SPOTLIGHT: Ray Tomlin, Xavier's First Black Varsity Basketball Player
The guard from Lockland broke barriers for the Xavier basketball program in 1954
Tom Eiser, Xavier Athletic Communications
2/3/2021
The Xavier University men’s basketball program has earned a reputation for graduating its student-athletes. In fact, the streak of seniors that have graduated is at 112 and counting. But there’s one graduate whose story stands out from all the rest.
Ray Tomlin, the first black varsity basketball player to play at Xavier University, transferred to XU in 1954 after playing as a freshman at Ohio State. Over 50 years later, at the age of 72, he completed the final credits needed and received his Xavier degree in 2006. A lot happened in between.
“I love the game of basketball and I wanted to play Division I ball,” Tomlin told Michael Perry for his book Xavier Tales. “That was my goal. Very few blacks were getting a Division I education back then. And that’s what I wanted and what motivated me more than being the first black player.”
Tomlin turned a state championship season at Lockland Wayne High School in 1952 into a scholarship offer from Ohio State. After a brief OSU career, he came back to Cincinnati and went to work at Stearns & Foster, a Lockland mattress company.
Tomlin enrolled as a Xavier student in January of 1954. His three-year Xavier career included 41 games played beginning with a game against No. 15 Dayton at Cincinnati Gardens in the 1954-55 season. Nothing remarkable on the stat sheets but plenty of unforgettable moments on and off the court.
Tomlin vividly recalled walking into the locker room and seeing his jersey hanging in his locker. He saw a new pair of Chuck Taylor All-Star gym shoes and his neatly folded warmups.
“When I put the jersey on, I looked around because I just knew everybody in there could hear my heart beating," he said. "That was quite a thing for me.”
One of Tomlin’s teammates and friends during his time at Xavier was 1957 graduate Jim Boothe, a member of the Xavier Athletics Hall of Fame. “Ray had to put up with a lot, especially when we were on the road,” said Boothe. “I don’t think any of us realized how difficult it was to be the only African-American on the team.”
Tomlin told stories of traveling with the Xavier team but needing to stay at an all-black hotel for a game in the 1955-56 season in Miami, Fla. He even stayed with a black dentist on one road trip while the team stayed at a hotel. “Xavier looked out for me and protected me,” said Tomlin, “but it was a challenge.”
Tomlin was out of eligibility following his senior season, 1956-57, but still well short of the necessary credits for graduation. Then the military came calling and he was drafted and sent overseas. He came back home in 1960 and secured a job at Procter & Gamble. He would later work at Kenner and Equistar Chemicals before retiring in 2000.
Although he clearly didn’t need a degree for career reasons, his former teammate Boothe, then the chairman of Xavier’s education department, convinced him to go back and get his degree.
Tomlin, still not a Xavier graduate, spoke at a number of Xavier functions and he clearly impressed then-head coach Thad Matta. In the 2004 Elite Eight season Matta asked Tomlin to speak to the team before a key conference game.
“I am not sure any of those people knew I was not a graduate,” said Tomlin, “but I was working on that.”
He completed the necessary credits to receive his bachelor’s degree in liberal arts at the graduation ceremony at Cintas Center in 2006, over 50 years after arriving on the Xavier campus. “I was so proud of that accomplishment.”
Tomlin was a pioneer who passed away in 2017 but will not be forgotten. “His impact went beyond basketball,” said Boothe. “I am proud of him. I will not forget him.” Nor should anyone in the Xavier Family.
