and later president of the International Boxing Club (IBC). The IBC promoted title fights and arranged national television coverage for boxing matches in the 1950s. The IBC was a precursor to modern-day boxing associations such as the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Council (WBC). Gibson’s involvement in boxing ended when he and associates lost a 1959 anti-trust Supreme Court case concerning the IBC’s role in boxing which led to the dissolution of the IBC. He was affiliated with the Chicago (IL) Alumni Chapter. Gibson returned to private legal practice in Chicago for the remainder of his life and entered the Chapter Invisible on December 23, 2005 at the age of 93. NOTE: 1. Graduation photo of Brother Gibson is from the March 1933 issue of Kappa Alpha Psi Journal 2. Article featuring Brother Gibson is from the October 1945 issue of The Kappa Alpha Psi ® Journal
“Bedtime was 11:00 p.m. and that included Saturdays and Sundays. He came here to play tennis and
he earned election to the honorary scholastic society, Order of the Coif, and graduated cum laude from the University
that is what he is going to do.”
of Chicago Law School in 1933. As member of the Iota Chapter, he authored an article entitled “A Code for Pledging” in the August 1935 issue of The Kappa Alpha Psi ® Journal where Ming presented criteria the chapter utilized when evaluating potential new fraternity members. After graduating law school, he served as assistant attorney for the Illinois Commerce Commission prior to joining the faculty of the Howard University Law School. In 1941, he worked in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Bureau; the Office of Price Administration (OPA) along with a future political adversary and U.S. president, Richard Milhous Nixon. During this period, Ming also served the fraternity as its national chairman of the National Problems Advisory Committee, which was a political action, public policy and advocacy commission. He joined the U.S. Army as an enlisted private during World War II. Ten years after his first Journal article, Ming, now U.S. Army Captain William R. Ming Jr., contributed an article in the May 1946 issue entitled “U.S. Soldiers Serve Time. How Uncle Sam Treats His Own Fighting Men Who Land in U.S. Military Prisons.” The article described military judicial protocol, powers of military tribunals, clemency, and sentencing trends of accused white and African American military personnel. At time of article’s publication, Ming was recently honorably discharged fromU.S. Army serving as a JudgeAdvocate General where he defended Army personnel in military courts. During his time as an Army private, he argued a case the first time in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1947, Ming returned to his alma mater joining the faculty of its law school becoming the first African American full-time faculty member at a predominantly white law school. While on the UChicago law school faculty, he was a member of Chicago (IL) Alumni Chapter and supported Iota Chapter as its faculty advisor. A partner in the law firm of McCoy, Ming & Black, Ming was special counsel for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. From 1949 to 1951, he served as special assistant attorney general of Illinois and served as chairman of
Brother Richard A. Hudlin graduated from the University of Chicago in 1927. As an undergraduate, he was
William Robert Ming Jr. (Iota 1930) Attorney, Legal Strategist, Law Professor, Civil Rights Activist, Trailblazer “Bob Ming was a civil rights pioneer,” said Brother George Leighton (Xi 1938), his former law partner and a retired federal judge in 2008Washington Times interview. “TheNAACP, including Thurgood Marshall, didn’t do anything without consulting Bob Ming.” D r. Martin Luther King Jr., in 1960, was indicted for perjury in a tax evasion case in the state of Alabama. Dr. King was ultimately acquitted of all charges by an all-white jury in what a relieved Dr. King recalled as the “turning point in his life.” Dr. King’s defense attorney in this watershed moment in the Civil Rights Movement was Brother William R. Ming Jr. “Negro or not, he is a master of the law,” commented one Alabama lawyer about Ming during the King trial. Ming was a brilliant attorney and legal scholar, renown legal strategist, highly respected law school professor and one of the great legal minds of the civil rights movement. “Bob Ming was a civil rights pioneer,” said Brother George Leighton (Xi 1938), his former law partner and a retired federal judge. “The
the first African American team captain in tennis in the Big Ten Conference. After graduation, he taught social studies and was tennis coach for 36 years at the Sumner High School in St. Louis, MO. He was a driving force in desegregating city tennis facilities including filing a civil rights lawsuit in 1945 against the city of St. Louis. He educated hundreds of youth on the game of tennis with his most famous pupil, a young tennis prodigy named Arthur Ashe, who would later also become a member of Kappa Alpha Psi ® and its 39 th Laurel Wreath Wearer. In 1960, the young Ashe moved to St. Louis from his hometown of Richmond, VA for his senior year of high school to train full time under Hudlin and lived in the Hudlin household. The move was designed to improve Ashe’s developing game by playing against better competition. Ashe mentioned frequently that his time in St. Louis was not a pleasant one. Hudlin remarked in a November 1975 Ebony magazine article about his oversight of the young Ashe, “Bedtime was 11:00 p.m. and that included Saturdays and Sundays. He (Ashe) came here to play tennis and that is what he is going to do.” Ashe’s game indeed flourished and matured under Hudlin’s stern eye and coaching. Using a fast hardwood surface at the St. Louis Armory, he converted Ashe from a back-court player to a serve and volley specialist. Brother Hudlin entered the Chapter Invisible in 1976 one year after traveling to London, England as the guest of Brother Ashe (Upsilon 1963) to watch in person as his former protégé become the first African American to win the men’s singles Wimbledon championship. In 2014, Brother Hudlin was posthumously enshrined in the Black Tennis Hall of Fame as Player and Pioneer. The Richard Hudlin Playground and Tennis Courts located in the Forest Park area of St. Louis is named in his honor.
NAACP, including Thurgood Marshall, didn’t do anything without consulting Bob Ming.” Born on May 7, 1911 in Chicago, IL, William Robert “Bob” Ming Jr. was the son of Annie and William Ming Sr. Ming worked as a grocery clerk and other menial jobs to finance his education at the University of Chicago. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1931. An indicator of future achievements to come,
Richard A. Hudlin Sr. (Iota 1925) Educator, Civil Rights Activist, Tennis Coach, Mentor
1. NOTE: Source: 1926 Cap and Gown yearbook
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Publishing achievement for more than 100 years Publishing achievement for more than 100 years
Publishing achievement for more than 100 years Publishing achievement for more than 100 years
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