Celebrating Black History Month: DeHart Hubbard, first African-American to win an individual Olympic gold medal 1924

DeHart Hubbard, born November 25, 1903, attended University of Michigan, where he was National Collegiate Athletic Association champion three times, for the outdoor long jump (1923 and 1925), and the 100-hard dash (1925).  He was the Big Ten Conference champion 7 times.

While he was attending college, he participated in the 1924 Summer Olympic Games in Paris and became the first African-American to win an Olympic gold medal for any sport: the running long jump.

He founded the Cincinnati Tigers, a professional baseball team, which played in the Negro American League.

He has been inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor and the National Track Hall of Fame.

Hubbard passed away in 1976.

Remembering Charley Pride (1934-2020)

Country music legend, singer, baseball player and groundbreaker Charley Pride passed away today at 86 from COVID-19.  He was born in Sledge, Mississippi March 18, 1934, the fourth of eleven children born to poor sharecroppers.

He got his first guitar at 14 and taught himself to play.  In 1952, he pitched for the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro American League, and then signed with the Boise Yankees, the farm team of the New York Yankees. An injury caused him to be traded (with another player) to the Birmingham Black Barons.

He was pitching for a semipro team in Helena, Montana when his singing ability became known. He released his first single The Snakes Crawl at Night in 1966.  It did not chart and neither did the second single.  But his third Just Between You and Me reached #9 on the US Country Chart. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for it the next year.

He won four Grammys over his career including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

He is one of only three African-Americans to become a member of the Grand Ol' Opry and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000.  He's had 30 #1 country hits.