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Moses Fleetwood Walker
Walker initially signed with a minor league team, the Toledo Blue Stockings of the Northwestern League in 1883. Walker played catcher for the Blue Stockings until in 1884 Toledo joined the American Association, a Major League Association. At that time they were in competition with the National League. Walker made his first Major League debut on May 1 against the Louisville Eclipse. This made Moses Fleetwood Walker the first African American to be an official member of a Major League team. -
Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson finally won the world heavyweight title on December 26, 1908, six years after lightweight champion Joe Gans became the first African American boxing champion. Johnson's beat the reigning world champion, Canadian Tommy Burns by knockout, in Sydney, Australia. As title holder, Johnson thus had to face a series of fighters. On April 5, 1915, Johnson lost his title to Jess Willard in Havana, Cuba. Johnson was knocked out in the 26th round of the scheduled 45 round fight. -
Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens 1936 Olympics
Jesse Owens surprised many by winning four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. On August 3, 1936 he won the 100m sprint, defeating Ralph Metcalfe; on August 4, the long jump; on August 5, the 200m sprint; and, after he was added to the 4 x 100 m relay team, he won his fourth on August 9. Just before the competitions, Owens received the first sponsorship for a male African-American athlete. -
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson was the first African American Major League Baseball player of the modern era when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. He was the first African American man to play in the major leagues since Moses Walker in the 80’s. In his career, he played in 6 World Series and including the Dodgers' 55’ World Championship. He was selected for 6 consecutive All-Star Games from 49’-54’, and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949, the first black player. -
Charles Cooper
Charles Cooper made history when he was signed by the Boston Celtics. Cooper's NBA career was respectable but not stellar. He played four years with the Celtics, and then was traded to the Milwaukee Hawks before ending his career as a member of the Ft. Wayne Pistons. During his NBA career, Cooper played a total of 409 games, scoring 2,725 points for an average of 6.66 points per game, with 2431 rebounds for an average of 5.9 per game, and 733 assists for an average of 1.79 per game -
Willie Thrower
Willie Thrower was not drafted in 1953, but was offered one year, $8,500 contract with the Chicago Bears. He became the backup quarterback to future Pro Football Hall of Famer George Blanda. Thrower did not play until October 18, 1953 against the San Fransisco 49ers. Unfortunately Thrower was denied a chance to score a TD in the game. Thrower completed 3 out of 8 passes for 27 yards, and had one interception. He would only play one more game and was released after the 1953 season from the Bears. -
Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson was a World No. 1 American sportswoman who became the first African-American woman to be a competitor on the world tennis tour and the first to win a Grand Slam title in 1956 defeating Angela Mortimer Barrett. Gibson is sometimes referred to as "the Jackie Robinson of tennis" for breaking the color barrier. She was the top-ranked U.S. player in 1957 and 1958. In 1957 Althea became the first African American woman to win Wimbledon. She won again in 1958. -
John O'Neil
John O’Neil was named the first black coach in the major leagues by the Cubs in 1962. After many years with the Cubs, O'Neil became a Kansas City Royals scout in 1988, and was named "Midwest Scout of the Year" in 1998. In 1990, O'Neil led the effort to establish the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in Kansas City. In February 2002, at the end of the NLBM's Legacy Awards annual banquet, O'Neil received an induction ring from the baseball scouts Hall of Fame in St. Louis. -
Wendell Scott
Wendell Scott broke the color barrier in Southern stock car racing on May 23, 1952. Scott became the first African-American to obtain a NASCAR racing license, in 1953. In the 1963 season, he won a race at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida, the first and only top level NASCAR event won by an African-American. Scott had not only won, but was two laps in front of the rest of the field. -
Bill Russell
NBA Career of Bill Russell
Bill Russell became the first African American head coach in NBA history before the 1966–67 season, as a player-coach. When he became coach this ended the Celtics 8 year Championship run when they lost the 76er’s. After retiring as a player, Russell had stints as head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics (1973 to 1977) and Sacramento Kings (1987 to 1988). -
Arthur Ashe
During his career, he won three Grand Slam titles, putting him among the best ever from the United States. Ashe was the First and only African-American to be ranked #1 in the world. Ashe was the first black player ever selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only black man to ever win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, or Australian Open. -
Debi Thomas
Debi Thomas is the 1988 Olympic bronze medalist. Thomas won both the 1986 U.S. national title and the 1986 World Championships; those achievements earned Thomas the ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year award that year. She was the first female athlete to win those titles while attending college full time since Tenley Albright in the 1950s. She was the first African-American to hold U.S. National titles in ladies' singles figure skating. -
Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson created Black Entertainment Television, the first cable television network aimed at African Americans initially broadcasting for two hours a week. By 1991 BET became the first black-controlled company listed on the NYSE. He is the first Black American to be the principal owner of a North American major-league sports franchise. He and Michael Jordan led the group that acquired the Charlotte Bobcats NBA expansion franchise. -
Shani Davis
At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Shani Davis became the first Black athlete (from any nation) to win a gold medal in an individual sport at the Olympic Winter Games (Speedskating, 1000 meters). He also won the silver in the 1,500 m. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, he duplicated the feat, becoming the first man to successfully defend the 1,000 m title, and repeating as 1,500 m silver medalist. He has won six World Single Distance Championships titles.
