Buffalo Soldiers and the Olympics: Medalists Who Went On to Serve

Ralph Metcalfe and John Woodruff won medals for the U.S. Olympic Team. Then, during World War II, both enlisted in the Army and were assigned to Buffalo Soldier regiments. Sport was nothing new in those regiments.

Ralph Metcalfe, center, between fellow Olympians Jesse Owens and Frank Wykoff as they practice sprints aboard the SS Manhattan, about 1936. Public domain.

Sport in the regiments

Buffalo Soldier regiments took part in, and hosted, all kinds of athletic competitions: foot races, shooting, wrestling, boxing, swimming and horseback riding. They also played organized baseball, basketball and football against local teams. Spectators turned out and cheered all the competitors, and the events built positive connections between local communities and the soldiers.

From Olympia to Athens

The Olympic Games began in Olympia, Greece, almost 3,000 years ago. These "classical games" were a collection of organized athletic contests, held during a summer festival every four years. Similar festivals took place in over 150 cities, but Olympia's became the most famous. The first games were a single footrace; later came the long jump, javelin, discus and wrestling.

By 1890, sport was growing more popular across the United States and the world. Professional events drew crowds, several small sports festivals were held in various countries, and some in Europe took their name from the ancient Olympics.

On April 6, 1896, the first modern International Olympic Games opened in Athens. Competitors came from Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States, which won 11 gold medals — the most that year. The Games were a success, and it was decided to hold them every four years, as in ancient Greece, but in a different country each time.

Firsts for African American athletes

For the first three Games, countries sponsored athletic clubs to represent them. National teams came later: in 1908, hundreds of American athletes competed for places on the U.S. Olympic Team.

Sources

Based on "Buffalo Soldiers and the Olympics" from the National Park Service (Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument), a work of the United States government in the public domain. The NPS page also profiles the Buffalo Soldier Olympians one by one.