Isaac Burns Murphy: One of the Greatest American Jockeys of All Time
Isaac Burns Murphy was an African-American Hall of Fame jockey, who is considered one of the greatest riders in American Thoroughbred horse racing history. Murphy...
Tag : Sportsman
William DeHart Hubbard: The first African American to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event
[dropcap size=small]W[/dropcap]illiam DeHart Hubbard was the first African American in Olympic history to win an individual gold medal, when he won the long (broad) jump...
Oliver Lewis: Winner of the First Kentucky Derby
Oliver Lewis became the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, America’s longest continuous sporting event on May 17, 1875. His time of two minutes...
Sugar Ray Robinson: “Pound for pound” the best boxer in history
Sugar Ray Robinson is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time. Robinson held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, and by...
Jackie Robinson: Breaking Major League Baseball’s Color Barrier
Jackie Robinson made history in 1947 when he broke baseball’s color barrier to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. A talented player, Robinson won the National...
Henry Armstrong: First Boxing Champion in Three Separate Divisions
Henry Armstrong was the first boxer to hold simultaneous world championship titles in three different divisions: the featherweight, welterweight and lightweight world champion in 1938....
Fred “Duke” Slater: Football Trailblazer
Fred “Duke” Slater was the greatest African American football player of the first half of the 20th century. But his pioneering influence extended beyond the...
Marshall “Major” Taylor: The Black Cyclone
“It is my thought that clean living and a strict observance of the golden rule of true sportsmanship are foundation stones without which a championship...
George Poage: The first African-American athlete to win a medal in the Olympic Games
George Coleman Poage was the first African-American athlete to represent the United States in the Olympic Games, winning two bronze medals at the 1904 games...
John Armstrong Howard: The First Black Canadian Olympic Athlete
John Armstrong Howard was the first Black Olympic athlete from Canada, competing in the 1912 Summer Olympics. The Winnipeg-raised First World War veteran dominated Canadian...