Born in Georgetown, Mississippi in 1937, Bass moved as a youth with his family in the Great Migration to California, where they settled in Vallejo.

Bass played football and other varsity sports for Vallejo High School in the old North Bay League.

Time magazine described him as a "One-Man Show" in 1958, after he ran for 700 yards in six games to become the season's leading NCAA ground gainer, while passing for the Tigers as well.

[7] Bass was named to The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C. National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll.

[3] Kody Scott, alias Sanyika Shakur, a Los Angeles gang member known as "Monster" reported in his 1998 autobiography that his mother had identified Bass as his father.