List of sports desegregation firsts

This is a list of sports desegregation firsts. Within each section, the entries are in chronological order by achievement.

Major League Baseball

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National Football League

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Note: NFL.com, the official site of the league, recognizes players of the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which was renamed the National Football League (NFL) in 1921, as members of the NFL.

Players

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  • 1920: Fritz Pollard (1894–1986), one of the first two African-American players; also the first (co-)head coach (see below)
  • 1920: Bobby Marshall (1880–1958), one of the first two African-American players
  • 1927: Lou Molinet (1904–1976), first Hispanic, Cuban and Latin American player
  • 1927: Sneeze Achiu (1902–1989), first player of East Asian descent

Other

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  • 1921: Fritz Pollard: first (co-)head coach, of the Akron Pros of the APFA[1]
  • 1965: Burl Toler (1928–2009), first African-American official[2]
  • 1988: Johnny Grier (1947–2022), first African-American referee[2]

National Basketball Association

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  • 1947: Wat Misaka (1923–2019), first non-white player and first of Asian descent
  • 1950: Nat Clifton (1922–1990), Chuck Cooper (1926–1984) and Earl Lloyd (1928–2015), the first African Americans in the NBA, with Lloyd being the first to play in a game, preceding Clifton by four days and Cooper by one

National Hockey League

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Boxing

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  • 1902: Joe Gans (1874–1910), first African-American world champion boxer
  • 1907: Jack Johnson (1878–1946), first African-American world heavyweight champion

Tennis

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  • 1945, 1958: Bob Ryland (1920–2020), first African American to compete in the NCAA National Championships and first professional player
  • 1950: Althea Gibson (1927–2003), first African American to play in the United States National Championships (now the US Open) and first to win a Grand Slam title
  • 1963: Arthur Ashe (1943–1993), first African American selected to the United States Davis Cup team

Golf

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Association football

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  • 1881: Andrew Watson (1856–1921), considered the first black person to play association football at the international level
  • 1889: Arthur Wharton (1865–1930), widely considered to be the first black professional footballer in the world

Rugby union

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  • 1871: James Robertson (c. 1854–1900), Scottish rugby union player reputed to be the first black rugby union player in the world

Cycling

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  • 1897: Major Taylor (1878–1932), A member of the integrated Boston Pursuit cycling team, first African-American world champion in any sport (1899).

References

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  1. ^ "Pollard was first black head coach in NFL history". ESPN. Associated Press. 4 August 2005.
  2. ^ a b "Johnny Grier, first Black referee in NFL history, passes away at age of 74". NFL.com. 9 March 2022.