Leroy and Hillary Chollet excelled in New Orleans high school and college sports in the 1940s – until their Blackness was uncovered.

The Chollett brothers in the Buffalo Evening News in 1948. Credit: Public domain

Born March 5, 1924, Leroy led Holy Cross to three championships and back-to-back state titles, according to Ramon Antonio Vargas. In his 2013 book, “Fight, Grin and Squarely Play the Game,” Vargas described Leroy as being a master athlete who excelled in basketball, baseball and track-and-field.

Leroy played a key role in Loyola University of New Orleans’ 1945 national basketball championship. “On the basketball courts in 1945, Loyola had no bigger hero than Leroy Chollet,” wrote sports columnist Peter Finney in the foreword of Vargas’ book.

Meanwhile, younger brother Hillary, born July 25, 1926, was a high-profile football recruit who played halfback for Cornell University.

In a 1950 newsreel, Hillary was described as “a player’s player always at his best when the going is at its roughest. Hillary Chollet is a fine example for the young people of our nation for this All-American in his spare time is an orderly at a hospital for polio victims.”

After high school, Hillary had committed to play for Louisiana State University, but de-committed to sign with Tulane University. Then someone discovered that the Chollets’ paternal great-grandmother, Oliva Olinde, was born in 1873 to a Black mother and white father, a Times-Picayune/Nola.com article states. 

“Olinde had three sons with Swiss-born Charles Chollet, one of which, Alfred, was the father of the Chollet brothers. That made Al, Leroy and Hillary one-eighth Black, which under the ‘one drop’ standard of the day, was more than enough,” Ted Lewis wrote. “And then, they were gone.” 

Hillary went to Cornell and Leroy landed at Canisius College, both in New York. Leroy later signed with the Syracuse Nationals for the NBA’s 1949–50 inaugural season. He played two seasons before becoming a teacher and coach. Hillary became a dentist.  

Inducted into their high school and college halls of fame, both Leroy and Hillary died from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) –  Leroy in 1998, Hillary 1989.

For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.

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Tammy C. Barney is an award-winning columnist who spent most of her career at two major newspapers, The Times-Picayune and The Orlando Sentinel. She served as a bureau chief, assistant city editor, TV...