Prairie View A&M University Athletics

Mr. William Buster Pollard, Jr. was born July 23, 1912 in Evanston, Ill. and graduated from Evanston Township High School in May of 1932.

Pollard attended Prairie View State College on an athletic scholarship and was a member of the 1933 SWAC Co-Championship football team guided by head coach Sam B. Taylor.  Pollard was an All-American standout at the end position in 1933 in addition to earning All-SWAC Honors while serving as team captain.  Pollard also lettered in basketball from 1932-1936 and become a member of the prestigious “P” Club in 1936.

After earning a bachelor’s in chemistry with a math minor from Prairie View, Pollard  remained at Prairie View as a professor of chemistry in the science department while also serving as basketball coach and overseeing the jazz band and orchestra.  Pollard left the college in 1939 and moved to Chicago, Ill .as he worked for Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Board of Health.

In 1941, Pollard moved to St. Louis, Mo. to work in the public school system and held several leadership roles ranging from principal, head coach and director of teacher training.  During his time in St. Louis, Pollard took a three-year leave of absence from 1960-63 to serve as an advisor to the Secretary of Education in Liberia, West Africa.  While in Liberia, Pollard helped develop teachers in Liberia while taking into account the customs, mores and needs of the country.

Pollard returned to the United States in 1968 and moved to Milwaukee, Wis. as an administrator of a pilot educational program in the Milwaukee Public School System.  He remained in Milwaukee for three years before settling in Washington D.C. as an authority figure in public school administration.

On Sept. 3, 1986, Pollard made contact with former President Dr. Percy A. Pierre regarding concern that former head coach Sam B. Taylor should receive an appropriate honor of his service.  Pollard contacted former PVMU Director of Athletics Mr. Brutus Jackson and the Sports Hall of Fame committee was formed in January of 1987 with the by-laws drafted in March of 1987 and an induction ceremony taking place in June of 1987.  Pollard was inducted in the Prairie View Sports Hall of Fame inaugural class along with Taylor and 18 additional individuals.