He left home for good by the age of 12, hitching a ride on a freight train to Savannah, Georgia, where his sister lived.
[4] He was an academic All-American in football and in basketball at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, graduating with a bachelor's degree in biology, with a minor in chemistry, in 1960.
[6] As Savannah State College;'s men's had basketball coach Ellington compiled a 148–91 record (.619 winning percentage).
[4] Ellington returned as the men's head basketball coach and athletic director at his alma mater, Morris Brown College, in 1997.
[3] Ellington returned to coaching in 2005 taking the Bulldogs to the Georgia state quarter-finals with a 28–3 record [2][5] He is a member of the Morris Brown College Hall of Fame (1978).
[2][4] He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum Board of Directors, the Board of Directors for the West Broad Street YMCA (Savannah, Georgia), the Georgia High School Sports Association, and the South Eastern Quarter Back Club.