Hampton Athletics Hall of Fame
William Allen Hudgins, Sr., also called “Meatboy,” was a three-sport star at Hampton Institute between 1936-40, playing end and receiver on the football team, center on the basketball team and competing in the pole vault on the track and field team.
Regarded as one of the top receivers of his day, Hudgins reaped All-CIAA honors in football and he was a key part of Hampton’s performance in the prestigious Orange Blossom Classic in Orlando, Florida versus Florida A&M University in 1937. Leading African-American newspapers, such as the Chicago Defender and the Pittsburgh Courier, extolled his virtues as a football star and he was nominated for various All-America honors.
Hudgins was also a letterman on the 1939-40 track and field team that won the CIAA championship and he was a team captain for the basketball team in 1939-40. One of Hudgins’ noteworthy accomplishments was being a leading member of the first Hampton basketball team to play an all-white team, a game that occurred in New York City.
Hudgins played for three legendary coaches at Hampton – Gideon Smith, Charles H. Williams and Herman “Buck” Neilson.
Following his playing days at Hampton, Hudgins went on to coach basketball at Cambridge High School, football and track and field at Bishop College in Texas (1948-49) and basketball at St. Phillips College in San Antonio, Texas for 18 years. He also served as that college’s Dean of Student Affairs for 19 years.
Mentioned in the publication “The Negro in Sports” as an outstanding athlete from Hampton, Hudgins also coached Little League and Babe Ruth League baseball and he was a water safety instructor for the American Red Cross, teaching swimming to more than 3,000 students.
Hudgins held memberships in numerous organizations, including the HU National Alumni Association, the NAACP and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
