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

Irvine L. Shanks was born in Kenton County, KY, and attended all-Black schools in Richmond, KY, in his youth. He became the first African American to play basketball at Berea College (KY) when he was on the team 1954-1955 and just the third to play college basketball for a Kentucky school. A 6'5" center, Shanks was the only African American on the team. He made his historic debut on February 4, 1954, scoring 10 points against Wilmington College. No opposing team ever canceled a game because of his presence. In 1955, he helped Berea College win the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship when they upset Georgetown College. Shanks was inducted into the inaugural class of the Madison County Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.

Irvine Shanks was married and had two children when he became a student athlete at Berea. He had been a sergeant in the U.S. Army and fought in the Korean War. He died March 5, 2004 and is buried in the Madison County (KY) Memorial Gardens. His son, Lawrence Ronell "Ron" Shanks, died in Louisville in 2025. (See FindaGrave for more about Ron.)

For more see "B" For Berea: The Amazing Story of Berea College Basketball in the Words of the Men Who Played It, by T. Chase; Berea College Magazine, Spring 2002; "Player Who Broke College Basketball Color Barrier in Kentucky Dies at 73," WDRB website, March 9, 2004; "Irvine Shanks, sports pioneer - war veteran broke basketball color barrier in Kentucky," Lexington Herald-Leader, 3/9/2004, City & Region section, p. B4, and his obituary in that same LHL issue.