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William DeHart Hubbard
(November 25, 1903 – June 23, 1976)
ΩΨΦ
William DeHart Hubbard was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He 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 25 feet 10 3⁄4 inches (7.89 m) at Chicago in June 1925 and equaled the world
record of 9.6 seconds for the 100-yard dash at Cincinnati, Ohio a year later. He attended and graduated from Walnut Hills High
School in Cincinnati, graduated with honors from the University of Michigan in 1927 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 25 feet 10 1⁄2 inches (7.89 m) stood as the Michigan Wolverines
team record until 1980, and it still stands second. His 1925 jump of 25 feet 3 1⁄2 inches (7.71 m) stood as a Big Ten
Championships record until Jesse Owens broke it on with what is now the current record of 26 feet 8 1⁄4 inches (8.13 m) in
1935. After graduation, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio where he served as a race relations adviser for the Federal Housing
Authority. He retired in 1969. Hubbard was posthumously inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1979. In
addition to participating in track and field events, Hubbard also was an avid bowler. He served as the president of the National
Bowling Association during the 1950s. He also founded the Cincinnati Tigers, a professional baseball team, which played in
the Negro American League. In 1957, Hubbard was elected to the National Track Hall of Fame.