Williams, Kermit E.
(born: 1930 - died: 2006)Kermit Williams attended Mayo-Underwood, an all African American school in Frankfort, KY. School integration in 1956 allowed Williams and a few other African American students to transfer to Frankfort High School. In Williams' sophomore year he became the first African American to play football at the school, playing halfback as well as defensive back. In 2006, Williams was inducted into the school's Football Hall of Fame.
One of the obstacles Williams faced as a football player was a stipulation in the will of John R. Sower, who had donated the land where the football field was located: Sower's will stipulated that the athletic field was to be used by whites only, but the coach allowed Williams to play anyway.
Before one game, crosses were burned near the football field, yet Williams went onto the field and scored two touchdowns, giving Frankfort High the win. The night was covered by Life magazine. Williams continued to play football throughout his high school years and was also outstanding in basketball and track. Williams was inducted into the Traditional Bank/Frankfort High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.
For more see "The Enlightened One," The State Journal, 8/23/2006; J. Sergent, "Coming of Age: how a product of the segregated South became an advocate for change," Vanderbilt Magazine, Fall 2002, pp. 68-69 & 86; Smither, William "Duke," Friday Night Lights in Kentucky: Forever Changed by a "Reluctant Hero," Kermit E. Williams, 11/7/2014;