SAN ANTONIO – Summertime means hitting the pool for many families, but during segregation, not everyone was allowed to go to just any pool.
“It was segregated. There was a pool not too far from here on Commerce Street that we were able to swim at. You just couldn’t go all over the city and jump in a pool,” Dr. Sharon Crockett-Ray, director for institutional advancement and grants development at St. Philip’s College said.
St. Philip’s College was one of the few places where African Americans had access to community pools.
“In 1969, my siblings used to walk to St. Philip’s College. We lived walking distance from the college and we walked here and took swimming lessons with Coach Hudgins,” Crockett-Ray said.
William Allen Hudgins contributed nearly 40 years of service to St. Philip’s College and his community.
“He was a gentle giant and it was so important to him that we learn to swim,” Crockett-Ray said.
The legacy of Hudgins continues today.
St. Philip’s College offers a summer camp for local students and they learn to swim at the pool at the William Allen Hudgins Health and Wellness Building.
The swimming lessons are part of the Kids Academy Summer Camp, in partnership with YMCA.
“I am just elated. We have come a long way and its such a positive experience because it’s a skill set that’s a survival skill that everyone should have an opportunity to take part in,” Hudgins said.