University of Michigan’s first African American student
Samuel Codes Watson was the first African American student admitted to the University of Michigan. Born in South Carolina in 1832, Watson was mixed race and passed for white while attending Michigan. In 1857, he became one of the first African Americans to receive an M.D. from Cleveland Medical College. He later became Detroit’s first elected African American city official.
01/01/1853
University of Michigan’s first female African American student
Mary Henrietta Graham was the first African American woman admitted to the University of Michigan.
01/01/1876
Moses “Fleetwood” Walker becomes first African American baseball player at the University of Michigan
Walker became a businessman, inventor, newspaper editor, and author after leaving Michigan in 1883 to join a professional baseball team in Toledo before graduating. He became the first African American major leaguer when that Toledo team joined the American Association.
01/01/1882
George Jewett becomes first African American football player in the Big Ten
Jewett 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. 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 Yost era. In addition to playing fullback and halfback, Jewett was also the team’s placekicker and has been called “the Afro-American phenomenon of the University of Michigan.”
01/01/1890
Fritz Pollard breaks color barrier in professional football. Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Bill Willis and Marion Motley reintegrate the NFL.
Pollard, a Black man, begins his professional football career in 1919, joining the Akron Pros. Two years later in 1921, he becomes the first Black coach in NFL history after being named co-coach of the team. In 1923, Pollard becomes the first Black quarterback in the league’s history as a member of the Hammond Pros. After Pollard leaves the game, NFL owners refuse to sign Black players until 1946, when the Los Angeles Coliseum threatens not to host Los Angeles Rams home games unless the team signs an African American player. It was then that the Rams sign UCLA standouts Washington and Strode. Willis and Motley, two future Hall of Famers, would join the Cleveland Browns later that year. In 2005, Pollard is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
09/19/1919
First African American to win an individual gold medal in the Olympics
In 1924, William DeHart Hubbard became the first African American to win an individual Olympic gold medal. During his senior year at Michigan (1925) Hubbard set the world record in the long jump. While the football coach, Fielding Yost, had barred African American players from football since 1901, in 1921, then Athletic Director Yost allowed one African American to join the track team. Hubbard was the only African American track team member during his four years at U-M.
01/01/1924
Walter Achiu becomes first Asian to play in the NFL
Achiu makes it to the NFL in 1927, becoming the first known person of East Asian heritage to play in an NFL game. While he plays sparingly for the Dayton Triangles, Achiu is considered one of the greatest athletes to come through Dayton, where he is in the Athletic Hall of Fame at Dayton University. The running back becomes an All-American honorable mention at the school, and the local newspaper calls him one of the most popular players on the team. At Dayton, he also stars in baseball, track and wrestling, and he goes onto a professional wrestling career that goes until the 1950s.
09/19/1927
First Samoan athlete plays in the NFL
As an offensive lineman for Washington, Al Lolotai is the first Samoan to play in the NFL.
01/01/1945
Jackie Robinson becomes the first Black player in Major League Baseball
“I am not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being,” says Robinson, who breaks the MLB color barrier when he takes the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers after executive Branch Rickey signs him to a historic contract. Robinson wins the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, and two years he later he’s honored as the league’s Most Valuable Player. Robinson helps the Dodgers win six National League pennants and the 1955 World Series title. In 1962, Robinson becomes a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
04/15/1947
Wataru “Wat” Misaka becomes first non-white and first player of Asian descent to play professional basketball
Selected by the Knicks in the 1947 Basketball Association of America Draft, Misaka became both the first non-white player and first player of Asian descent to play in this precursor league that would become the National Basketball Association.
11/13/1947
Larry Kwong breaks hockey color barrier
Kwong is called up from the New York Rangers farm team and becomes the first person of color to play in the NHL. When he is hired as player-coach of Switzerland’s HC Ambrì-Piotta later in his life, he becomes the first person of Chinese descent to coach a professional hockey team.
03/13/1948
Satchel Paige becomes first Negro League pitcher in Major League Baseball.
On his 42nd birthday, following an amazing career in the Negro Leagues, Satchel Paige made Major League Baseball (MLB) history becoming both the first Negro League pitcher in the American League and the oldest player to debut in the Major Leagues. Paige is one of baseball’s most prolific pitchers; having found success in both the Negro Leagues and MLB, he was also the first African-American pitcher inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
07/09/1948
Victoria Manalo Draves becomes first Asian American Olympic Champion
Growing up in San Francisco as the daughter of a Filipino father and English mother, an early coach makes Manalo Draves use her mother’s maiden name in swim and dive competitions as at that time interracial marriages are looked down upon. She also faces a regular indignity when using public pools as the water would be drained the day after she uses it each time. On August 3, 1948, Manalo Draves becomes the first Asian American Olympic Champion, placing first in the women’s three-meter springboard at the 1948 London Summer Olympics. After the Olympics, Manolo Draves and her husband open their own diving school. She is inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1969.
08/03/1948
First Asian American Man wins Olympic gold medal
Sammy Lee becomes the first Asian American man to earn an Olympic gold medal, winning in platform diving during the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
08/05/1948
University of Michigan’s first non-white Senior Class President
Orval Wardell Johnson was the first non-white student to be elected as Senior Class President of the College of Literature, Science, and Art. His opponent was Pete R. Elliott, a popular white football player. The final voting margin was 2 to 1. While at U-M, Johnson enrolled in Latin-American studies because he believed that “colored college students should prepare themselves to invade new fields.”
01/01/1949
Charlie Sifford plays in his first PGA Tour
Charlie Sifford was the first African American to compete in PGA-sanctioned events following the removal of the PGA’s “Caucasian-only” membership clause in 1961. Sifford went on to win PGA Tour events in 1967 and 1969 as well as the 1975 PGA Seniors’ Championship and was the first African American to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. He also was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014.
01/01/1957
Althea Gibson wins Wimbledon
Althea Gibson is the first African American woman to win both the U.S. Nationals and Wimbledon titles in 1957 and she defended both titles in 1958. Throughout her career, Gibson wins a combined 11 Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles and is inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971. In 1963, Gibson becomes the first Black golfer in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and played 171 events between 1963 and 1977.
07/06/1957
Willie O’Ree Breaks the color barrier in the NHL
In 1958, the Boston Bruins call up O’Ree for two games, making him the first Black player in NHL history. Persevering through racism and an injury that left him nearly blind in his right eye, O’Ree begins his NHL career with a win over the Montreal Canadiens. Pro hockey is slow to recognize O’Ree’s accomplishments, but that does not stop him from taking a hands-on role in promoting diversity in the sport. Devoting his life to make the sport more diverse and inclusive, in 1998 O’Ree becomes the director of youth development for the NHL/USA Hockey Diversity Task Force. It isn’t until 2018 that he is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and 2021 that the Bruins retire his number. The NHL would also institute the annual Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award in his honor, given to an individual working to positively impact his or her community, culture or society through hockey.
01/18/1958
Wilma Rudolph makes history at the 1960 Olympic Games
After making history as the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics, Rudolph refuses to attend any segregated celebratory events, making her homecoming parade the first integrated event in her hometown of Clarksville, Tenn. In 1963, Rudolph joins other Clarksville citizens in an attempt to integrate a local Shoney’s restaurant. Despite being a hometown and national hero, she’s denied entry because she is Black.
01/01/1960
Cassius Clay wins first heavyweight title
Cassius Clay won his first heavyweight title after defeating Sonny Liston. After the fight Clay announced that he had converted and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Ali would later become the first fighter to win the world heavyweight championship on three separate occasions; successfully defending his title 19 times and cementing his place in history as “The Greatest.”
02/25/1964
Billy Mills, member of the Sioux tribe, becomes the only American man to win gold in the Olympic 10,000m
Mills, who is also known as Tamakoce Te’Hila and is a member of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) tribe, scores a huge upset, winning gold in the 10,000-meter race at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. His journey to his win almost tragically ends before it begins, as the pain that racism directed toward Mills causes him to consider suicide. He uses the goal of winning the race to help him push through, however, and now Mills advocates for Native American youth through Running Strong for American Indian Youth, which he helps start and becomes the spokesperson for in 1986. Mills also fights for Native American civil and voting rights, spending the vast majority of his time traveling for that cause, and in 2013 he is awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, he second-highest U.S. civilian award. More than 50 years since his historic upset, Mills is still the only American to win the Olympic 10,000 meter.
10/14/1964
Kathrine Switzer runs the Boston Marathon
In 1967, Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as a numbered entrant. During her run, race official Jock Semple attempted to physically pull her from the event, but she was protected by her boyfriend and fellow runner, Thomas Miller, allowing her to finish the race. Women were not officially permitted to run the Boston Marathon until 1972. Switzer would later say: “I knew if I quit, nobody would ever believe that women had the capability to run 26-plus miles. If I quit, everybody would say it was a publicity stunt. If I quit, it would set women’s sports back, way back, instead of forward. If I quit, I’d never run Boston. If I quit, Jock Semple and all those like him would win.”
04/19/1967
Arthur Ashe Wins the US Open
Arthur Ashe becomes the first African American to win the U.S Open men’s singles champion. In 1975 he would also become the first African American male to win Wimbledon.
09/09/1968
Marlin Briscoe becomes the first African-American Quarterback in modern-era football
Marlin Briscoe becomes the first African-American Quarterback in modern-era football.
10/06/1968
University of Michigan’s Lesbian-Gay Male Programs Office Founded
Jim Toy, the son of a Chinese father and Scottish-Irish mother, achieved distinction as a longtime advocate for LGBTQ persons. In 1971, he co-founded the University’s Lesbian-Gay Male Programs Office, now known as the Spectrum Center. This achievement was monumental in that it was officially the first staff office for LGTBQ students in a United States institution of higher learning.
09/01/1971
Frank Robinson Becomes first African-American manager in MLB
Frank Robinson debuts as first African-American manager in major leagues for the Cleveland Indians.
04/18/1975
Nancy Lopez overcomes discrimination to become LPGA legend
The Mexican American Lopez is one of the most decorated golfers in LPGA history, and in June 1978 — her first year on the tour — she wins the first of three major golf championships. Over a career spanning four decades, Lopez totals 48 LPGA Tour wins and was twice named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year before induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1987. In an ESPN biography during the early 2000s, Lopez’s ex-husband shares the pain Lopez felt being unable to play on certain golf courses because of her Mexican heritage. Lopez adds looking back that she “thought we weren’t members of the country club because we couldn’t afford it. Now I think it was discrimination.”
06/11/1978
First Polynesian in the College Football Hall of Fame
“Squirmin” Herman Wedemeyer, a Hawaiian, is inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
01/01/1979
Tom Flores becomes the first Hispanic coach to win the Super Bowl
The Oakland Raiders’ Flores becomes the first minority and Hispanic head coach to win a Super Bowl as the Raiders defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XV. Three seasons later, Flores would win a second Super Bowl. Before coaching, Flores in 1960 becomes the first Hispanic quarterback to start for a professional football team, starting for the Raiders.
01/25/1981
Nine Big Ten universities affiliate women’s athletic programs in the Conference
Nine Big Ten universities vote to affiliate their women’s athletic programs with the conference. In October of 1981, the initiative went conference wide when a 10th school began affiliating their women’s athletic programs with the conference. Earlier in the year, on May 4 , the Council of Ten endorsed the Task Force report that enables universities to affiliate their women’s intercollegiate programs with the conference if they so desire. The Council of Ten was formed on March 5, 1975, consisting of three women administrators in the athletic department, two men athletic directors and a faculty representative, and was formed to study women’s varsity intercollegiate athletics.
08/15/1981
Wisconsin Women’s Cross Country brings home first women’s Big Ten Conference national title
The Wisconsin women’s cross country team completed the 1984 season with their first NCAA title, bringing home the first NCAA titel in a women’s sport for the Big Ten Conference.
11/19/1984
Tiffany Chin becomes the first Asian American U.S. figure skating champion
At the 1985 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Chin is “fast and flawless,” the LA Times writes, en route to becoming the first Asian American and person of color to win national gold. Chin makes history despite years earlier being told by a white competitor, “You’re really good, but you know you’ll never be a champion. Figure skating champions have blond hair and blue eyes, and you don’t have either.” Chin would break barriers for future Asian American skating stars Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan, but racism still permeated Olympic and U.S. figure skating when they competed. Corporate sponsors would still shun Yamaguchi, a Japanese American, despite winning Olympic and U.S. gold, and in 1998 a major media outlet produces an infamous headline celebrating Kwan, a Chinese American, losing to Tara Lipinski. The headline reads “American Beats Out Kwan.”
02/03/1985
Doug Williams overcomes racism to make NFL history, blaze trail for future quarterbacks
In 1978, Williams becomes the first Black quarterback to be drafted in the first round, coming out of Grambling State University, a historically Black college. Throughout his career, Williams faces racism from NFL fans as well as from the team that drafted him, the Buccaneers. After being forced out of the NFL for a few years, Williams signs with Washington and eventually leads the team in Super Bowl XXII, becoming the first Black quarterback to start a Super Bowl, which Washington wins in a 42-10 route behind Williams’ play. Williams, who is now a senior adviser for Washington and co-founder of the Black College Football Hall of Fame, blazes a trail for the next generation of Black quarterbacks. Entering the 2021 season, four of the five highest-paid players in the NFL, three of the past six MVPs and the past two passing yardage leaders are Black quarterbacks.
01/31/1988
Los Angeles Raiders name first Black head coach in modern NFL history
After a slow start to the 1989 season, Raiders owner Al Davis promotes Art Shell to the team’s head coaching position, making him the first Black NFL head coach since Fritz Pollard in the 1920s. In six seasons from 1989-1994, Shell finishes with a winning record five times and makes the playoffs three times, including an AFC Championship Game appearance. Shell goes 54-38 during that span, and in 2006, he returns as coach of the Raiders for one season. Diversity and equity in hiring continues to be an issue more than 30 years later, however. Entering the 2021 season, only three of the league’s 32 coaches are Black.
10/04/1989
The Big Ten Conference is the first to establish voluntary gender equity goals in athletics
The Council of Presidents/Chancellors of the Big Ten Conference announced its unanimous commitment to achieve a level of athletics participation that is 60 percent men and 40 percent women by 1997. Big Ten universities submitted strategies to achieve the 60-40 commitment and annual review procedures were established.
The Big Ten Conference was the first conference to voluntarily adopt participation goals for female student-athletes. The objective was Phase I of the Conference’s Gender Equity Action Plan (GEAP) for conference members to commit to a 60%/40% male-female participation ratio over a five-year period (1992-1997).
06/08/1992
University of Michigan hires first African American athletic director
Tom Goss became the first African American athletic director of the University of Michigan. During his short tenure, Goss led Michigan to national titles in football, ice hockey and men’s gymnastics.
09/01/1997
Michigan Athletics wins first women’s national title
The Michigan field hockey team wins its first NCAA team championship in a women’s sport.
11/18/2001
Mary Sue Coleman becomes Michigan’s first female president
Coleman became U-M’s first female president after serving seven years as president of the University of Iowa. She led U-M during the worst economic downturn since the Depression with new faculty hires, greater interdisciplinary teaching and research, a vibrant entrepreneurial culture, major building projects, and the $3.2 billion Michigan Difference campaign. A strong advocate of diversity, she launched academic partnerships on three continents. She retired after 12 years as president in 2014.
01/01/2002
Bob Johnson Buys NBA Expansion Team in Charlotte
The NBA awards its expansion franchise in Charlotte to Robert L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, making him the first African American to become the principal owner of a major league sports team.
12/18/2002
Indianapolis Colts’ head coach becomes first African-American to win Super Bowl
Indianapolis Colts’ Tony Dungy, becomes the first African-American head coach to win a Super Bowl Championship as the Colts defeat the Chicago Bears.
02/04/2007
Erik Spoelstra is first Asian American head coach in any men’s major U.S. sports
In the spring of 2008, NBA icon Pat Riley steps down as Miami Heat head coach and handpicks the up-and-coming Spoelstra to replace him. Spoelstra, at 38, is the first Asian American to be the head coach of any team among the four major men’s U.S. sports – baseball, basketball, football and hockey. Spoelstra quickly establishes himself as one of the NBA’s best coaches, and over his career he coaches his Heat teams to five NBA Finals, winning two. Said Spoelstra in an ESPN The Undefeated interview: “I would love to be able to talk to owners, general managers and administrators in college, or athletic directors in high school,” Spoelstra, 49, said, “to be able to open their eyes to some very talented young coaches out here of a different ethnicity.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, Spoelstra also used his voice to speak out against the sharp rise in anti-Asian racism in the country, telling the Associated Press, “Look, I am Asian American. I’m proud to be Asian American. And seeing what’s happening, with another just outright form of racism and hatred, it really is sickening. It breaks my heart. It is despicable.”
04/28/2008
First Chinese American drafted into NFL
Ed Wang is drafted by the Buffalo Bills, becoming the first Chinese American to be drafted into the NFL.
04/24/2010
Jeremy Lin plays makes NBA history, then uses platform to stop Asian hate
Lin overcomes racism on the basketball court from a young age, recalling incidents of discrimination while playing as early as the sixth grade. It doesn’t stop Lin from pursuing his dream, however, and he becomes the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA when he takes the court for the Warriors in 2010. But “Linsanity” doesn’t truly begin until the following year as a New York Knick when on Feb. 4, 2012, Lin scores 25 points against the Nets, sparking a seven-game winning streak. Less than a week later, Lin squares off against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, scoring 38 points and launching himself into superstar status. Lin would become an NBA roster mainstay for the next decade, and in 2019 he becomes the first Asian American player to win an NBA title. As Lin begins reaching the end of his career, he begins using his platform more and more to combat racism. Lin says early in his life and career he was naïve to the racism, including systemic and subtle, or chose to ignore it. Lin truly embraces his position as an athlete with the influence to create social change starting in 2020 as hate against Asian Americans and the AAPI community rises during the COVID-19 pandemic.
10/29/2010
Arizona State retires Navajo athlete Ryneldi Becenti’s jersey
Raised in Fort Defiance on the Navajo Nation reservation in Arizona, Becenti’s passion for basketball eventually takes her to Arizona State, where in the 1990s she stars for the women’s basketball team. She immediately lifts the program to the NCAA Tournament, a place it had not been for nearly a decade, and in 1997 she becomes the first Native American to play in the WNBA. Following a career that spans multiple continents, she returns to Arizona State in 2013 for the ceremony retiring her jersey. She was the first Sun Devils women’s basketball player to receive that honor.
12/21/2013
Little Leaguer Mo’Ne Davis graces cover of Sports Illustrated, joining history of Black women in baseball
On Aug. 15, 2014, Davis becomes a national sensation when she not only becomes the first girl to win a Little League World Series postseason game but does so in dominating fashion, striking out eight over six innings while allowing only two infield hits and no runs. Davis, the 18th girl to play in the LLWS, captivates America with her blazing fastball, setting records for viewership that still stand. Women playing professional baseball dates back to the 1800s, and the first known Black woman to play professionally is Dolly Vardens. From 1910-11, the Black Bronchos from St. Louis play professionally across the country’s heartland. In 1953, the Negro Leagues’ Indianapolis Clowns become the first professional baseball team to hire a female player, signing Toni Stone in an effort to replace home run king Hank Aaron. Mamie Johnson and Connie Morgan join the Clowns two seasons later.
08/19/2014
First Polynesian wins Heisman Trophy
Quarterback Marcus Mariota, a Samoan, becomes the first Polynesian to with the Heisman Trophy in 2014.
12/13/2014
Jessica Mendoza is first woman analyst for MLB postseason game
Mendoza, who is Mexican American and a two-time Olympic medalist in softball, becomes the first woman to serve as an analyst for a MLB postseason game when she calls the Astros vs. Yankees divisional playoff series. Five years later, she becomes the first woman to serve as a game analyst for the World Series on any platform, calling the Dodgers vs. Rays series for radio.
10/06/2015
Ibtihaj Muhammad wins Bronze Medal at 2016 Summer Olympic Games
Muhammad, a sabre fencer, wins the bronze medal as part of Team USA in the Team Sabre during the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil. She becomes the first female Muslim American athlete to earn a medal at the Olympics and also the first Muslim American woman to wear a hijab while competing for the United States in the Olympics. Following her historic medal, Muhammad uses her platform to tackle racism and Islamophobia and educate others on making a difference. As a woman athlete who is both Black and Muslim, she’s working to remove the barriers, biases and stereotypes that stood in her way. In a 2018 Yahoo! Sports interview, she said “I can’t sit here as the first Muslim woman to represent the United States at the Olympic Games and be numb on these issues that directly affect me.”
08/13/2016
University of Michigan’s Brienne Minor becomes first African-American woman to claim the NCAA singles title
Minor (2016-19) became the first African-American woman to claim the NCAA tennis singles title, winning as a sophomore in 2017. She earned four All-America citations, the most by a Wolverine, and ranks seventh in program history with 110 singles victories. She was also the 2016-17 Michigan Female Athlete of the Year.
05/29/2017
WNBA crowns Diana Taurasi as league’s all-time leading scorer
Taurasi, who identifies mostly as Argentine and Italian, is one of the most decorated basketball players of the last two decades and in June 2017 eclipses the WNBA’s all-time scoring mark. In 2009, Taurasi becomes the first Latina woman to win the WNBA Finals MVP. She might have trouble finding space for it on her mantel, as the hoops legend is a three-time collegiate national champion and WNBA champion, league rookie of the year, five-time scoring champion and former assists leader. Her excellence goes beyond the U.S. borders as she’s also won championships in Russia, Turkey and in the Euroleague.
06/18/2017
Kevin Warren named commissioner of the Big Ten Conference
Kevin Warren is the sixth commissioner to hold the position and the first African American to be named commissioner at one of Division I’s five largest conferences.
06/06/2019
Jason Wright, Danita Johnson, Kim Ng and Dany Garcia break barriers across leagues
The Washington Football Team hired Wright, a former NFL running back, as team president, making him the first Black person to hold that position in the NFL’s 100-year history. Wright was named Sports Business Journal’s “Best Hire of 2020.” In December, Johnson became the first Black woman or man to be hired as an MLS team president when D.C. United hired her as president of business operations. She previously was president and COO of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. In November, the Marlins hired Ng as the team’s general manager, making her the first woman to hold that position. Ng was MLB’s senior vice president of baseball operations for the past nine years and the highest-ranking Asian American female baseball executive. In August, Garcia became the first woman to own a professional sports league. Garcia, entertainer Dwayne Johnson and a private equity firm puchased the XFL, and Johnson wrote that Garcia was the “architect” behind the deal.
08/17/2020
Jackson He achieves college football first
On Dec. 11, Arizona State football player Jackson He scored a touchdown, which Arizona State said was the first touchdown by a Chinese-born player in FBS history. The Sun Devils have celebrated his heritage by putting He’s name in Chinese on the back of his jersey.
12/11/2020
Sarah Thomas becomes first woman to officiate a Super Bowl, and Maia Chaka becomes first Black female NFL official
Since becoming the first permanent official in NFL history in 2015, Thomas has worked full time in the league. In February 2021, she adds another milestone in a career full of glass ceilings being shattered: Thomas is an on-field official for Super Bowl LV . Thomas is also the first woman to officiate a major college football game (2006), the first woman to officiate a bowl game (2009) and the first to officiate in a Big Ten stadium (2011). Chaka also makes history in March 2021. Seven years after she joins the NFL’s officiating development program, Chaka becomes the league’s first Black female official. “I just want [young girls] to know if you have a passion for something and if have a drive for something, don’t let it hold you back just because you think that something may give you some type of limitation,” she said.
02/07/2021
Coach Maral Javadifar and Coach Lori Locust of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers become first female coaches to win the Super Bowl
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers make history in 2019 when they become the first NFL team to have two full-time female coaches on staff. In 2021, the diverse coaching staff led to the team’s second Super Bowl win at Super Bowl LV. The defensive line, which Locust helps coach, is the standout group from the game as they hit and harrassed former Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes all evening.
02/07/2021
Hideki Matsuyama becomes first Japanese man to win golf major at event honoring Lee Elder, first Black golfer to play in Masters
At the start of the 85th edition of the prestigious Masters tournament, Augusta National Golf Club celebrates Lee Elder as an honorary starter. Elder, who dealt with a spate of racism throughout his career, in 1975 became the first Black golfer to play in the tournament, which began in 1934 but did not allow Black golfers until Elder. (Augusta National did not admit a Black member until 1990 and did not admit women members until 2012.) At the end of the tournament, the Japanese-born Matsuyama finds himself in position to win the Masters. Matsuyama ends the tournament atop the leaderboard, becoming the first Japanese man to win the Masters and the second Asian American to win a golf major (Y.E. Yang in 2009).
04/11/2021
Women in the NFL Break Barriers
In December 2021, Washington’s Jennifer King, the team’s assistant running backs coach, becomes the first Black woman to serve as a lead position coach in an NFL game. King, who starts as a coaching intern under coach Ron Rivera, makes history in Week 15 against the Philadelphia Eagles due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the team. In February 2021, Maral Javadifar and Lori Locust become the first female coaches to win the Super Bowl when they help lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory in Super Bowl LV. In that same game, Sarah Thomas, the league’s first female official, becomes the first woman to officiate a Super Bowl. In March 2021, Maia Chaka becomes the league’s first Black female official seven years after she joins the NFL’s officiating development program. “I just want [young girls] to know if you have a passion for something and if have a drive for something, don’t let it hold you back just because you think that something may give you some type of limitation,” she said.
12/21/2021