Six months after Clendenon was born in Neosho, Missouri, his father, Claude, died from leukemia. Claude Clendenon was a mathematics and psychology professor and chairman of the mathematics department at Langston University, an all-black school in Langston, Oklahoma. Clendenon\'s mother, Helen, demanded high academic achievement from her son. When he was six years old, Clendenon\'s mother married former Negro Leagues baseball player Nish Williams. In addition to academic excellence, Clendenon\'s new stepfather decided he was going to make his stepson into a baseball player. Williams served as a coach on nearly every baseball team that Clendenon played on, including his college team at Atlanta\'s Morehouse College, and his semi-pro career with the Atlanta Black Crackers. Along with Williams, Clendenon received pointers from some of the players Williams knew from the Negro Leagues, including Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe.[citation needed]\n', '

Clendenon graduated as a letterman in nine sports at Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta, Georgia, and received a host of scholarship offers. He was prepared to attend UCLA on a scholarship until some coaches from Morehouse College in Atlanta visited his mother, and convinced her that he should attend a school closer to home.\n', '

Morehouse College was and is one of the premier academic institutions for young African-American men. Just before Clendenon arrived in 1952, the freshman class were assigned "Big Brothers" to help the students acclimate themselves to Morehouse and college life. Although the policy had ended when he arrived, a Morehouse graduate volunteered to be Clendenon\'s big brother. His name was Martin Luther King, Jr.\n', '

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