Today In Black History
Eddie Tolan, two-time Olympic sprinter and 1st Black "fastest man alive"
Issue #595 Today In Black History, Wednesday, May 8, 2024
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Today’s Black History WOW!
Thomas Edward "Eddie" Tolan, nicknamed the "Midnight Express", was born on September 29, 1908 in Denver, Colorado.
He set world records in the 100-yard dash and 200-meter event and Olympic records in the 100-meter and 200-meter events. He was the first non-white American to receive the title of the "world's fastest human" after winning gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters events at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Eddie Tolan was known for chewing gum and for taping his glasses to his head as he ran.
In March 1935, Tolan became the first man to win both the amateur and professional world sprint championships. In his full career as a sprinter, Tolan won 300 races and lost only 7.
Tolan’s family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he attended Cass Technical High School (my alma mater) and excelled in both track and football, with football being his favorite. While at the University of Michigan, he made history at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics when he became the first African American to win two gold medals in the 100m and 200m sprints.
Tolan wanted to play football at the University of Michigan, but the coach was outvoted when he was taken off the team. No African American had played football at Michigan since the late 1800s.
After Tolan returned to Detroit after the 1932 Olympics, Mayor Frank Murphy appointed a reception committee to meet Tolan at the train station, and Michigan Governor Wilber M. Brucker declared September 6, 1932, as "Eddie Tolan Day" throughout the state.
Tolan’s achievements happened during the Great Depression, and his parents had both been unemployed for many months. It was not until January 1933 that Tolan was able to get a low-paying job as a filing clerk in a county office. Tolan's lifetime dream of becoming a physician was waning, as he had been "unable to make enough to support himself and his parents.”
Tolan worked at a variety of jobs in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1956, Tolan became a school teacher in physical and health education. He taught at the Irving Elementary School on Detroit's West Side for several years and never married.
In 1965, Tolan's kidneys failed, and he was required to undergo weekly dialysis treatments for the rest of his life. On January 31, 1967, Tolan died from heart failure at age 58 in Detroit while undergoing one of his weekly treatments.
In 1958, Tolan, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1980.
Eddie Tolan was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1982.
Today In Black History
In 1858, abolitionist John Brown convened a secret antislavery convention in Chatham, Ontario, Canada.
In 1861, Richmond, Virginia was named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
In 1888, Black inventor M.A. Cherry received a patent for the Velocipede (an early bicycle).
In 1925, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first African-American official labor union, was organized by A. Philip Randolph.
In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the federal National Guard removed from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
In 1967, boxing champion Muhammad Ali was indicted for refusing to be drafted into the U.S. Army.
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