 4 slot. "Irwin was only an average player, and certainly never a star," Ken- field once wrote in a Raleigh News & Observer op-ed. "But he was a Negro, and the first of his race to win a varsity sports letter at any Southern 'white' college. "He generated more news in his senior year, when he was elected co-captain of the team." Kenfield, whose father was a successful coach at UNC, believed his program often had victories that weren't shown in the record book, and Holmes was his greatest example. "Coach Kenfield was a special man," Holmes said. "He was ready mentally to handle all of the crazy things that happened after I joined the team." Holmes was the team's only senior in 1960, when his teammates elected him as one of two co-captains. He was recognized in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" April 21, 1960, edition. Holmes admits that his college experience, like most, was far from perfect. He experienced open racism at times, from classmates and op- A Life Of Firsts Tennis Standout Irwin Holmes Was One Of The First Four African-American Students To Enroll At NC State And Became The First To Graduate WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Irwin Holmes Tennis (1958-60) Age: 79 Living: Durham, N.C. Occupation: Retired Did You Know? In addition to being part of the team that designed the first color television, Holmes helped develop a computer to provide vehicle and weapon guidance in a military tank, the airline reservation system for Trans World Airlines, and computer guidance systems that would put the first Ameri- can in space. JANUARY 2019 ■ 31