View source for DeHart Hubbard

{{Short description|American long jumper}}
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{{MedalTableTop|DeHart Hubbard 1924.jpg|200px|Hubbard in 1924}}
{{MedalSport|Men's [[Athletics at the Summer Olympics|athletics]]}}
{{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }}
{{MedalOlympics}}
{{MedalGold|[[1924 Summer Olympics|1924 Paris]]|[[Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump|Long jump]]}}
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'''William DeHart Hubbard''' (November 25, 1903 – June 23, 1976) was a [[Track and field|track and field athlete]] who was the first [[African American]] to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event: the running [[long jump]] at the [[1924 Summer Olympics|1924 Paris Summer games]].<ref name=USATF>{{cite web |url=https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/dehart-hubbard |title=DeHart Hubbard |publisher=[[USA Track & Field]] |access-date=July 5, 2024}}</ref><ref name=AP>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/25/archives/de-hart-hubbard-72-is-dead-won-olympic-broad-jump-title.html |title=De Hart Hubbard, 72, Is Dead.; Won Olympic Broad Jump Title |date=June 25, 1976 |agency=[[Associated Press]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name=Guardian>{{cite news |last=Kagavi |first=Joshua |title=How the first Black individual Olympic champion came off crutches to win gold |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/may/30/how-the-first-black-individual-olympic-champion-came-off-crutches-to-win-gold |date=May 30, 2024 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78579 |title=DeHart Hubbard |work=Olympedia |access-date=October 1, 2021}}</ref> He also competed in the 1924 Olympics as a [[triple jump]]er. The next year, he set a world record in the long jump, with a leap of {{convert|25|ft|10+7/8|in|m|2}}<ref name=Guardian/><ref name=NYT2>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/06/14/archives/hubbard-smashes-broad-jump-mark-leaps-25-feet-10-78-inches-for-new.html |title=Hubbard Smashes Broad Jump Mark; Leaps 25 Feet 10 7/8 Inches for New World Figures in National Collegiate Games. Also Sets Meet Record Michigan Star Wins '100' in 0:098-10 -- Four Other Marks Fall at Chicago. |date=June 14, 1925 |newspaper=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 5, 2024}}</ref> at [[Chicago]] in June 1925, and equaled the world record of 9.6&nbsp;seconds for the [[100-yard dash]] at [[Cincinnati, Ohio]], a year later.

==High school and university==
Hubbard excelled both athletically and academically at [[Walnut Hills High School]] in Cincinnati.<ref name=USATF/> Businessman Lon Barringer, a [[University of Michigan]] alumnus, learned of both achievements from newspaper articles.<ref name=UM>{{cite web |url=https://mgoblue.com/news/2010/2/1/Celebrating_Black_History_Month_William_DeHart_Hubbard |title=Celebrating Black History Month: William DeHart Hubbard |first=John |last=Behee |date=February 1, 2010 |publisher=[[University of Michigan Athletics]] |accessdate=July 6, 2024}}</ref> Impressed, he checked with University of Michigan Director of Athletics [[Fielding H. Yost]], who had refused to allow African Americans to play football; Yost gave his enthusiastic approval to recruiting Hubbard.<ref name=UM/> Barringer arranged an unusual plan to get Hubbard a scholarship to the school. ''[[The Cincinnati Enquirer]]'' was running a subscription contest; the ten high school students who signed up the most subscribers for the newspaper would each receive a $3000 scholarship.<ref name=UM/> He promised Hubbard he would make every effort to help him win the contest.<ref name=UM/> Barringer wrote to Michigan alumni across the country; [[Branch Rickey]], who later broke the Major League Baseball [[Baseball color line|color barrier]] by signing [[Jackie Robinson]], was among the many who subscribed.<ref name=UM/> Hubbard was one of the scholarship winners, and enrolled at Michigan in September 1921.<ref name=UM/>

Hubbard remembered he was the only African American on the school's track team; he was also the first African American varsity track [[Letter (sports)|letterman]] at the university.<ref name=UM/> In his college career, Hubbard was a three-time [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA) champion (1923 and 1925 outdoor long jump, 1925 100-yard dash),<ref name=USATF/> eight-time [[Amateur Athletic Union]] (AAU) champion (1922 and 1923 triple jump, 1922–1927 long jump)<ref name=USATF/> and seven-time [[Big Ten Conference]] champion in track and field (1923 and 1925 indoor 50-yard dash, 1923, 1924, and 1925 outdoor long jump, 1924 and 1925 outdoor 100-yard dash).  His 1925 outdoor long jump of {{convert|25|ft|10+1/2|in|m|2}} stood as the [[Michigan Wolverines]] team record until 1980, and is still second.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mgoblue.com/document_file/tfm-records-2006.pdf |title=The Record Book (through the 2006 season) |publisher=MGoBlue.com |access-date=2008-01-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229173112/http://www.mgoblue.com/document_file/tfm-records-2006.pdf |archive-date=2008-02-29 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Two Thousand Eight Michigan Men's Track & Field|editor=Hergott, Jeremiah |publisher=Frye Printing |year=2008}}</ref>  His 1925 jump of {{convert|25|ft|3+1/2|in|m|2}} stood as a Big Ten Championships record until [[Jesse Owens]] broke it in 1935 with what is now the current record of {{convert|26|ft|8+1/4|in|m|2}}.<ref name=BigTenrecordbook>{{cite web|url=http://bigten.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/big10/genrel/auto_pdf/0708records-men-track|title=Big Ten Conference Records Book 2007-08: Men's Track and Field|access-date=2007-11-12|year=2007|publisher=Big Ten Conference, Inc.|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121208140024/http://bigten.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/big10/genrel/auto_pdf/0708records-men-track|archive-date=2012-12-08|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1925, Hubbard broke the long jump world record with a leap of {{convert|25|ft|10+7/8|in|m|2}} at the NCAA championships.<ref name=NYT2/> In 1927, he bettered that with a jump of {{convert|26|ft|2+1/4|in|m|2}} &mdash; which would have been the first ever over {{convert|26|ft|m|2}} &mdash; but meet officials disallowed it, claiming that the take-off board was an inch higher than the surface of the landing pit.<ref name=IOC>{{cite web |url=https://olympics.com/en/athletes/william-de-hart-hubbard |title=William DeHart Hubbard |publisher=[[International Olympic Committee]] |access-date=July 6, 2024}}</ref> He also competed in the hurdles at the 1926 AAU championships.<ref name=AP/> He graduated with honors in 1927.

==1924 Olympic Games in Paris==
Hubbard qualified for the Olympics in the broad jump and the [[triple jump]].<ref name=Guardian/> Camille Paddeu, a curator at the Musee municipal d'Art et d'Histoire in [[Colombes]], the Paris suburb where the main stadium was located, confirmed Hubbard was not permitted to compete in some other events.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/black-american-athlete-won-gold-150041307.html |title=100 years ago, William DeHart Hubbard became the first Black athlete to win individual Olympic gold |first1=Keir |last1=Simmons |first2=Corky |last2=Siemaszko |date=July 5, 2024 |publisher=[[Yahoo! Sports]] |access-date=July 6, 2024}}</ref>) The United States Olympic team sailed from [[Hoboken, New Jersey]], for France aboard the liner [[USS America (ID-3006)|SS ''America'']].<ref name=Guardian/> Before the ship left, he wrote in a letter to his mother, "I'm going to do my best to be the FIRST COLORED OLYMPIC CHAMPION."<ref name=Guardian/> The team was housed in poor conditions at a chateau in [[Rocquencourt, Yvelines|Rocquencourt]].<ref name=Guardian/> 

The night before he was to compete in the broad jump, Hubbard learned that fellow American Olympian [[Robert LeGendre]] (who had failed to qualify in the long jump, but did qualify in the [[pentathlon]]) had broken the long jump world record with a leap of {{convert|25|ft|6|in|m|2}} in the pentathlon.<ref name=Guardian/> Hubbard was disturbed by the news, as surpassing the world record was his obsession.<ref name=Guardian/> The competition took place on July 8. In his first attempt in the qualifying round, he not only fouled, he injured his right heel.<ref name=Guardian/> On his second jump, he fell back upon landing, costing him over a foot of distance according to Hubbard.<ref name=Guardian/> Due to his injury, he was unable to make any more attempts, but that was enough to take him into the final. In the final, he was unable to jump off his heel, instead having to do so off his toes, but on his final attempt he leaped {{convert|24|ft|6|in|m|2}}, below his standards but good enough to win him the gold medal.<ref name=Guardian/> Hubbard became the first African American to win an individual gold. ([[John Taylor (relay runner)|John Taylor]] ran for the winning 1600-meter relay team in the [[1908 Summer Olympics]] in London.)

Hubbard did not qualify for the final of the triple jump, which took place four days later on July 12.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/57490 |title=Triple Jump, Men |publisher=Olympedia |accessdate=July 8, 2024}}</ref>

==1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam==
Hubbard qualified in the broad jump, but was again injured and placed 11th.<ref name=IOC/>

==Post-athletic career==
In 1934, DeHart Hubbard founded the [[Cincinnati Tigers]] Negro League baseball club as members of the Indiana-Ohio League and Negro Southern League through 1936. In 1937, the Tigers joined the new Negro American League as charter members for one year, which elevated the club to major league status. In its lone season as a major league team, the Tigers finished the season second in the league's overall standings.

After college graduation, he continued to work as the supervisor of the Department of Colored Work for the Cincinnati Public Recreation Commission until 1941. He then became the manager of Valley Homes, a public housing project in Cincinnati. In 1942 he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and became a race relations adviser for the Federal Housing Authority (FHA). He retired from the FHA in 1969.

In 1956-1958, he was president of the National Bowling Association.<ref name=USATF/>

He died in [[Cleveland]] in 1976.

==Honors==
In 1979, Hubbard was posthumously inducted into both the [[National Track and Field Hall of Fame]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usatf.org/resources/national-track-field-hall-of-fame/hall-of-fame-members |title=Hall of Fame Members |publisher=USA Track & Field |accessdate=July 6, 2024}}</ref> and the [[University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor]], the latter as part of the second class inducted.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/misc/hallhon.htm|title=Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor|access-date=2007-12-11|publisher=The Regents of the University of Michigan }}</ref> 

He was a member of the [[Omega Psi Phi]] fraternity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oppf.org/famous.asp |title=Famous Omega Men |publisher=Omega Psi Phi Fraternity |access-date=2009-04-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080202063612/http://www.oppf.org/famous.asp |archive-date=2008-02-02 }}</ref> In 2010, the Brothers of Omega Psi Phi, Incorporated, PHI Chapter established a scholarship fund honoring William DeHart Hubbard; the fund is endowed through the University of Michigan and donations can be forwarded to the University of Michigan, The William DeHart Hubbard Scholarship Fund.

==See also==
* [[Timeline of African-American firsts]]
* [[George Poage]], first African American to win an Olympic medal, two bronzes, in the 200-yard and 400-yard hurdles, in 1904 in St. Louis

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
* [http://library.cincymuseum.org/aag/bio/hubbard.html William DeHart Hubbard] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216155404/http://library.cincymuseum.org/aag/bio/hubbard.html |date=February 16, 2020 }} at the Cincinnati Historical Society Library.
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/puzzlemaster/4832643964/in/photostream/ 1924 passport photo of William DeHart Hubbard]
* {{USATF Hall of Fame}}
* {{Olympics.com}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, Dehart}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American sportsmen]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]
[[Category:African-American track and field athletes]]
[[Category:American male long jumpers]]
[[Category:American male sprinters]]
[[Category:American male triple jumpers]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Michigan Wolverines men's track and field athletes]]
[[Category:NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners]]
[[Category:Negro league baseball executives]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field]]
[[Category:Track and field athletes from Cincinnati]]
[[Category:World record setters in athletics (track and field)]]
[[Category:Walnut Hills High School alumni]]