Black athletes broke color barrier four decades ago

Brandon Russell | Staff Writer
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President Obama’s election would have been impossible if it weren’t for a series of smaller, yet equally important efforts made by black athletes.

One such effort was that of Emerson Harvey, a City College alumnus who, according to the Arizona State University Alumni website, went on to become the first black athlete to compete at the college level in the Southwest.

A highly skilled football player, Harvey was an unassuming end for the Panthers during the early 1930s. At City College, Harvey quickly became known as one of the team’s fiercest players.

After two years at City College, Harvey moved to San Francisco. In the fall of 1937 a recruiter from Arizona State University found Harvey and convinced him to play for the team in Tempe, Ariz.
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Harvey began playing for Arizona before the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s ended segregation. In the Southwest, segregation was still heavily enforced. Even though Harvey was on the football team, he wasn’t allowed to live on campus, or even in Tempe. Harvey had to take up residence in nearby Phoenix and commute to school every day.

“I rode 18 miles for 25 cents bus fare, and that was a lot in those days,” said Harvey of his commute in a 1972 interview with ASU historian Dean Smith.

Harvey’s love for the sport overshadowed his hardships and set an example for other black athletes to follow. Back then, there were only 15-20 black students at ASU, Harvey said.

According to the ASU Quick Facts, there were almost 2,500 African-American students attending ASU in the fall of 2008, more than 70 years later.

Like Obama, Harvey was a forerunner of change. He wasn’t changing the economy or foreign policy – he was changing the hearts of Americans and paving the way for a more united nation.