An outstanding student-athlete, Henry T. Wingate has been a champion for most of his life. A graduate of Yale Law School, New Haven Connecticut, Henry Wingate was among the first law students in the state of Connecticut to be certified to practice before lower state courts as a third year law student.

From 1973 to 1976, Wingate served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy at the Naval Legal Services Office in Norfolk, Virginia. From 1973 to 1975, Lieutenant Wingate was the only African-American lawyer in the entire U.S. Navy. Upon his return to Mississippi, Wingate joined the staff of the Attorney General of Mississippi, and later joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the southern district of Mississippi. His extreme brilliance did not go unnoticed. In 1984, Senator Thad Cochran recommended him to the federal bench, and in 1985, President Ronald Regan appointed him to the federal bench. Judge Wingate became the first African American U.S. District Judge for the southern district of Mississippi.