What if...?

With Jeff Henderson's win in this year's men's Olympic long jump, America continued it's dominance in this event. In the last 28 Olympiads, The US has won it 22 times. Multiple winners in this event include Carl Lewis who won four gold medals and Ralph Boston, who won one of each (gold, silver and bronze) on his way to be the first to break the 27 foot barrier. These two guys alone would be great stories of their own to blog about. But I wanted to go back to where all began.


DeHart Hubbard first caught the eye of a University of Michigan alum who saw his stats in both the long jump as well as the 100yd dash in the local newspaper. Within a few months, the Cincinnati native got an opportunity to take his talents to Ann Arbor.


For the haters, excuse the LeBron reference. Just wanted to maintain your interest.


While he couldn't run (and jump) with the varsity his freshman year, he still managed to tie the University’s indoor 50-yard-dash record and long-jumped more than 24 feet. Within two years, he won the Big Ten championship in both events (setting a record in the dash), earning a spot on the 1924 Olympic team and a trip to Paris, France.


While there, he could have competed in multiple events, but was prevented by the International Olympic Committee. Won't get into the Mary Jane Blige drama as to why.


Long story short, with a jump of 24 feet, 5 1/2 inches, Hubbard became the first Black Olympian to win the gold medal in an individual event. Funny thing...this is kind of like only the beginning.


When he got back, he set it off both on the left and on the right like Strafe. Within the next year, he won the NCAA championship in both the long jump and 100 yard dash, either tying or setting the record in both. During his career at Michigan, he won seven conference championships. He had the Big Ten record in the long jump until some guy named Owens broke it.


He went on to graduate from Michigan (he was one of only eight Blacks to graduate from his class of 1,456) and continued his athletic pursuits to careers in baseball and bowling. He is a member of Michigan's Hall of Honor and the school has a scholarship in his name that is jointly endowed by the school and his fraternity (Omega Psi Phi).   


Just wondering...what if the IOC had let Hubbard participate in all of the events he could have?