50 years of blacks in sports

Ebony, Oct, 1995 by Walter Leavy

LONG before Jackie Robinson joined the major leagues, there was a blossoming love affair between Blacks and sports. But it has only been during the past 50 years that this love affair has burst into full bloom, with Black players bringing new dimensions to the games and redefining the limits of what could be accomplished in the sports world.

It was October 23, 1945, when Branch Rickey, then-president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, signaled the beginning of racial transformation in American sports. That ws the day the long-awaited announcement came that Robinson was being assigned to the Dodgers' minor-league affiliate Montreal Royals, thereby breaking the 56-year-old "gentleman's agreement" among White owners and setting the stage for Robinson to become the first Black player in the Major Leagues in the modem era.

A year later, the walls of segregation surrounding the National Football League came tumbling down when the Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, and the Cleveland Browns acquired the services of Marion Motley and Bill Willis. But it was Robinson who remained in the spotlight. After a year in the minors, the UCLA graduate made his Major-League debut at Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947, and became a symbol of pride for an entire race. Even though he was taunted, ridiculed and had to deal with one racial insult and indignity after another, he somehow was able to perform well enough to be named the Rookie of the Year. "I don't know any other player who could have gone through what Jackie did and been as successful," says Joe Black, who became one of Robinson's Brooklyn Dodgers teammates.

Although Robinson's arrival in the Major Leagues created incredible interest in baseball, bowling was actually the most popular sport among Blacks in 1947. At the time, it was estimated that about 15,000 Black bowlers across the country and in Bermuda hit the lanes each night. But as popular as bowling was, it never lessened the excitement generated by Robinson's historic step.

Before Jackie's association with the Dodgers, Black baseball players--many of whom were much better than their White counterparts--were limited to showcasing their skills in the Negro Leagues. But baseball in the Negro Leagues wasn't subpar; it was baseball at its best, and it produced some of the game's most talented players, including Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, William (Judy) Johnson, Buck Leonard, Leon Day, Buck Leonard, Buck O'Neil and Cool Papa Bell. Following Rickey's lead, other Major League teams were quick to dip into the Negro Leagues' pool of talent to bring a new and different look to big-league baseball.

The Robinson breakthrough was the first of several major events that dotted the period between 1945 and 1950. Alice Coachman became the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal (long jump) in 1948; Robinson himself won the coveted Most Valuable Player Award in 1949; and, in 1950, the National Basketball Association opened its doors to the first Black players--Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd and Nathaniel (Sweetwater) Clifton.

A year before basketball's integration, boxing fans witnessed the end of perhaps the greatest reign in sports history. Joe Louis, who was bigger than life and who was another symbol of Black pride, hung up his gloves in 1949 after holding the heavyweight title for a record 11 years and eight months. When "The Brown Bomber" bowed out, he left a tremendous void in the ring and in the hearts of millions, but a number of talented champions followed in his footsteps, including Ezzard Charles and Floyd Patterson, who, at 21, became the youngest heavyweight champion in 1956. (A 20-year-old Mike Tyson claimed that distinction in 1986.

In the '50s, though, the boxer of the decade undoubtedly was Sugar Ray Robinson, a colorful, flashy fighter who ran roughshod through the welterweight division before moving up to rule the middleweight ranks. Even before he reached his prime, he was rated as the "best fighter in world, pound for pound" and described as "the greatest puncher that ever lived."

Unfortunately, many Blacks in the pre-television era never had a chance to witness the magnificence of Sugar Ray or marvel at the fascinating performances other athletes in baseball, football and basketball. At the time, most fans only heard and read about football's Buddy Young, golf's Charlie Sifford, basketball's Ray Felix, and Althea Gibson, a Harlem teenager who beat the odds and racism to become the first Black national and international tennis champion. In 1956, Gibson won the French Open, becoming the first Black person to win a Grand Slam tennis title. The next year she won at Wimbledon, tennis' most prestigious tournament, and she repeated that feat in 1958.

By the time Wilma Rudolph had won three gold medals at the 1960 Olympics, television had drastically changed the sports world, greatly increasing exposure and revenues, and making it possible for athletes to earn more money than imagined. It was during that period that the NBA began to aggressively promote its product, and fans were treated to the grace of Elgin Baylor, the ballet-like moves of Earl (The Pearl) Monroe, the all-around skills of Oscar Robertson and the intense battles between Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.