Frank Hart (athlete)

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Frank Hart
Portrait
Hart circa 1880
Personal information
Nickname(s)Black Dan, The Negro Wonder
Born1857 or 1858
Died1908 (aged approxmiately 50 or 51)
Sport
CountryUSA
SportPedestrianism

Frank Hart (1857 or 1858 - 1908) was an American athlete famous as the first African-American world record holder in the 19th century sport of pedestrianism.[1] His most noted win was in an 1879 6 Day Race at Madison Square Garden where he covered 565 miles and won $21,567 in prize money (equivalent to $599,023 in 2020).[2]

Born in 1857 or 1858 as Fred Hichborn (or a similar spelling), Hart immigrated to Boston from Haiti as a teenager and worked as a grocery store clerk before joining races to earn extra money.[1] [3] Frank Hart was chosen as his stage name, and he was variously also known as "The Negro Wonder" and "Black Dan", after his mentor and promoter Dan O'Leary.[1] While the sport of pedestrianism was short-lived in popularity, Hart was ultimately one of the first black sports celebrities in America.[4][5]

Frank Hart card from Thomas H. Hall’s 1880-1892 Between the Acts & Bravo Cigarettes (N344) Athlete Set

The first black athlete depicted on a sports card, trading card or tobacco card, Hart appears in Thomas H. Hall’s 1880-1892 Between the Acts & Bravo Cigarettes (N344), along with 9 other pedestrians.[1][6]

Hart later played shortstop and second base in Negro league baseball. In 1883, he was a member of the Boston Vendome Hotel B.B.C. team, and in 1883-1884, Hart played for Saratoga Spring's Leonidas B.B.C.[7] According to The Negro Leagues Were Major Leagues: Historians Reappraise Black Baseball, "Henry Bridgewater recruited Hart for the St. Louis Black Stockings."[8] While no statistics are currently available for his tenure on the team, in May 1884, The Washington Bee reported that the “colored pedestrian plays shortstop for a colored baseball club known as the St. Louis Black Stockings.”[9] Hart eventually signed with Chicago's Illinois Gordon B.B.C.[7]

In Hart’s obituary in 1908, the Cleveland Gazette noted, “Like many other sporting men, he was a big liver and a good spender,’’ reportedly living off “the charity of friends” for his final 20 years.[10][11]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Algeo, Matthew (2014-04-01). Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk Was America's Favorite Spectator Sport. Chicago Review Press. pp. 177–183. ISBN 978-1-61374-400-0.
  2. ^ "Frank Hart the Winner – And Another Boston Negro Second in the Race – Hart Rolls Up 565 Miles Before Leaving the Track, Beating Brown's World Record By Twelve Miles – Pegram Three Miles Ahead of the Greatest American Record – The Closing Hours of the Great Walk". The New York Times. April 11, 1880.
  3. ^ "In The 1870s And '80s, Being A Pedestrian Was Anything But". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  4. ^ Gorvett, Zaria. "The strange 19th-Century sport that was cooler than football". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  5. ^ "Black American Running Timeline". www.nyrr.org. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  6. ^ Pike, George Vrechek & Ed. "Track and field trading cards have a long and storied history". Sports Collectors Digest. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  7. ^ a b Brunson, James E. (2019). Black baseball, 1858-1900 : a comprehensive record of the teams, players, managers, owners and umpires. Jefferson, North Carolina. ISBN 978-0-7864-9417-0. OCLC 1060179344.
  8. ^ The Negro leagues were major leagues : historians reappraise black baseball. Todd Peterson. Jefferson, North Carolina. 2020. ISBN 978-1-4766-6514-6. OCLC 1089013757.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ^ "The Washington Bee from Washington, District of Columbia on May 24, 1884 · Page 4". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  10. ^ Seideman, David (2018-04-17). "The 'Pedestrian' Who Became One of America's First Black Sports Stars". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  11. ^ Kastner, Charles (2008-02-12). "Frank "Black Dan" Hart (1858-1908)". Retrieved 2021-11-20.


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