Wilberforce State was ranked No. 2 among the nation's black college football teams according to the Pittsburgh Courier and its Dickinson Rating System. The team's only defeat was against Tennessee A&I, the team selected by the Courier as the 1947 national champion.[3]
Key players on the 1947 Wilberforce State team included halfbacks Walt Sellers and Carl Baylor, quarterbacks Freddie Hall and Michael "Mickey" Carter, and end Blake White.[4][5]
Prior to the start of the 1947–48 academic year, the State of Ohio withdrew support from the church-supported portion of the school. The two portions of the school then split and fielded separate football teams with different coaches. Lewis, who had been the coach at Wilberforce since 1934, took responsibility for coaching the state school, and Dwight Fisher coached the religious school.[6]
^"Wilberforce State Wins At Cleveland". Dayton Daily News. October 5, 1947. p. Sports 3 – via Newspapers.com.(contemporary newspaper accounts record the game as a win, but College Football Data Warehouse records it as a forfeit by Wilberforce State)