Tommy Hawkins broke ground at ND---
Link: http://www.ocregister.com/2017/08/16/tom-hawkins-who-played-for-lakers-worked-for-dodgers-passes-at-80/
I am too young for this name to register and now I know. RIP to a truly golden domer
As a FR in 61 I knew his name as a "guy who played BB at ND" as an avid sports page reader - other than SI don't remember any newspaper focus on college BB - my paper didn't cover Ohio State until Lucas and the rest of his class became SO eligible to play - only good source was SI that had a weekly synopsis of college BB news.
He was definitely a racial pioneer even in 61 there weren't a lot of black athletes but numbers steadily increased. As students of the time know there wasn't much social life for anyone (save drinking) but in talking to a few of these folk during my time realized their social life was even more restricted as the black community in SB was small and isolated.