Michigan alumnus William DeHart Hubbard was the first African-American athlete to win an individual Olympic gold medal, doing so at the 1924 Paris Games in the long jump (24 feet 5 inches).
Hubbard was the 1923 and ’25 NCAA outdoor long jump champion and 1925 100-yard dash NCAA champion. Hubbard claimed seven Big Ten Conference titles: the outdoor long jump in 1923, ’24 and ’25; the outdoor 100-yard dash in 1924 and ’25; and the indoor 50-yard dash in 1923 and ’25.
Hubbard also represented the United States in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.
He is among five Wolverines inducted into the National Track Hall of Fame.
— Photo and information courtesy of the U-M Athletic Department, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Michigan Athletics
Elizabeth Lugin
I hope he lived a long happy life. A credit to his Mother, Father and his college. A champion who deserved more than ordinary circumstances in life. So we hope he had that. (I’ll check on this via google/ wickipedia.