Willie Ferguson began his athletic career at E. O. Smith Junior High School as a two-sport student-athlete in football and basketball. He played basketball for the legendary Coach Frankie Brazos. Willie was a member of the 82 games winning streak team and three city titles as he would leave E. O. Smith with an unblemished record in basketball and an outstanding junior high football career.
As a teenager, Willie was faced with one of his first major decision, where to attend high school. He lived in Fifth Ward which was Wheatley High School territory. Most of his junior high teammates would attend Wheatley. He took the pathway that led to the Almighty Kashmere Gardens High School. That decision was made easy because his brother Alex aka “Boardwalk” was a member of that outstanding 1967 team. Willie’s childhood friend Delvin Williams, teammates Michael Smith and Leon Strauss all made the decision to attend Kashmere.
At Kashmere, he would mature into a two-year varsity starter on offense and defense for Coach Billie Matthews. Willie was a member of the All-District and All-City teams, with the 10-0 Rams as they were crowned City Champs before finishing the season 12-1. The 10-0 regular season undefeated, untied and 12-1 is a record that still stands today. In basketball, he made All-City as a junior and senior, and district “Most Valuable Player” his senior season, after capturing the 17-4A district championship. One of his basketball most gratified victory but sad moments was defeating Phillis Wheatley and his junior high teammates, breaking their 122 games winning streak by a score of 71-69. The 82 wins in junior high and 39 wins their sophomore year at Wheatley, would be their first defeat ever!!!
After graduation Willie made the decision to attend Texas Southern University on a football scholarship, forgoing several basketball offers. He would letter four-years in football at TSU under Coach Rod Paige. After graduation, he signed a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Rams.
