TUCSON, Ariz. - On Feb. 6, 1960, Arizona men's basketball player Ernie McCray set an UA scoring record that still stands when he dropped 46 points on Cal State Los Angeles. McCray would go on to become the first African-American men's basketball player to graduate from the University of Arizona. In honor of this anniversary and Black History Month, we sat down with McCray to get this thoughts on that game 60 years ago as well as a number of other topics.

How did you get to the U of A?
MCCRAY: "Arizona did not recruit me. Eastern Arizona Junior College was interested in me, but my girlfriend was pregnant, and I figured 'Who's going to survive?' I couldn't go to [Eastern Arizona]. But Alan Stanton, the Arizona freshman basketball coach at the time, was a hero of mine because he played football and basketball. He ran into me at the YMCA one day and said, '[Fred] Enke hasn't talked to you? Let me call him.'  The next thing I knew, I had scholarship."
 
What was it like to be a Black student-athlete on campus?
MCCRAY: "It was just like everything else. I was liked and people knew me, but there was no real acceptance in anything. Some people got confused with my behavior because I've always been an activist and outspoken and I was a part of a group called, Students for Equality. We would go to the City Council meetings and they wouldn't even want to let us talk as we were just trying to ease the Jim Crow laws. So some people calling had a problem with me, but only a handful. I was just focused on my grades.
 
"I would go over to the in the Student Union because they used to have a record room where you could sit in and listen to music that they piped in. That's where I did most of my studying. I just put some music in the background.
 
"We would have basketball practice, then I would study a little bit, then I would go home to my wife and kids. We had three kids while I was in college. My scholarship wasn't enough to take care of everything. My teammates had a lot of free time but I had to work a lot of odd jobs. The Placement Bureau at the University would post jobs like, "Student help needed" and they'd be jobs like helping a family moved into a new house or janitor jobs. I used to work at the Greyhound Race Track, walking the dogs around. I was a lifeguard. I was a bus boy. Anything that I could do to make some extra money."
 
On February 6, 1960, you scored 46 points against Cal State-Los Angeles, which is the Arizona Basketball record for the most points in a game. How does it feel to hold such a special record at a school that has had so many great players, over the years?
MCCRAY: "It's an honor for me and I really wouldn't care if it was broken today and I never have cared. But what has done from me is that it gets my name out with the Sean Elliott's, Damon Stoudamire's and Andre Iguodala's. Because of that record, I'll get mentioned with the greats and part of the reason that I'm doing this interview right now, it had a lot to do with it, but it was a it was an incredible night. It was the first time I've ever gotten a standing ovation, I don't know how many people that were there, 3,000 maybe, if that many - kids wanted my autograph - it was a great night."
 
What is some advice that you would give to our Black student-athletes today?
MCCRAY: "I would say, because you are drawing a lot of attention to yourself, being a student-athlete, you should be a good citizen and do some things in the community. You don't have to be an outspoken activist, like I was, but be dedicated to something and realize that what you're doing is special and not a lot of people get to do this. They have some opportunities to go pro and make a lot of money. Be wise and use your education wisely. Be smart about what you do and know that you are being watched."