William Ray Black (September 25, 1920 – May 1, 2002) was an American construction executive and

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

coach.

Early life

Black was born and raised in Paducah, Kentucky, where his father, Ray owned a construction business. He attended the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

and graduated in 1942 from the

University of Kentucky College of Education The University of Kentucky College of Education is an NCATE and Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board accredited, public school of education located on the campus of the University of Kentucky. The College of Education teaches about 3,000 ...

. He played baseball and football at UK and during his senior year, served as player-coach of the baseball team. The

Kentucky Wildcats baseball The Kentucky Wildcats baseball team represents the University of Kentucky in NCAA Division I college baseball and competes in the Eastern division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The current head coach of the Wildcats is Nick Mingione. Ke ...

team had a record of seven wins and six losses under his leadership.

Later life

After graduation from UK, Black enlisted in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war, he worked for the family business, by then called ''Ray Black & Son''. He served the University of Kentucky by serving four terms as alumni representative to the university's board of trustees. He also served for 22 years on the Paducah Board of Education.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Bill 1920 births 2002 deaths Kentucky Wildcats baseball coaches Kentucky Wildcats baseball players Kentucky Wildcats football players Player-coaches United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers Sportspeople from Paducah, Kentucky Players of American football from Kentucky Baseball players from Kentucky