Trailblazing Black Athlete Greg Page Honored with Historic Marker
On September 26, 2025, community members in Middlesboro unveiled a new state historical marker celebrating Greg Page, a trailblazing athlete who attended Middlesboro High School in the 1960s.
Page is significant because he, along with Nate Northington, Wilbur Hackett, and Houston Hogg, were the first Black college football players to sign with a Southeastern Conference (SEC) university, breaking SEC football’s color barrier.
Page played football for Middlesboro High School in the early 1960s. His father, Robert Alexander, was a coal miner, and his mother, Wilma Jean, was the first Black nurse in their community. In 1964, Homer Rice, offensive coordinator at the University of Kentucky (UK), was in Middlesboro because his father-in-law was in the hospital there. Coincidentally, Wilma Jean was his nurse. After getting to know each other, Wilma asked Rice to come see her son, Greg, play football. Greg stood out immediately from the rest of the players and Rice reached out to him about playing football for the University of Kentucky.1
[Ill. 1. Kentucky Historic Marker #2662]
Page was recruited as a defensive end and was a member of Kentucky’s 1966 freshman team. At the time, the SEC did not allow freshman athletes to play varsity sports. But for Page to compete at the varsity level, other SEC teams also had to agree to play UK’s integrated squad.
In 1963, before Page was recruited, SEC athletic directors met in Ocala, Florida, to discuss the issue of integrated teams. In the leadup to the meeting, The Kentucky Kernel, UK’s student newspaper, published an article on March 22, 1963 that expressed the student body’s frustration with the SEC’s color barrier in college football: “We can stand up and tell the world that we, a Southern university, are sick of having a doctrine of racial inferiority rammed down our throats.”2 At the directors’ meeting in May 1963, only six universities declared that they would play other integrated squads. Nonetheless, Page was poised to make his debut for the Wildcats during the 1967 season. Tragically though, Page suffered a severe neck injury during a practice in August before the start of the season. The injury paralyzed him from the neck down. He spent six weeks in the hospital before succumbing to his injuries at only 19-years-old. Nate Northington, who became a good friend of Page’s, went on to become the first African American to play college football in the SEC when UK opened its season against Indiana on September 23, 1967.3
In the decades since his death, the University of Kentucky has honored Page’s life and legacy. In 1979, UK dedicated a student housing building for graduates and student families, which it named the Greg Page Apartments.4 In 2016, UK unveiled four bronze statues at Kroger Field, honoring Greg Page, Nate Northington, Wilbur Hackett, and Houston Hogg. Mel Page, Greg’s younger brother, also honored his brother’s legacy by creating the Greg Page Scholarship, which awards money to students from Bell County attending UK. In recent years, Mel has worked with UK to grow the scholarship via an endowment so that it will support Bell County students for many years to come.5
Middlesboro community members have also made efforts to honor Page. Tina and David Mike, residents of Middlesboro and former staff members of Middlesboro High School, started the process of recognizing Greg Page’s legacy with a state historical marker in 2023. Tina and David went through the entire process of collecting letters, garnering community support, and learning Page’s story. After two years of hard work, it all paid off. State historical marker #2662 was placed on the roadside wall of Middlesboro High School’s Bradner Stadium. The marker was dedicated before a crowd of about seventy people on September 26, 2025. Rev. Buffy Dunnaville, pastor of the White Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, opened the ceremony by introducing three members of the Page family—Jerome Costner, Solomon Page, and Sean Page—who each made remarks about Greg and his legacy.
[Ill. 2. Members of Page Family Speak at Dedication.]
I was invited to speak on behalf of the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) at the event. I shared some information about our state marker program and how Greg’s marker came to be. I was also able to thank all of those in the community and state government who helped make this marker possible, including the Page family, David and Tina Mike, District 11 Transportation Cabinet, the Kentucky Historical Society, and the Middlesboro Yellow Jackets Alumni and Friends. My lasting impression from this experience is that KHS’s marker program is not just about celebrating the commonwealth’s history. It is also about bringing Kentuckians together to commemorate individuals, such as Greg Page, who helped shape the Bluegrass State into what it is today—a place for all Kentuckians.
Andy Dickson is a military history consultant at the Kentucky Historical Society. A proud Kentucky native and 2013 graduate of the University of Kentucky, Andy is passionate about uncovering and documenting the lived experiences of everyday soldiers—how they served, how they lived, and how everyone’s story offers a unique window into our shared military history.
Coming next month
Interested in the Civil War in Kentucky? Our next blog post recaps the Kentucky Historical Society's third annual Civil War History Day, which featured a lecture by Dr. Anne E. Marshall (Mississippi State University) about her new book, Cassius Marcellus Clay: The Life of an Antislavery Slaveholder and the Paradox of American Reform.
Suggested References:
David K. Wiggins, More than a Game: A History of the African American Experience in Sport (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018).
John Sayle Watterson, College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002).
Notes
1 Homer Rice, Leadership Fitness: Developing and Reinforcing Successful, Positive Leaders (Longstreet Press, 2005), 367.
2 “UK And Integrated Athletics: A Proposal,” The Kentucky Kernal (Lexington, Ky), 22 March 1963, https://exploreuk.uky.edu/catalog/xt7mcv4brs3p#page/5/mode/1up/search/SEC.
3 “U-K’s Greg Page Is Critically Injured,” Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, 23 August 1967, 3–4.
4 “Greg Page Stadium View,” University of Kentucky: Campus Housing, https://wildcatliving.uky.edu/greg-page-stadium-view.
5 “Kentucky unveils sculpture honoring pioneers of SEC football,” NCAA, 23 September 2016, https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2016-09-23/college-football-kentucky-unveils-sculpture-honoring-pioneers-sec; “Greg Page Scholarship carries on legacy and memory of UK pioneer,” UK Alumni Blog, 7 December 2020, https://ukalumniblog.com/2020/12/07/greg-page-scholarship-carries-on-legacy-and-memory-of-uk-pioneer/.
