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William Sumlin was an outstanding High School football player from the lumber town of Brewton, Ala-bama. He attended Southern Normal High School and was recruited to play football at KSU in 1954 by Head Coach George “Big Bertha” Edwards.
William became a star immediately as a freshman at KSU. He started on both sides of the ball, offense and defense. He played tackle and guard on the football team. Bill, as he was frequently called, was one of the major reasons why the 1955 Thorobred’s football team was ranked fifth in the nation by the Pittsburgh Courier among black college football teams in the country.
Bill played in an era when players were used on both sides of the ball. His strength, quickness and adroitness was what made him the leader of the KSU football team. He earned four athletic letters in football. Bill also played baseball for one season at KSU. He also earned an athletic letter for his out-standing play on the baseball team.
Bill is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He married “Marion” who is a Florida A&M Univer-sity alum.
Lastly, Bill made sure that his legacy would carry on after his passing. His son, Kevin Sumlin, is cur-rently the Head Football Coach for the Texas A&M Aggies.
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