Coaches in professional and college sports, in search of ways to bond their teams, will go through team-building exercises during the offseason in hopes of creating good chemistry among teammates. These artificial exercises, such as one teammate falling backward while another one catches him, are designed to bring teams closer together on and off the playing field.

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Next

• Game: Pitt (19-6, 7-5 Big East) at Notre Dame (18-5, 8-3).
• When: 7 p.m. Thursday.
• TV: ESPN.

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At one time, sports teams came together naturally. Take the 1956-57 Pitt basketball team, for instance.

In the fall of '56, the Panthers opened the season with a road game at North Carolina State. After a disappointing, 97-85 loss, the players went to a local drug store for sandwiches, sodas and ice cream. But the postgame outing turned sour when one player was denied entrance to the establishment.

Julius Pegues, Pitt's first African American basketball player, was not allowed into the drug store because of the color of his skin. In unison, Pegues' white teammates walked out of the drug store and went to another restaurant for their meal.

"I remember that very vividly," Pitt legend Don Hennon said. "We went out to eat, and they wouldn't let him in the door. Well, nobody was going to eat there without him. He was a part of our team, so we all got up and left and went to another restaurant. It was shocking to all of us that [it] happened."

Last week, Pegues recalled the incident and remembers fondly the way his teammates stood up for him.

"That made me feel good," Pegues said. "I really had a good bunch of guys to play with."

That team went on to become the second team in school history to qualify for the NCAA tournament. And even though the squad was loaded with talent, the drug-store incident helped forge the success the Panthers had in the ensuing months.

That incident was just one of many that Pegues had to endure during his days at Pitt. Hennon recalled other cases of racism. Whenever Pitt played at West Virginia, Mountaineers fans would call him derogatory names.

Some West Virginia fans tried to throw him off his game by telephoning him during practice. Hennon recalls Pegues leaving practice to take the phone calls. When Pegues returned, he would tell his teammates matter of factly that they were crank calls.

Sunday, Pitt will honor Pegues, one of 33 1,000-point scorers in school history, for his contributions to the program upon the 50th anniversary of his graduation. The 12 scholarship players for Pitt who will take part in the game against Louisville that afternoon are all minorities.

Pegues decided to attend Pitt in part because of his race. He was a native of Tulsa, Okla., and, at that time, the major universities in that state did not allow blacks to play college sports. Pegues said the only school he could have attended was Langston University.

Pegues, the valedictorian of his high school, had bigger plans. He applied to Carnegie Tech, but did not get accepted. But Pittsburgh turned out to be his destination after all.

E. Alex Phillips, an oilman in Tulsa, had watched Pegues play in high school. It just so happened that his wife, Nancy, was a native Pittsburgher. E. Alex Phillips served during World War II with Pitt athletic director Capt. Tom Hamilton, and Phillips, who helped black students get into colleges, recommended that Hamilton give Pegues a chance.

Hamilton took Phillips' recommendation, but Pegues had to walk on to the basketball team and impress the coaches first before he would be awarded a scholarship.

Pegues accepted the offer and, after starting every game for the Pitt freshman team, he earned his scholarship. Over the next three years, Pegues was an important player on some of the finest Pitt teams of that era.

Pegues played with Pitt legends such as Hennon, Bob Lazor and John Riser. Hennon is Pitt's No. 4 all-time scorer. Lazor is No. 22 and Riser is No. 23. Pegues, who scored 1,050 points, is No. 32.

At the end of the '56-57 season, the Panthers lost to Kentucky in the second round of the NCAA tournament after beating Morehead State in the first round. The next season, when Pegues averaged 17.6 points per game as a senior, the Panthers advanced to the NCAA tournament again and lost to Miami, Ohio in the first round.

"That was quite an accomplishment then," Pegues said. "Back then, you only had 32 teams in the [NCAA] field."

As much as Pegues, 72, accomplished during his athletic career at Pitt, he likely accomplished more in his professional career. Pegues graduated from Pitt with a degree in aeronautical engineering and worked for the Douglass Aircraft Co., McDonnell Douglas and American Airlines. He is currently a consultant for the FAA.

"I have always been thankful and grateful for the opportunity the University of Pittsburgh gave me," Pegues said. "Back then, we had true student-athletes. I remember my first meeting with Capt. Tom Hamilton. His first remarks were he didn't care if you played basketball or football. He said the one thing you were going to do here is go to class. That set the tone for us as student-athletes."