As a child in the 1930s, Dr. Melvin B. Tolson Jr. can remember watching his father coach Wiley College's prestigious debate team during the era of its championship run.

Led by the dynamic Melvin Tolson Sr., Wiley professor from 1923 to 1947, team members would rehearse the materials at either Tolson's home or the school's chapel and debate with their coach and each other.

They would highlight pros of a subject, then the cons. Then, they'd switch sides and do it again, trying to find holes in each other's arguments.

The young Tolson Jr. would "get on the floor behind the hall and listen to them," sometimes until he fell asleep. Then one of the team members would pick him up and carry him to his room.