Wisconsin Badgers

Baseball

Baseball was the first inter-collegiate sport at the University of Wisconsin. It was also the first varsity sport to field Black players. Julian V. Ware and Adelbert R. Matthews became the University of Wisconsin's first Black athletes when they suited up for the Badger baseball team in the spring of 1900. Matthews played for two more seasons, and Ware was on the team until 1903. They helped Wisconsin win its first Big Ten baseball title in 1902. Ware made Big Ten history that year when his teammates selected him to be the team captain. He was the first Black man in the Big Ten to be so honored.

After Julian Ware's last season on the team in 1903, no Black student-athletes played baseball at Wisconsin until infielder Frank Burks made the varsity in 1960. After Burks, Black players appeared regularly on the team.

Basketball

For many years the schools in the Big Ten observed an unofficial "gentleman's agreement" not to play Black student-athletes in varsity basketball. The conference's color line was not broken for good until Indiana suited up All-American center Bill Garrett from 1948-50.

During the following decade, the other schools in the Big Ten added Black players to their rosters. In the 1958/59 season, Jim Biggs and Ivan Jefferson were the first Black student-athletes to represent Wisconsin on the hardwood. Jefferson, who had captained the freshman squad in 1957/58, played only one year for the Badgers, but Biggs remained on the team for three seasons.

On UW's first road trip in the winter of 1958, Biggs and Jefferson suffered the indignity of not being allowed to stay at a hotel with their teammates prior to a game against Rice University in Houston, Texas. When the squad returned to Madison, the trip's Jim Crow accommodations became a cause celebre, and, soon after, the athletic board adopted a resolution requiring that road games be played only in cities where the entire team could stay under one roof.

Black athletes quickly made their presence felt on UW basketball teams, and Black players have routinely starred for the Badgers since Biggs' and Jefferson's trailblazing season.

Boxing

Boxing began as an inter-collegiate sport in the 1930s, and the first Black student-athlete to compete for Wisconsin's powerhouse teams was Cal Vernon who fought for UW in 1946/47 and 1947/48. In 1948, Vernon, who also played football for the Badgers, won an NCAA championship in the 178-pound weight division. Several other Black student-athletes boxed for UW before the sport was discontinued in the early 1960s.

Crew

W. Cecil Bratton rowed freshman crew during the 1923/24 school year. He attended Wisconsin sporadically for several more years, but he does not appear to have gone out for any more crew teams. Pioneering Black historian Edwin Henderson claims in his book The Negro in Sports that "Cecil Bratton attempted crew at Wisconsin ... but restrictions prevented his participation in regattas." His claim of "restrictions" cannot be verified from the existing sources, but, nevertheless Bratton was one of the first Black student-athletes to row at any level of collegiate crew. No other Black students appear to have rowed crew before 1970.

Cross Country

Lloyd Cooke was the first Black student-athlete to run cross country for the Badgers. Cooke competed for three years during the 1930s and was the team's second-leading scorer in his senior year. After World War Two, many Black athletes ran for the Badger harriers.

Fencing

Fencing began as an inter-collegiate sport at Wisconsin during the 1920s. The first Black Badger to wield the epee seems to be Welford Sanders who won varsity letters on the fencing team for three years in the late 1960s. Several other Black Badgers competed for the fencing team until the sport was discontinued in the 1980s.

Football

In 1899, Julian V. Ware tried out for the varsity football team. Although he impressed in early season practices, he left the squad before appearing in a game. 19 years later, Madison-native Leo V. Butts became the first Black student-athlete to play varsity football for the Badgers, when he suited up for the 1918 squad.

Track star William Exum was the next known Black student-athlete to make the varsity football squad in 1929. After taking several years off from school, Exum also played with the 1934 football team. Unfortunately, academic troubles and a nagging ankle injury cut Exum's football career short, and it is unclear whether or not he appeared in a game for the Badgers.

Over these years, several Black student-athletes also played on the UW freshman football team. W. Cecil Bratton starred for the frosh squad in 1923, and, in 1937, Lester Brownlee was one of the leaders of the freshman team.

In the late 1940s, running backs Cal Vernon and Bob Teague were the first two Black athletes to earn regular playing time for the UW varsity. Madison's own Ed Withers, a crafty defensive halfback, was the first Black Badger to win All-American honors in 1950.

The 1952 varsity squad was the last in UW history not to feature any Black players. Throughout the rest of the 1950s, however, numerous Black student-athletes made the Badgers. Recognizing the importance of preserving equal opportunities for all its players, the athletic department in 1956 canceled a game with Louisiana State University that would have barred Black athletes.

Wisconsin continued to break barriers in the 1950s, when the Badger coaching staff tabbed Sidney Williams, a native of racially troubled Little Rock, Arkansas, as their starting quarterback in 1956. Williams was the first Black starting quarterback in modern Big Ten history.

In 1966, long-time Texas high school coach Les Ritcherson became the first Black man to join the Badger coaching staff. Ritcherson, one of the first Black assistants for a major college program, coached receivers and tight ends for four seasons.

Track & Field

Track and field was the second integrated varsity sport at the University of Wisconsin. Olympian and Big Ten champion George Poage ran track for the Badgers from 1901-1904, setting three school records during his career. Poage was the first in a long line of successful Black trackmen for Wisconsin. Bill Exum won three letters and Lloyd Cooke won two letters during the 1930s.

In 1940, hurdler Ed Smith was the second Black Badger to win a Big Ten track championship. The previous year, Smith had been at the heart of a racial controversy when the University of Missouri tried to bar him from a track meet to be held at Mizzou. The faculty and students in Madison strongly supported Smith's equal opportunity and the Badgers withdrew from the track meet rather than accede to Missouri's exclusionary policy.

Lloyd LaBeach won Big Ten titles in the long jump (indoor) and 100-yard dash (outdoor), helping Wisconsin to a third and fifth-place finish. LaBeach would also earn three All-America honors at the 1946 NCAA outdoor championships, turning in runner-up finishes in both the 100 and 200-yard dashes. The Badgers placed fifth at the outdoor national championships, the team's best national finish since 1939.

LeBeach transferred to UCLA after his freshman year. He then won two bronze medals at the 1948 Olympics, while representing Panama - the country's first two medals. LaBeach was also the first Black Badger to capture Olympic medals since George Poage had also won two bronze medals at the 1904 games.

Black student-athletes became an increasingly common sight on UW track teams after World War II. In 1956, Charlie Thomas, who specialized in the shot-put, was the first Black track and field athlete at UW to compete in the weight events.

Wrestling

Inter-collegiate wrestling has a long history at the University of Wisconsin, but the first Black student-athlete to compete on the squad appears to be Charles L. McNeal in 1958. McNeal wrestled for the Badgers only in the 1958/59 season, but many others have since following in his footsteps.