Harvard Business School renames building for Fort Worth ISD, TCU alumnus

James Cash courtesy FWISD

The Harvard Business School is renaming a building on its campus in honor of James I. Cash, a 1965 graduate of I.M. Terrell High School and member of the Fort Worth ISD Wall of Fame.

Cash joined the faculty of Harvard Business School in 1976 and became its first Black tenured professor in 1985. He served as chairman of the school’s MBA program.

Cash was an athletic and academic standout at I.M. Terrell. After high school, he became the first Black basketball scholarship player at TCU. An Academic All-American, he helped the Horned Frogs win the 1967-68 Southwest Conference championship. In 2014, he was inducted into the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame, the school district said in a news release. At six-foot-six, he dominated on the court and also in the classroom, where he majored in mathematics, becoming an Academic All-American in his last two years at TCU. As a Black student athlete in the south, he frequently encountered racism, even requiring a police escort when the team visited the University of Arkansas.

Cash received a bachelor of science in math from TCU. He earned his master of science and a doctorate in computer science at Purdue University.

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Cash was a pioneer in information technology, and retired from the faculty of Harvard Business School in 2003. He also served on the boards of Walmart, General Electric and Microsoft.

He is currently a part-owner of the Boston Celtics.