Wisconsin recognizes pioneering black athletes

Every institution of higher learning has a hidden history regarding the involvement of African Americans on their intercollegiate sports teams. UW–Madison has made an effort to retrieve the stories of path-making black players through the work of Gregory Bond, a Ph.D. researcher in American history.

Bond’s research is showcased in a new feature on the Web site uwbadgers.com called, “Celebrate UW’s Black History.” Posted in honor of Black History Month, the feature highlights eight African Americans who were early pioneers in the university’s intercollegiate sports

UW–Madison has produced more than its share of pioneering black athletes, Bond says. From the earliest black Olympic medalist and the Big Ten’s first black team captain to the conference’s first black starting quarterback, UW–Madison’s African- American athletes blazed a trail for others to follow.

For example, La Crosse native George Poage was the first African American to win an Olympic medal. Poage took home two bronze medals in the sprint competition at the 1904 Olympics.

Unfortunately, piecing together the history has not been an easy task. Like most schools at the time, the university did not regularly record the race of its students for much of the 20th century, making the identification of African-American athletes a difficult process.

Of the university’s pre-WWII African-American athletes, only Poage is mentioned in the standard reference materials on African Americans in college athletics. Campus publications and team photographs yielded most of the information on the earliest black athletes. Other pioneers may have been overlooked because of these limited resources.

More information is available on the much larger contingent of black players at the university since World War II.

Several unheralded pioneers, including the first African Americans to participate in basketball, wrestling and fencing, are recognized on the Web site.