William DeHart Hubbard

William DeHart Hubbard (born in Cincinnati, Ohio on November 25, 1903 - June 23, 1976) was a 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 Paris Summer games.

He subsequently set a long jump world record of convert|25|ft|10+3/4|in|2|m|lk=on at Chicago in June 1925 and equaled the world record of 9.6 seconds for the 100-yard dash at city-state|Cincinnati|Ohio a year later.

He attended and graduated from Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati, graduated with honors from the University of Michigan where he was a three-time National Collegiate Athletic Association champion (1923 & 1925 outdoor long jump, 1925 100-yard dash) and seven-time Big Ten Conference champion in track and field (1923 & 1925 indoor 50-yard dash, 1923, 1924, & 1925 outdoor long jump, 1924 & 1925 outdoor 100-yard dash). His 1925 outdoor long jump of convert|25|ft|10+1/2|in|2|m stood as the Michigan Wolverines team record until 1980, and it still stands second. [cite web|url=http://www.mgoblue.com/document_file/tfm-records-2006.pdf|title=The Record Book (through the 2006 season)|publisher=MGoBlue.com|accessdate=2008-01-08] [cite book|title=Two Thousand Eight Michigan Men's Track & Field|editor=Hergott, Jeremiah|publisher=Frye Printing Compamy|year=2008] His 1925 jump of convert|25|ft|3+1/2|in|2|m|lk=on stood as a Big Ten Championships record until Jesse Owens broke it on with what is now the current record of convert|26|ft|8+1/4|in|2|m|lk=on in 1935.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|accessdate=2007-11-12|date=2007|publisher=Big Ten Conference, Inc.]

He later served as a race relations adviser for the Federal Housing Authority. He died in Cleveland in 1976. Hubbard was posthumously inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1979; he was part of the second class inducted into the Hall of Honor. [cite web|url=http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/misc/hallhon.htm|title=Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor|accessdate=2007-12-11|publisher=The Regents of the University of Michigan ]

Notes

ee also

*List of African American firsts
* University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor

References

* [http://library.cincymuseum.org/aag/bio/hubbard.html William DeHart Hubbard] at the Cincinnati Historical Society Library.