George Jewett

George H. Jewett II (1870-1908) was an American athlete who became the first African American football player at both the University of Michigan and Northwestern University, and in the Big Ten Conference. He played for the Michigan Wolverines as a fullback, halfback, and field goal kicker in 1890 and 1892 and was considered one of Michigan's greatest players in the pre-Fielding H. Yost era.

Early years

Jewett grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the son of a successful competition, and was fluent in German, Italian and French.cite web|title=Ann Arbor Pioneer Athletics: George Henry Jewett|publisher=Ann Arbor Pioneer High School|url=http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/pioneer.ath_records/george_jewett]

College football

University of Michigan

Jewett attended the University of Michigan from 1890 to 1893, where he became the first African-American in the school's history to letter in football.cite news|title=Negro Track Star To Seek Football Award|publisher=The News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, Mich.)|date=1932-10-27] cite news|title=Ward Second Negro To Win Second ‘M’|publisher=The Bessemer Herald|date=1933-11-17] In 1890, Jewett was the starting fullback for the Michigan team that went 4-1 and outscored opponents 129-36. [cite web|title=University of Michigan 1890 Football Team|url=http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fbteam/1890fbt.htm|publisher=The Regents of the University of Michigan] In 1892, Jewett was the starting halfback on a Michigan team that beat Amos Alonzo Stagg’s University of Chicago team, went 7-5 and scored 298 points.cite web|title=University of Michigan 1892 Football Team|url=http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fbteam/1892fbt.htm|publisher=The Regents of the University of Michigan] At Michigan, he was the leading rusher, scorer and kicker. Jewett was regarded as “one of the greatest stars” in Michigan football in the pre-Fielding H. Yost era. In addition to playing as fullback and halfback, Jewett was also the team's field goal kicker and has been called "the Afro-American phenomenon of the University of Michigan.” [cite web|title=African-Americans in the Sports Arena|url=http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/aaitsa.htm#football|publisher=Long Island University: B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library] Oberlin College coach John Heisman described Jewett as a “superior athlete,” and University of Chicago coach Amos Alonzo Stagg referred to him as “a very tough opponent.”

Oberlin College game against John Heisman

In 1892, Jewett played a central role in a memorable game against an Oberlin College team coached by John Heisman. Michigan met Oberlin at Ann Arbor in November 1892. Jewett scored four touchdowns in the game, including an unopposed 45-yard touchdown run after Oberlin thought time had been called.cite book|author=Brandt, Nat|title=When Oberlin Was King of the Gridiron: The Heisman Years, pp. 81-84|publisher=Kent State University Press|date=2001|isbn=0873386841|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=_18He2N-3gcC&pg=PA76&dq=isbn:0873386841&sig=C6zhGM5sACC33E8dv1GrceJtHM8] After Oberlin went ahead, 12-6, Jewett scored his second touchdown on a run from 25 yards out, but his kick failed, so the Wolverines trailed 12-10. Oberlin scored again to make it 18-10. A few minutes later, Jewett ran to “within a foot of the goal line,” and the umpire (a former Michigan player) ruled that Jewett had scored a touchdown. Jewett completed the kick after touchdown and the score was 18-16. Jewett also made a touchdown-saving tackle in the Oberlin game, catching up with Charles Savage from behind at the five yard line after a 90 yard run. After Oberlin scored to go ahead 24-22, the referee (an Oberlin player acting as referee in the second half) announced that time had run out and called the game. The umpire (a Michigan man) ruled that four minutes remained on the game clock owing to timeouts that Oberlin’s timekeeper had not recorded. As the Oberlin team left the field claiming victory, Michigan lined up, snapped the ball, and Jewett walked the ball across the goal line for Michigan's fifth touchdown.cite web|author=Geoffrey Blodgett|title=The Day Oberlin Beat Michigan, Or Did We? Records at Michigan claim the game for the Wolverines, but Oberlin declares the win as their own|publisher=Oberlin Alumni Magazine|date=Winter 1999|url=http://www.oberlin.edu/alummag/oamcurrent/oam_winter99/atissue.html] cite book|author=Wiley Lee Umphlett|title=Creating the Big Game: John W. Heisman and the Invention of American Football|publisher=Greenwood Publishing|date=1992|isbn=0313284040] The next day, the "Michigan Daily" reported: "Oberlin compromised herself by leaving the field before time was up. . . . Referee Ensworth, an Oberlin substitute, lost all tab of time, and called the game at 14 minutes to 5, while the captain of each team had agreed to play until 10 minutes of that hour." Both schools still record the game as a victory.

Northwestern University

Jewett studied medicine at Michigan, but reportedly left abruptly after a run-in with the dean of medicine. He transferred to Northwestern University in 1893 where he received his medical degree and also became the first African-American to play for the Northwestern Wildcats football team.

Jewett was not only the first African-American football player at both Michigan and Northwestern, he was also the first African-American athlete to letter in football for any of the schools that formed the Big Ten Conference. After breaking the barrier at Michigan in 1890, Jewett was followed in the Big Ten programs by Fred Patterson at Ohio State University, Preston Eagleson at Indiana University, and then Jewett again at Northwestern.cite web|author=John Matthew Smith|title="Breaking the Plane": Integration and Black Protest in Michigan State University Football during the 1960s|publisher=Michigan Historical Review|url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/mihr/33.2/smith.html|date=Fall 2007] Jewett missed being the first African-American in college football by one year. In 1889, William Henry Lewis and William Tecumseh Sherman Jackson played for Amherst and Harvard. [cite web|title=American college football is rich with black history. . .|url=http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/466/American_college_football_is_rich_with_Black_history|publisher=The African American Registry] [cite web|title=African-Americans in the Sports Arena|url=http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/aaitsa.htm#football|publisher=Long Island University: B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library]

Eight years before Jewett's debut for the Michigan football team, Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first African-American to letter for Michigan, doing so on the baseball team.

Later years and family

Jewett went on to practice medicine in the Chicago area. Jewett returned to Ann Arbor in 1899, where he opened a business called The Valet, referred to in some sources as a dry cleaning shop and in others as a cleaning and pressing shop. Jewett's shop was located on State Street, between the [http://clague.aaps.k12.mi.us/class/gaynor/aaum/church.jpgCongregational Church] and [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21532/21532-h/images/img041.jpgNewberry Hall] ; Jewett delivered finished work by horse and carriage. Jewett died suddenly in 1908 at the age of 38, leaving his wife, Lillian, and two sons, George H. Hewitt III (age 6) and Richard (8 days old). Richard was the father of Coleman Jewett, well known Ann Arbor athlete, educator and craftsman, and grandfather of Michael Jewett, the host of 89.1 Jazz heard on weekday afternoons on WEMU radio. [cite web|title=Profile of Michael Jewett|url=http://www.wemu.org/hosts.php?id=9|publisher=WEMU] Jewett is buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Ann Arbor. [cite news|author=Miller, Heather|title=A2 cemetery has spooky history|publisher=The Michigan Daily|date=1996-10-31|url=http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1996/oct/10-31-96/news/news4.html] He was inducted into the Pioneer High School Hall of Fame in March 2004. [cite web|title=PTSO Newsletter|url=http://pioneer.aaps.k12.mi.us/ptso/jan04.html|publisher=Ann Arbor Pioneer High School|date=January 2004]

Notes

Further reading

*Arthur Ashe, Jr., A Hard Road to Glory—Football: The African American Athlete in Football (New York: Amistad Press, 1993)), ISBN: 9781567430387, 71–72.
*Charles H. Martin, "The Color Line in Midwestern College Sports, 1890–1960," Indiana Magazine of History 48 (June 2002), pp. 88–92.
*John Behee, "Hail to the Victors! Black Athletes at the University of Michigan," The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 60, No. 4 (Oct., 1975), pp. 552-556
*John R. Behee, "Hail to the Victors," (J & J Books, Incorporated: March 1974), ISBN-13: 9780914464013, 140pp.