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Moses Fleetwood Walker
Born on October 7, 1856, Moses “Fleetwood” Walker was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball. He attended Oberlin College where he played for the colleges’ first varsity baseball team in 1881. In 1883, he became a part of the Toledo Blue Stockings in the American Association in the major leagues. His first game in the majors was on May 1, 1884, where he went hitless in three attempts. -
Charles Follis
Charles Follis was the first professional African American football player. Even though pro sports was segregated at the time, Follis made history on September 16, 1904 by becoming the first African American to sign a contract to play football in exchange for income.Follis played football for the Shelby Blues in the Ohio League. -
Fritz Pollard
Frederick Douglass Pollard was one of the first two African Americans to play in the National Football Leauge and the first African American to coach in the NFL. In 1919 Pollard became apart of the Akron Pros, right after finishing his army service for the U.S. during World War I. His first season he helped the team go undefeated winning eight games and in 1921 he became the first African American head coach in NFL history by becoming Akron Pros co-coach. -
Jackie Robinson
Robinson Mini BiographyJackie Robinson was the first African American to actually sign a major league contract to play with the major league team The Brooklyn Dodgers. He was also the first African American to play as a minor leaguer as well as the major league in 1947. He was the first African American to get a recorder hit, steal home plate, become an all star, win rookie of the year and the MVP award. Lastly, Robinson was one of the first two African Americans to play in the Major League World Series. -
Donald Barksdale
Donald “Don” Barksdale in 1948 as an All American helped the United States men basketball team win a gold medal during the 1948 Olympics. Barksdale was the first and only African American on the team. In 1951 he signed with the Baltimore Bullets as a 28 year old rookie and became the first African American to be chosen to participate in the NBA All Star game. He was then traded to the Boston Celtics where after 2 seasons he retired. -
Willie O'Ree
Mini BioOn this day the first African American hockey player made his debut for the Boston Bruins to play against the Montreal Canadiens. O'ree was called up from the minor leagues to replace one of the Bruins previoulsy injuried players. Even though he was partially blind in his right eye, due to being hit by a hockey puck, he was still able to 43 games throughtout his hockey career. -
Wilma Rudolph
Olympics 200 Meter RunKnown as the "Black Pearl" Wilma Rudolph was not only the first African American women to win but also the first American woman to win 3 gold medals in the Rome Olympics. She won her gold medals in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and the 400-meter relay team events. In honor of her, her alma mater Tennesse State Univ. has named the women track and field program after her. -
Wilt Chamberlain
On this day Wilt Chamberlain set the National Basketball Association All Time Scoring perfromance in a game by scoring exactly 100 points against the New York Knicks. Along with this prestigious record he also set another record for the most free throws made with 28 in only 48 minutes of game play. The final score of the game was Wilts Philadelphia Warriors scoring 169 over the New York Knicks 147. -
Hank Aaron
Homerun KingOn this day, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruths all time homerun record. The previous year he hit 40 homeruns, but was one homerun shy of tying the record and two home runs shy of breaking Babe Ruths record to become the Major Leagues all time home run leader. Despite multiple death threats and waiting a whole offseason, he broke the record in the fourth game of the 1974 season in front of an Atlanta Braves record crowd of 53,775 fans. Aaron finished his career with 755 homeruns. -
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
All-Time Leading ScorerKareem Abdul-Jabbar formely known as Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. on this day became the leading scorer of the National Basketball Association scoring 38,387 in 20 NBA seasons. Abdul-Jabbar throughout his career won six NBA championships and Most Valuable Players Awards throughout his career. He is most famous for being apart of the LA Lakers "Showtime" dynasty along with Magic Johnson and James Worthy. -
Doug Williams
Doug Williams as apart of the Washington Redskins football team was the first and the only African American quaterback to win a Superbowl. During Superbowl XXII he and the Washington Redskins defeated the Denver Broncos with a score of 42 to 10. Williams threw four touchdown passes which were all thrown in the second quarter, which also helped him clinch the MVP award for the game.
