From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

James Brock was the second head basketball coach at Lincoln William Grant High School (WGHS) in Covington, KY, coaching there from 1955 to 1965. Like other African American school teams in Kentucky, WGHS was a member of the Kentucky High School Athletic League (KHSAL). The counter league, Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA), was for whites only until school integration began in the mid-1950s.

The 1956-1957 WGHS team was the first African American basketball team to win a district tournament in the KHSAA tournament. As more African American students were allowed to attend the formerly all white schools, there was an impact on the pool of high school athletes that had been restricted to the all black schools. Brock took the  Warriors to the state tournament in 1958, 1959, 1961, and 1965.

In 1965, the year that William Grant High School closed, the basketball team won only five games. That season was a far cry from the winning seasons that had garnered the school a win-loss record of 185-69 during Brock's years as head coach.

With the closing of William Grant, Brock moved on to Cincinnati, where he continued to successfully coach high school sports. He  was inducted into the Northern Kentucky Black Hall of Fame and the KHSAA Hall of Fame in 2000. The basketball court at Randolph Park was named the James Brock Court in his honor.

For more see Shadows of the past, by L. Stout; J. Reis, "Many tried, few defeated William Grant in '50s, '60s," The Cincinnati Post, 2/23/1998, Editorial section, p. 4K; and Dawahares/KHSAA Hall of Fame class of 2000 inductees announced, 6/21/1999, at the KHSAA website; and his obituary, posted on Facebook.