BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Perry Wallace won’t be in the BJCC Arena Civic Center this afternoon when American University takes on Tennessee in the opening round of the NCAA East Regional.

Instead, the first black basketball player in Southeastern Conference history will be teaching law at American’s Washington College of Law, just as he has for the past 17 years.

But he insists that his ugly memories of the state of Alabama 40 years ago as a Vanderbilt Commodore have nothing to do with him remaining in the nation’s capital this weekend.

“I watched American’s tournament games on television, and I’ll be cheering for them,” Wallace said. “I also try to keep up with Vandy and the SEC in football and basketball, but I’m not one of those guys who watches sports all day long.”

Forty years ago, Wallace watched out for his life whenever the Commodores played in the Deep South, particularly in Mississippi and Alabama.

“If people are telling you, ‘We’re going to kill you,’ you might decide you’re not completely safe,” said Wallace, who played at Vanderbilt from the fall of 1967 to the spring of 1970.

“I tried to be prepared for everything. I tried not to provoke anybody, but because of who I was, because of the color of my skin, I was provoking them just by being there. There were several tough places, but the two Mississippi schools and two Alabama schools were the worst.”

Wallace recently revealed some of his worst memories on the outstanding ESPN documentary “Black Magic,” which debuted on Sunday and Monday nights. Co-produced by NBA Hall of Famer and Winston-Salem State great Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, the film centered on the decades-long basketball decline of predominantly black colleges thanks to integration. But it also spent considerable time on Wallace’s plight in the SEC.

“As shocking as what I said (in the movie) might have seemed, that wasn’t the whole story,” Wallace said Wednesday. “One time I got hit in the eye at Ole Miss. It came out of nowhere, a finger or an elbow or something. There was no foul or anything. And the crowd was playing the race card the whole time, shouting terrible things. It was always tense on the road. Sometimes it affected my play, but I also had a job to do.”

To show how much times have changed, Mississippi State will start four blacks against Oregon in the Bulldogs’ NCAA tourney game today. Alabama and Auburn each started five blacks this season. Ole Miss starts four blacks and a Hispanic.

And it has pretty much been that way for at least 30 years. Once SEC schools realized blacks could help them win, the color of an athlete’s skin became far less important than his vertical leap or 40-yard dash time.

This is not to suggest that sport has eradicated racism. As the current Democratic Party primary race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama often reminds us, society hasn’t quite erased race as an issue. But in sports it is rarely discussed, thanks mostly to courageous pioneers such as Wallace.

“I don’t think I looked at it that way,” he said. “I was trying to get an education, trying to help win basketball games for Vanderbilt. When you’re the first, you just have no idea what to expect.”

Wallace had expected to go to Tennessee State during much of his high school career at Nashville’s Pearl High. They had a fine coach in Harold Hunter, a winning tradition, outstanding support.

But as the time to sign grew closer, interest in his basketball talents spread far and wide.

“Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Tennessee all recruited me in the SEC,” Wallace said. “Michigan and Northwestern recruited me from the Big Ten. I even heard from UCLA. But I wanted to go to a strong academic school, and Vanderbilt was right there in my hometown.”

What Wallace hadn’t counted were teammates’, coaches’ and administrators’ reluctance to react openly to the racism they all witnessed on the road.

“You’d go down and play at some of these places, people would be going wild with all this hateful stuff and nobody would mention it,” Wallace said. “Those weren’t conversations we had. Nobody talked about what was going on.”

Yet Wallace is also quick to add, “My teammates did just fine. It can be an awkward thing to talk about a controversial subject or speak out about it.”

He also said, “You could see some places get better during my three years there. You’d still hear things, but not as much.”

Thirty-eight years since his last Vanderbilt game, Wallace is in the middle of a different kind of controversy. He teaches both corporate law and environmental law.

“I sometimes find myself working with corporate outfits and environmentalists,” Wallace said. “Through sports, I’ve learned this is a natural place for somebody like me to be, since I’m working with groups that might not always get along. I’ve found I can relate to everybody’s story and hold my tongue.”

He doesn’t hold his tongue when given a chance to speak to college athletes, something he hopes to do more of in the future.

“(Vandy coach) Kevin Stallings has had me talk to his teams a couple of times,” Wallace said. “I get a chance to tell my story and talk about what a golden opportunity they have. I tell them to have a good time and enjoy the ride, but also take full advantage of a college scholarship.”

Thursday afternoon, American coach Jeff Jones was asked if he’d invited Wallace to speak to the Eagles.

“Not yet,” he said. “I didn’t even realize Perry was on our campus until two years ago. But we’ll have him talk to us soon. It’s a story everyone needs to hear.”

Especially at a time when we’re hearing the words black and white outside the culture of sport more than at any time since 1968.

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