First Southeastern Conference school to field an African American athlete Crossword Clue

 The answer to the crossword clue "first Southeastern Conference school to field an African American athlete" is TULANE. Stephen Martin, a 17-year-old outfielder, became the first African American athlete to play for a Southeastern Conference (SEC) school when he walked on to the Tulane baseball team in 1966. Martin was born in New Orleans and attended Xavier University Preparatory School. He was drafted by the New York Mets in the 1966 Major League Baseball draft, but he never played in the major leagues.

The other SEC schools that integrated their athletic teams in 1966 were:

Florida

Georgia

Kentucky

LSU

Mississippi

Tennessee

Vanderbilt

The SEC was one of the last major college athletic conferences to integrate its teams. The first SEC school to integrate its football team was Kentucky, which signed Nate Northington in 1965. Northington became the first African American to play college football in the SEC when he took the field for Kentucky against Mississippi on September 3, 1967.