Ohio Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame
Branch Rickey, class of 1904, was a standout catcher on the baseball team and a halfback on the football team. After playing baseball at Ohio Wesleyan in 1901-02, Rickey signed a professional contract, and ineligible to play further, he became the University’s baseball coach and athletics director while still a student. On his team beginning in the 1903 season was Charles Thomas, a black student from Zanesville, Ohio, and one of the first blacks in college baseball. During that season, Thomas was denied lodging at a hotel in South Bend, Ind. Rickey was able to convince the hotel manager to allow Thomas to stay in his room as an unregistered guest, but the event — and the sight of Thomas sitting on the bed weeping — were burned into his memory and proved to be his inspiration in signing Jackie Robinson to a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers more than 40 years later.
