 He also grew up with the founding members of the Black Panthers, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale and David Hilliard.Shivers graduated from Oakland Technical High School  in 1959, and left Oakland in 1960 to serve in the U.S. Army.In 1964, after serving four years in the army, Shivers went to Utah State where he became a star running back and then in 1966 was drafted first round in the supplemental draft to the St. Louis Cardinals.