Sale 2471 - Printed & Manuscript African Americana, March 29, 2018

365 c   (SPORTS—FOOTBALL.) Team photograph of the Wooster High School foot- ball team featuring pioneer athlete Charles W. Follis. Silver print, 7 x 9 1 / 4 inches, on original plain mount; minor dampstaining to mount, photograph crisp and bright. Wooster, OH, 1899 [800/1,200] Charles W. Follis (1879-1910) was a star athlete in Wooster, OH who organized and captained his high school’s football team; he appears at the center of this group photograph, holding the ball. As a student at Wooster College he earned the nickname “The Black Cyclone.” He went on to become the first African American to play professional football when he joined the Shelby Blues in 1902. One of his teammates with Shelby was Branch Rickey, who as a baseball general manager later signed Jackie Robinson to break baseball’s color line—his time with Follis is sometimes cited as an influence on his later decision. Follis was also a hard-hitting catcher on his college baseball team, and became one the first African-Americans to progress from college to the Negro Leagues. He died of pneumonia in 1910. 365 366 c   (SPORTS—TRACKAND FIELD.) Group of 6 press photos of track star Jesse Owens. Each about 9 x 7 inches, with various inked stamps, captions, and markings on verso; minor wear. Vp, 1933-36 [400/600] Jesse Owens (1913-1980) was best known for winning four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, to the chagrin of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi regime.The earliest photo in this lot is from 17 June 1933, when Owens tied the world record for the 100-yard dash while still in high school.The others date from his days as a star at Ohio State. 366