Wilbert Harris Cherry participated in the desegregation of U.S. college basketball

College basketball

College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....

 as the first African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 to play basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 for the University of Tennessee

University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...

, in 1970-1971, and one of the first two African Americans to play on the university's varsity team, in 1971-1972.

Cherry was born in Dayton, Tennessee

Dayton, Tennessee

Dayton is a city in Rhea County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 6,180 at the 2000 census. The Dayton, TN, Urban Cluster, which includes developed areas adjacent to the city and extends south to Graysville, Tennessee, had 9,050 people in 2000...

. He grew up in Morristown, Tennessee

Morristown, Tennessee

Morristown is a city in, and the county seat of, Hamblen County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 29,137 at the 2010 United States Census. It is the principal city of the Morristown, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Grainger, Hamblen and Jefferson counties...

, and the Karns

Karns, Tennessee

Karns is an unincorporated community in western Knox County, Tennessee, United States, about west of the center of Knoxville. The United States Geographic Names System classifies Karns as a populated place.- Geography :...

 community of Knox County

Knox County, Tennessee

Knox County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its 2007 population was estimated at 423,874 by the United States Census Bureau. Its county seat is Knoxville, as it has been since the creation of the county. The county is at the geographical center of the Great Valley of East Tennessee...

, where he attended Karns High School

Karns High School

Karns High School is a public high school in the Karns community of Knox County, Tennessee administered by the Knox County Schools public school district....

.

After high school, Cherry went on to the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where he was a walk-on basketball player. He appeared in 18 games for the freshman team in 1970-1971. In the 1971-1972 season, he and Larry Robinson

Larry Robinson

Larry Clark Robinson is a former ice hockey player and coach in the National Hockey League. Robinson was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1995 and is currently the defensive coach for the New Jersey Devils...

, a junior college

Junior college

The term junior college refers to different educational institutions in different countries.-India:In India, most states provide schooling through 12th grade...

 transfer with an athletic scholarship

Athletic scholarship

An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...

, became the first African-Americans to play on the university's varsity team. In 1971-72 Cherry played in four varsity games, making him a member of the 1972 team that won the Southeastern Conference

Southeastern Conference

The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

 (SEC) championship. A five-foot-eleven-inch point guard, Cherry was cut from the team after that season.

Cherry completed his undergraduate and J.D.

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 degrees at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and an MBA at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is a public university located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The University, often referred to as UTC or simply "Chattanooga" , is one of three universities and two other affiliated institutions in the University of Tennessee System; the others being in...

. He worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...

 before entering the practice of law in Knoxville

Knoxville, Tennessee

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

. He died on August 4, 2007.