Arthur Buttons Speaks

Arthur Warren “Buttons” Speaks was born and raised in the Washington Square Apartments in Huntington WV. Buttons, as he was most commonly known, went on to be one of the most celebrated and decorated high school athletes in the Huntington Tri-State area, earning 12 varsity letters in four different sports. In 1965, Arthur was named Prep School All American in his senior year at Huntington High School. Considered as the “Jackie Robinson of Old Dominion University,” Buttons became the first African American scholarship athlete at the then predominantly white southern school. Buttons was recruited by and played for the former assistant Marshall basketball coach Sonny Allen from 1965-1969. He also excelled at baseball at ODU. He was one of the first African Americans to graduate from ODU and, after a brief professional career, playing a short time under the great Vince Lombardi, he went on to coach at Huntington High and at Scott High School in Toledo OH, before becoming a successful business man. He was later inducted into the Old Dominion Sports Hall of Fame. In 2023, he passed away at the age of 76.