Ex-Vallejoan honored as a Boise State ‘Legacy’
Keith Anderson a pioneer Black football player
Vallejo High alumnus Dr. Keith Anderson said it’s “definitely an honor” to be included in Boise State University’s Legacy Project’s initial salute of 30 alumni student-athletes.
However, Anderson emphasized with a chuckle, being listed first “is not because of my greatness. They did it alphabetically.”
Four Boise State alumni started the project, dedicated to “Those Who Helped Make Us Great: Legacy of the First Black Athletes.”
The “Legacy” project is a reminder to all younger Black athletes at Boise State for those who came before them, said Anderson in a late Monday phone interview.
“We have plenty Black athletes now,” Anderson said. “But when I played (1977-’79), I don’t think we
made up 20 percent of the team. Now I think it’s well over half.”
“Legacy” is “a kind of honoring of the pioneers. I just happen to come in the 1970s and there weren’t a lot (of Blacks) before then,” Anderson said, acknowledging that “I’ve gone and done some things after college and there’s been a lot of people who’ve done some things after; some significant things.”
When Anderson got the call from the “Legacy” creators, “I told them, ‘I was no star at Boise State.’ They said it’s because I was one of the first Blacks and that I’ve done ‘a lot of stuff’ since then.'”
After graduating from Vallejo High School in 1974, Anderson earned an associate degree in journalism at Solano Community College and a speech communications degree at Boise State before earning his doctorate in educational leadership.
For 20 years, Anderson’s been an adjunct instructor at Boise State. He also had his own TV show, his own radio show, and has written two books, “A Field Day” and “A Black Soul Rises.” He’s also an entertainer, often delivering (pre-pandemic) his tribute to Nat King Cole.
As a defensive back out of Vallejo, Anderson decided to “be a big fish in a small pond” when he earned a football scholarship to Boise, a city that’s less than 2 percent Black in a state that is home to a mere 11,000 or so Blacks — less than 1 percent of the population.
“Not a large percentage of Blacks. This is Idaho. It’s a Trump state,” Anderson said.
Still, Anderson’s settled in as a respected member
of the community. And his oldest son, Eli, 25, has followed in his father’s footsteps at Boise State.
“He’s going back to get a degree. He has his first degree, but he found out I was telling the truth that a music degree won’t get you a lot of jobs,” Anderson said, adding that it’s fortunate “you don’t need a lot of money to survive here.”
Anderson said he has plenty of fond memories of Vallejo, particularly at what was Leo’s Deli on Tennessee Street.
Leo was “a little Italian” who let Anderson and others — including star football player Dick Bass — play pool “until it was time to go to school.”
At a community function honoring the deli owner “they announced I got my scholarship to Boise State,” said Anderson. “Bass was there and he said, ‘Keith, if you think you can play in the NFL, I’ll get you a tryout.'”
“All I had to do was keep from getting hurt,” Anderson said.
He survived unscathed in his junior year with Boise. As a senior, however, it was during a practice drill that one of the team’s receivers did a “cut block” at Anderson’s knees. His football career was done.
“That’s the last I played my senior year,” he said. “And all I had to do was not get hurt.”
Fortunately, Anderson said, he learned plenty from his coaches that helped him off the playing field. Life principles he uses today and uses with his job working with at-risk, lowincome teens he helps get into colleges.
Anderson said he’s proud to be a Boise State grad — “I’ll always be a former Bronco and that carries weight here” — just as he’s proud to be a native Vallejoan.
“Coming from Vallejo, you learn to hustle,” he said. “I tell my sons, ‘Look up ‘Vallejo.’ You’ll see how many athletes and musicians come from Vallejo. Now look up ‘Idaho.’ The whole state can’t compare to Vallejo.”
As proud as Anderson is of his hometown Vallejo and adopted town of Boise, and proud of some of the people he’s met — including baseball icon Henry Aaron, who recently passed, he’s the most proud of his sons earning college degrees.
“I got my kids to college and they don’t have student loans,” Anderson said.
With an eye on his 65th birthday in April, Anderson contemplates retirement. Then he thinks of the students he helps and the schools he helps, especially the ones at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.
After more than two decades, the man has earned his reputation.
“One school was the poorest in the state and 90 percent Hispanic,” Anderson said. “When they got a new principal, the school district said, ‘Let Dr. Anderson do what he does.'”
For more about the Legacy Project, visit broncosports.com/news/2021/1/14/ legacy-project.