Memories of Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota
From Almost Drowning to Being Cheered
My first time inside Williams Arena had nothing to do with the sports the building is usually associated with. In 7th grade, I attended University High School, a private school on the University of Minnesota (UM) campus. U-High was grades 7–12; by the time I reached eighth grade, U-High merged with the public Marshall High School and became Marshall-University High School (M-U High), a public school.
U-High was in SE Minneapolis, several miles from my home in South Minneapolis. My mother wished to avoid sending my brothers and me to the public schools in our district. My elementary school (Field Elementary) had integrated a couple of years before my arrival, and only recently did I discover the protests and resistance to integration. I would have attended Bryant Junior High and Central High School, which were approximately 80% Black due to various restrictions (redlining, steering, and FHA and VA lending practices) that segregated housing in Minneapolis. My older brother, Kevin, was two years ahead of me and had gone to U-High. I followed in his footsteps.
One of my required classes was physical education (gym). In 7th grade, I was tall and skinny, weighing 109 lbs for wrestling. Several weeks into the semester, we had a swimming…
