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ODUS MITCHELL - INDUCTEE #19

hall of fame fast fact:

Besides the PSHOF, Odus Mitchell also was inducted into WT's Hall of Champions, the North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. There's a football scholarship in his name, and the Odus Mitchell Award is awarded to the team's senior Most Valuable Player each year.

Odus Mitchell

Before Odus Mitchell was the first major Texas college coach to integrate its football team, Mitchell earned 18 letters as an all-around athlete at West Texas State Normal College.

Born in Killeen, Mitchell attended WT and participated in basketball, football, track, and baseball.

After graduating from WT, Mitchell coached successfully at Post, Slaton, Childress, Pampa, and Marshall for 21 total years. Mitchell was hired at North Texas State College in Denton where his team won or shared 10 conference championships; his team compiled a 122-85-9 record and played in four bowl games.

In 1956, segregation was a way of life in the South. Mitchell was denied recruiting privileges after asking if he could recruit blacks, but was guaranteed any player who came out for the team would be given a fair shot, regardless of color. Five to ten years before other football programs integrated their teams, Abner Haynes and Leon King played for Mitchell, the first black athletes to play at a Division I level.

Mitchell died in 1989 at the age of 90.