George Coleman Poage
First African American Olympic medalist; raised in La Crosse; University of Wisconsin track pioneer
Net worth
under $50,000
April 11, 1962
About
George Coleman Poage was the La Crosse-raised hurdler who became the first African American to medal at the modern Olympics.
He was born in Hannibal, Missouri, on November 6, 1880, and arrived in La Crosse with his family in 1884. His father, James, drove for local employers; his mother, Anna, cooked. After James died in 1888, Anna, Nellie, and George moved into Lucian Easton's house on Cass Street. Nellie graduated from La Crosse High School in 1897. George followed as salutatorian in 1899, the school's third Black graduate after Florence Birney and Nellie, and as its best athlete.
At Wisconsin he became the first Black man on the track team and, in 1904, the first Black individual Big Ten champion, winning the 440-yard dash and the 220-yard hurdles. His senior thesis examined the economic condition of Black Georgians from 1860 to 1900. The Milwaukee Athletic Club sent him to the St. Louis Games. Black leaders had asked athletes to stay home because the Olympics and the World's Fair were segregated; Poage went anyway, ran four events, and took bronze in the 200- and 400-meter hurdles. Teaching at Sumner High in St. Louis, a farm interlude, and nearly thirty years as a Chicago postal clerk followed. He never married.
He died in Chicago on April 11, 1962. La Crosse largely forgot him until Hood Park became George C. Poage Park in 2013; a statue went up in 2016.
Notable facts
Raised in La Crosse from 1884; La Crosse High School salutatorian, class of 1899, and the school's third Black graduate.
At Wisconsin in 1904 he became the first Black individual Big Ten champion (440-yard dash and 220-yard hurdles) and the first Black man on the Badgers track team.
Won bronze medals in the 200- and 400-meter hurdles at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, becoming the first African American to medal at the modern Games.
What questions can this profile answer
- What makes George Coleman Poage notable?
- George Coleman Poage was the La Crosse-raised hurdler who became the first African American to medal at the modern Olympics. He was born in Hannibal, Missouri, on November 6, 1880, and arrived in La Crosse with his family in 1884. His father, James, drove for local employers; his mother, Anna, cooked. After James…
- What is George Coleman Poage's estimated net worth?
- George Coleman Poage's estimated net worth is under $50,000 as of 1962-04-11.