Here at Cultured Athlete, we pride ourselves on providing practical and pragmatic advice for parents looking to get their children involved in sports. That said, every now and then, we like to delve deep into history of sports. In this instance, we will be talking about the biographies of several notable African American athletes. Nevertheless, we won’t only be discussing their big wins, gold medals, and world records. Instead, we will talk about their complete stories, where they came from and where they ended up.
Many of the most accomplished athletes in the world started their sports careers like your own children; that is to say, as kids. They played in local parks, school gyms, backyards, and community leagues, eventually taking their considerable skills to the major leagues and the world stage.
In this article, we will discuss how the journeys of a handful of influential black athletes. We discuss their humble beginnings, their careers, and how they went on to make history in their own right. The purpose of these stories is to inspire readers, young and old.
Jackie Robinson: Breaking Baseball’s Barriers
We will start with an athlete that hardly needs an introduction—though the same could be said for every person on this list, Nevertheless, Jackie Robinson is perhaps best known for being the first Black player in modern Major League Baseball. This is particularly amazing given the time period, as Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. For those who are not aware, this was a time when racism was not just the norm; it was the law in many parts of the country.
This is not to dismiss Robinsons own prodigious skill at the game of baseball, either. After all, he would not have been given the chance to become a trailblazer had he not been skilled at the sport. Jackie Robinson’s story of courage and excellence started long before he joined the majors. He grew up in Pasadena, California, where he excelled in multiple sports at a young age: baseball, basketball, football, and track to name the most prominent ones.
When he attended Pasadena Junior College, Robinson set records in long jump, while simultaneously scoring touchdowns on the football field. To say that he was an all-around sportsman, is an understatement. But most of his grit, confidence, and determination came from his mother, Mallie Robinson, who taught him to stand up against injustice and to believe in himself.
In 1947, when Robinson became the first Black player in the majors, he faced hate and racism both on and off the field. With the lessons of his mother as his guide, Jackie Robinson stayed focused on his game. He excelled, as he always did and paved the way for countless others to follow.
Serena and Venus Williams: Twin Tennis Champions
Our second entry features two, equally talented black athletes. Most readers will be familiar with the Williams sisters; Venus and Serena. In terms of modern sports, these twin tennis phenoms are household names. They are Grand Slam winners, Olympic athletes, and role models for female athletes the world over; but before all that…they were just two sisters playing tennis on the cracked public courts of Compton, California.
It was the girls’ father, Richard Williams, who first decided that his daughters would learn tennis. They had seen a match on television and he believed that he had the gumption to coach them and they had the skills to excel. Richard Williams himself has to get some of the credit for their success in that he taught himself the game by reading books and coaching guides, but that expertise and their hours of practice didn’t mean the odds weren’t stacked against them all.
In those days, the idea that two young, working class, black females would be good at tennis was unheard of. There were outliers, but for the most part, tennis was mostly seen as a sport for wealthy individuals. What those naysayers didn’t expect was that, by the time Venus was 10 years old, she was already hailed as one of the top tennis prodigies of all time. Serena followed close behind. In the end, their practice, innate athleticism, and mental toughness, allowed them to make history. These two amazing athletes changed the face of tennis for all time. They broke down racial barriers and inspired countless players and new generations.
Tiger Woods: Preschool Golf Prodigy
Nowadays, the name Tiger Woods has fallen out of favor in terms of pop culture. There are reasons for this that we don’t need to discuss here. After all, we’re here to discuss his skill and rise to athletic fame, rather than his bad behavior as a grown adult. The interesting thing about Tiger Woods’ career is that he did not just grow into one of the greatest golfers of all time—he started out that way…as a toddler. Woods’ father, Earl, introduced him to golf at the tender age of two; before his son could even read or tie his shoes!
Tiger was good almost from the first tee. He appeared on national TV at two, showing off his swing on “The Mike Douglas Show.” A year later, he was regularly shooting rounds of golf under 50 strokes on nine-hole courses. For scale, that is an incredible feat for anyone, let alone someone so young. His parents supported his skill an his dream by finding clubs for him to play at; even those that discriminated against him for his race. Despite the hate they received, the Woods family kept playing, kept practicing, and eventually, Tiger won his fist Masters Tournament at the age of 21.
This was back in 1997 and since then, Tiger has emerged as a golf legend and has managed to break racial barriers in a sport that had long excluded people of color…along with one or two SUV windows. But that’s neither here nor there.
Wilma Rudolph: World’s Fastest Woman
When Wilma Rudolph was a child living in rural Tennessee in the 1940s, things were rough. Born to a poor family and with 21 other siblings, Wilma had to contend with a lot more than just poverty. She battled polio, pneumonia, scarlet fever, and the toll of all those maladies left her with a paralyzed, braced leg. When all was said and done, doctors told her that she might never walk again. But Wilma was more determined than most. She pushed herself, worked hard in physical therapy, and got out of that brace. By the time she was 12 years old, she no longer needed it at all. Soon after that, she joined her school’s basketball team.
Wilma’s basketball coach knew talent when he saw it. One of the things he noticed was that she had incredible speed on the court. Because of that, he encouraged her to try track and field. This turned out to be good advice and by the time she was a high school student, she was one of the fastest runners in the country. She competed in her first Olympics at 16 years old, winning a bronze medal in the 4×100 relay.
Four years later, Wilma Rudolph competed in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, where she took home three gold medals. This was amazing for several reasons, least among them being that she was the first American woman to achieve such a feat in a single Games. Over the years, Wilma has became a global symbol of perseverance. She showed the world and proved to herself that childhood traumas and physical obstacles don’t have to define a person’s future success.
Muhammad Ali: The Greatest
Once upon a time, Muhammad Ali was just a 12-year-old kid named Cassius Clay. He grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and his epic boxing journey began, unbelievable, when someone stole his bike. One would expect the boy to be angry and upset about the theft, and when he told a police officer named Joe Martin that he wanted to “whup” the thief, officer Martin had an interesting idea. You see, Martin happened to be a boxing coach and his suggestion was that Clay learned how to box before seeking out the bike thief. Cassius Clay agreed and history was made. After two years practicing at a local gym, Clay started amateur boxing. What’s more incredible is that he was winning those amateur fights at the tender age of 14.
One win drove him to train even harder. He trained tirelessly, developing the footwork, speed, and utilizing his natural charisma to rise to the stardom he would find a few short years later. He won an Olympic gold medal at age 18, at the same 1960 Olympics where Wilma Rudolph made history. He changed his name to Muhammed Ali and eventually became a three-time heavyweight champion. Moreover, he used his fame and that same innate charisma to speak out about civil rights and injustice.
Cultured Athlete Says…
As you can see, the talented athletes we discussed above weren’t just good players, in many cases, they not only changed the game, they changed the world with their actions. Their stories are a lesson to children and athletes everywhere. They are proof positive that, no matter where you come from, sports has the potential to open doors and break down barriers. Indeed, with some practice, parental support, a bit of talent, and a whole lot of determination, any child of today has the capacity to become tomorrow’s next historic sports legend!
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