Someone can learn a lot about a high school from its sports teams. To see how big the school is, look at the football team. To see how rich the school is, look at the golf team. To see how spirited the school is, look at the stands. And in 1973, you could tell a lot about Chamblee by looking at its basketball team.

In 1969, under federal supervision, DeKalb County integrated its schools. It closed down the black schools and enrolled the Black American students into the white schools. For the next 27 years, DeKalb County’s integration was under federal supervision. Chamblee’s first Black American students enrolled in 1970. Within two years, there were black members on the basketball team. In 1972 and 1973 there was a Black American captain, Ron Ford.

This was a very big deal, considering that in 1969, just four years before, African-Americans made up only 5 percent of DeKalb County. This changed rapidly, though, and by the mid-1980s, Black Americans made up over 65 percent of DeKalb County.

“Very few schools had as many black students as Chamblee,” said David Coy, a member of the basketball team in 1973-1974. “Cross Keys and Clarke Central in Athens had as many, but most didn’t.”

Thankfully, Chamblee has always been a relatively liberal school and avoided the problems that schools like Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas had. By the 1970s much of the anti-integration movement had died.

“By the seventies, most of the problems were gone,” said Jill Gonyea, who played on the basketball team and graduated in 1973.

There will always be the pockets of people who hate other people, and there will always be people who allow it, but that wasn’t commonplace,” said Gonyea.