Trivia

He was a professor and coach of debate and public speaking at Texas Southern University for more than 60 years. He also taught philosophy and religion classes, and was a minister at Mount Horem Baptist Church in Houston. His students included the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rep. Barbara Jordan (D-Tex.).

At age 15, he enrolled at Virginia Union University in Richmond, where he received a bachelor's degree in English. He later graduated from Andover Newton theological school in Massachusetts. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago and had planned a career in the ministry, when he accepted a short-term teaching offer at Texas Southern. After organizing a debate for his philosophy class, he ended up leading the school debate team for several years.