Lincoln University of Missouri Athletics

Bertran Wallace was a starting playmaker on the Lincoln University Basketball Team from 1939-1943 and lettered each year. He received sectional and national honors as the outstanding guard in the Midwest and was named in the National Basketball Guide in 1942-1943.

Wallace also served as the starting right end from 1939 - 1941 on the LU Football Team and lettered both years. He was captain of the team from 1942–1943. Wallace was chosen as first team All American End on several Negro Weekly newspapers and as a member of the first team Midwest Conference Left End.

Wallace served in the Mediterranean Theatre from March 1943 through December 1945. During that time, the military was forming athletic teams. In 1943–1944, five Lincoln University basketball players (The New Mexico Five) played and won the Rome Championship Conference in Rome, Italy. Wallace was later recruited to play on a very successful integrated basketball team, the Roman Gladiators. After World War II, Wallace played semi-professional basketball in New York City from 1946–1983.

Beyond his athletic accomplishments, Bertran Wallace completed a Master’s degree at Columbia University and also received Industrial Teacher Training Certifi cation from the University of New York. He served in the Korean War and retired from the active Army Reserves with the rank of Major in 1978. Wallace retired from a successful career as an educator in 1983. In 2004, Wallace’s taped recollections of World War II were selected by the Library of Congress as part of a special exhibit.