Vernon Sport, 85, Tuskegee Airman

More than 60 years ago, when it was thought by many that African-Americans were incapable of piloting airplanes, Vernon Kingsley Sport knew he could.

Mr. Sport enlisted in the

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‘I think the experience of being with the Tuskegee Airmen prepared him to be a leader,’ Alfred Wyatt Jr. said of Vernon Sport.

U.S. Army Air Corps after graduating from high school and volunteered repeatedly to fly with the pioneering black aviators who became known as the Tuskegee Airmen. He was turned down several times because he didn’t have a college degree, said his son-in-law Dr. Alfred Wyatt Jr., a Fayetteville dentist.

“It was an exercise in determination. He continuously requested to try out for the airmen. He didn’t have a college education at that time, but he was very well-read.”

Mr. Sport eventually became captain squad commander in the Aviation Cadet Corps at Moton Field, Tuskegee, Ala., as part of an “experiment” to train black men to fly and maintain combat aircraft. President Franklin Roosevelt had created the program against the wishes of his top generals, who believed the Tuskegee Airmen lacked the necessary smarts and courage.

Their training was rigorous and Mr. Sport was “extremely proud of his service to his country,” said his son-in-law.

After leaving the Army, Mr. Sport earned a bachelor’s degree from Suffolk University and a master’s from Goddard College in Vermont.

Mr. Sport went on to work as an affirmative action officer for the court system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, served on the boards of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association.

“I think the experience of being with the Tuskegee Airmen prepared him to be a leader,” Dr. Wyatt said.

Mr. Sport, 85, died Monday from complications of Alzheimer’s disease at his home in Conyers. A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at Antioch-Lithonia Baptist Church in Lithonia. Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

When he retired from the Massachusetts court system, Mr. Sport moved to Conyers, where he lived for the past 20 years. He worked with Angels of Mercy Ministry to distribute food to homeless men in downtown Atlanta, his son-in-law said.

In 2007, he went to Washington, with other Tuskegee Airman to receive the Congressional Gold Medal — the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow.

Survivors are his wife, Naomi Sport of Conyers; daughters Valerie Best of Lithonia, Andrea Minnieweather of Las Vegas and Lorraine Sturdevant of Portland, Ore.; son Maurice Sport of Las Vegas; sisters Rita Bryant of Brockton, Mass., Geraldine Norwood of St. Helena, Calif., and Gwendolyn Sport of Boston.