Frank Hart (athlete)

Frank Hart (1856 – 1908) was an American athlete famous as the first African-American world record holder in the 19th century sport of pedestrianism.[1][2] 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 $677,358 in 2022).[3] Later in life Hart played briefly on segregated baseball teams. Though his legacy faded with the loss of interest in pedestrianism as a spectator sport, Hart remains one of the first nationally famous Black athletes in America.

Frank Hart
Portrait
Hart circa 1880
Personal information
Nickname(s)Black Dan, The Negro Wonder
Born1856
Died1908 (aged 52)
Sport
CountryUSA
SportPedestrianism, Baseball

Early life and rise to fame as a pedestrian

Born in 1856 as Fred Hichborn, Hart immigrated to Boston from Haiti as a teenager and worked as a grocery store clerk before joining races to earn extra money.[1] [4] 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] Hart competed in at least 63 six-day pedestrian races from 1879-1902, winning 16 of them. Hart was ultimately one of the first black sports celebrities in America.[5][6]

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

The first black athlete depicted on a sports card, trading card or tobacco card, Hart appears in Thomas H. Hall’s Between the Acts & Bravo Cigarettes set (1880, N344), along with nine other pedestrians and two oarsmen.[1][7][8]

Baseball career and later life

Hart later played shortstop and second base on Black baseball teams. 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.[9] According to The Negro Leagues Were Major Leagues: Historians Reappraise Black Baseball, "Henry Bridgewater recruited Hart for the St. Louis Black Stockings."[10] 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.”[11] Hart eventually signed with Chicago's Illinois Gordon B.B.C.[9]

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 years.[12][13]

See also

References
  1. 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. Harding, William Edgar (1881). The American athlete A treatise on the rules and principles of training for athletic contests, and the regimen of physical culture. Also some short sketches of famous athletes, their experiences, and the notable contests in which they have taken part. New York: Fox.
  3. "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.
  4. "In The 1870s And '80s, Being A Pedestrian Was Anything But". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  5. Gorvett, Zaria. "The strange 19th-Century sport that was cooler than football". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  6. "Black American Running Timeline". www.nyrr.org. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  7. Pike, George Vrechek & Ed. "Track and field trading cards have a long and storied history". Sports Collectors Digest. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  8. Robertson, Patrick (2011). Robertson's book of firsts: who did what for the first time (1st ed.). New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60819-738-5. OCLC 879608902.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  9. 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.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. 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: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. "The Washington Bee from Washington, District of Columbia on May 24, 1884 · Page 4". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  12. Seideman, David (2018-04-17). "The 'Pedestrian' Who Became One of America's First Black Sports Stars". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  13. Kastner, Charles (2008-02-12). "Frank "Black Dan" Hart (1858-1908)". Retrieved 2021-11-20.


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