Ralph Metcalfe

Representative Ralph H. Metcalfe Sr.

courtesy of the Library of Congress

Quick Facts

Significance:

Olympic Athlete, Buffalo Soldier, U.S. Congressman

Place of Birth:

Atlanta, Georgia

Date of Birth:

May 29,1910

Place of Death:

Chicago, Illinois

Date of Death:

October 10, 1978

Place of Burial:

Alsip, Illinois

Cemetery Name:

Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Section 19, Block 5, Lot 8, Grave 2

Ralph Harold Metcalfe was born on May 29, 1910, in Atlanta, Georgia. His father, Clarence, worked at a stockyard, his mother, Marie Attaway, worked as a seamstress. In 1917, his family moved to the South Side neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. At eight years old, Metcalfe worked afterschool as a tailor’s assistant. The tailor often told him to hurry when running errands. Metcalfe’s friends later gave him the nickname “rabbit” because he literally ran to complete every errand.

In 1926, Metcalfe entered Tilden Technical High School and joined the track team. He excelled in the sport and later recalled that his coach told him “… as a black person I’d have to put daylight between me and my nearest competitor. I forced myself to train harder so I could put that daylight behind me.” His training paid off: he was the National Sprint Champion in 1929.

In 1930, during a track competition at Chicago’s Soldier Field, Metcalfe amazed the crowd by winning all his races. One of the attendees who was deeply impressed by Metcalfe’s performance was Conrad Jennings, the athletic director of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jennings offered Metcalfe a scholarship to attend the university and join its track team. Metcalfe, worried that going to college would be a financial burden for the family, decided to talk it over with his parents. His mother urged him to accept the opportunity. In June, Metcalfe graduated from Tilden Technical High School and moved to Milwaukee.

At Marquette, Metcalfe competed and won the National Junior Amateur Athletic Union Champion in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He continued to thrive on the track team and by the Spring of 1932, he had broken several world records. On June 10, Metcalfe broke three world records and tied a fourth in the span of one hour during a track meet. He quickly gained the attention of several U.S. newspapers by qualifying for the 1932 U.S. Olympic team.

The 1932 Summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles, California. Metcalfe was a favorite to win the sprint competitions along with fellow U.S. Olympians Eddie Tolan of the University of Michigan and George Simpson of Ohio State University. The 100-meter sprint came down to a photo finish between Metcalfe and Tolan. After lengthy review, Tolan was awarded the gold medal and Metcalfe the silver medal. Their record setting time of 10.37-seconds remained unbroken for 32 years. The next race was the 200-meter sprint. It was later found that Metcalfe’s lane was incorrectly measured, causing him to start the race about three meters behind everyone else. Despite this disadvantage, Metcalfe won the bronze medal. Tolan won the gold and Simpson won the silver.

After the Olympics, Metcalfe turned more of his attention towards his education. He was elected class president and was inducted into the university’s honor society. In 1934, Metcalfe graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. He also mentored a few college athletes, including Ohio State University’s track star, Jesse Owens.

Metcalfe was undefeated in track-and-field competitions between the fall of 1932 and spring of 1936. During that time, he was nicknamed the “World’s Fastest Human” after breaking seven world records and tying two more sprint events from the 40-yard sprint to the 200-meter sprint.

On July 11, 1936, Metcalfe participated in the Olympic tryouts in New York City, New York. He performed well but placed second to Jesse Owens in the 100-meter sprint. On July 13, the U.S. Olympic team was announced, and Metcalfe earned a spot on the team. On July 15, the 400 U.S. Olympic athletes boarded the SS Manhattan to Berlin, Germany. Metcalfe joined 18 African Americans on the team, including Jesse Owens, Matthew “Mack” Robinson, Cornelius Johnson, and John Woodruff. Owens later recalled how Metcalfe called a team meeting to ease the nerves of the athletes. Owens recalled “he said we were not there to get involved in the political situation. We were there for one purpose - to represent our country.”

In the 100-meter sprint, Metcalfe placed second to Owens and earned the silver medal. Along with Foy Draper and Frank Wykoff, they won gold in the 400-meter relay, setting a world record that lasted for 20 years. As they took the stage, Owens advocated for Metcalfe to stand on the highest podium because he had led the American team to such heights. In all, the 10 African American track-and-field athletes scored more points collectively than any other team in that year’s Olympic games. Eight other African American U.S. Olympians also won medals. Each Olympic winner was also presented a tree sapling that they took home with them.

After the games, Metcalfe retired from competitive sports. He was appointed as director of the Department of Education at Xavier University, a historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. In that capacity, Metcalfe was again noted for his leadership qualities as he mentored his student athletes to five consecutive national track championships.

During breaks from school, Metcalfe attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. In 1939, he graduated with a master’s degree in education and returned to Xavier University as not only as the head track coach, but as a political science teacher as well. As the 1940 Olympic games were scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan, Metcalfe prepared his students to compete. However, the games were cancelled because of the outbreak of World War II.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, the United States entered the war. In preparation, the War Department helped build and lease new buildings to the United Service Organization (USO). The USO was a congressionally chartered non-profit organization founded February 4, 1941, that established centers across the country to provide entertainment and recreational activities to boost soldiers’ morale. The USO also brought celebrities and well-known athletes to entertain the soldiers and in some cases serve as club directors.

In January 1942, Metcalfe joined the staff of the National Catholic Community Service, a USO member agency. The USO’s director of operations, Ray Johnson, recognized the track star and appointed him as the USO club director at Fort McClellan in Anniston, Alabama. Metcalfe was tasked to set up the club center for the all-Black units of the 92nd Infantry Division assigned to Fort McClellan.

One of the groups established was the Soldiers’ Wives Hobby Club. In February, it hosted a Valentine’s Day party with special guest Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis Sr., the Army’s top-ranking African American officer. In May, the 92nd Infantry Division was transferred to Fort Huachuca, Arizona. As they departed, Brigadier General John Shirley Wood praised the USO recreational facilities managed by Metcalfe for keeping the morale high. While serving as a USO club director, Metcalfe continued to mentor college athletes. In August, Julius Heil, governor of Wisconsin, invited Metcalfe to speak to incoming students about his experience at Marquette University, the Olympics, and as a USO club director.

In June 1943, Metcalfe served as associate director of the Louisiana USO Maneuver Service. In this role, he helped organize a track meet at Fort Huachuca in collaboration with the all-Black units of the 93rd Infantry Division. The event included several track and field competitions as well as boxing exhibitions and softball tournaments. Metcalfe continued in this role until he was inducted into the Army in 1944.

On July 18, 1944, Metcalfe graduated from the Transportation Corps Officer Candidate School at Camp Plauche, Louisiana. He was commissioned a second lieutenant (Lt.) in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps. Lt. Metcalfe was stationed at Camp Plauche, a training camp for troops before they reported to the New Orleans Port of Embarkation to deploy to the Pacific or European Theaters.

Lt. Metcalfe developed a new physical training program at Camp Plauche, nicknamed the “Metcalfe Olympics.” The Army was deeply impressed with the new program and applied it to the Army’s physical training regimen. For his impressive work in developing the new training regimen, he was awarded the Legion of Merit and promoted to first lieutenant. In February 1945, Lt. Metcalfe appeared in an Army Signal Corps film on soldier health. He was joined by Sergeant Joe Louis, Sergeant Paul Robeson, and singer Murial Smith.

Lt. Metcalfe also coached the Transportation Corps baseball team, known as the Camp Plauche Pirates. They were one of the best ball clubs in the Eastern Flying Training Command’s GI Baseball League. Halfway through the 1945 season, they held a 9 – 1 record, with their only loss coming from the professional Negro League Baseball Team, the New York Cubans. Though Lt. Metcalfe’s Transportation Corps Pirates did not win the championship, they scored a record setting 125 runs that season.

In 1946, Metcalfe was honorably discharged from the Army and moved back to Chicago. He was an active member of the NAACP and local American Veterans Legion post. Metcalfe became the director of the Civil Rights Department of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations. In 1949, he headed the Illinois States Athletic Commission and pushed for opportunities for amateur athletes.

In 1952, Metcalfe began his political career when he was elected Democratic committeeman for Chicago’s Third Ward. In 1955, he was elected as Chicago’s Alderman for the Third Ward. In this role, he was pivotal in organizing the 1959 Pan-American Games, an Olympic-style international sporting event, in Chicago. In 1967, he was elected as president pro tempore of the Chicago City Council.

Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on April 4, 1968, Metcalfe was appointed by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley as a member of the committee investigating the post-assassination civil disturbance. In 1969, Metcalfe was appointed by Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey as a member of the National Amateur Athletic Union and National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Sports Arbitration Board. These opportunities propelled him to run for the U.S. House of Representatives to make a greater impact in his community.

In November 1970, Metcalfe was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Illinois’ 1st District. On January 3, 1971, Metcalfe entered the House and was assigned to the committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries and the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee. In his first term, he cofounded the Congressional Black Caucus, which still exists today. The Congressional Black Caucus fought to end “redlining,” the practice of withholding funds for home loans and insurance from low-income neighborhoods. Metcalfe stated, “It is essential that individuals living in our cities, or individuals of low or moderate income residing in [a] rural area, be provided with the means and incentive to remain in their communities.” In 1975, he supported the Organization of African Unity for the South African region, which fought to end apartheid in South Africa.

That year, Metcalfe was also inducted into the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame. He was appointed as a member of President Gerald Ford’s Commission on Olympic Sports. In 1978, he co-sponsored the Amateur Sports Act, which provided federal funding for American Olympic athletes and increased opportunities for minorities, women, and disabled Americans to participate in amateur sports.

Metcalfe also served on the Congressional Post Office and Civil Service Committee. On the Civil Service Committee, he brought attention to racial discrimination in Chicago and tried to improve police service for his constituents. Metcalfe stated, “If we want to strengthen and rebuild Chicago, then we must help the people who are sticking it out in the inner city to survive.” He also sponsored several resolutions including investigations into the effects of Agent Orange on soldiers of the Vietnam War and investigations into the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. Metcalfe also introduced legislation to establish February as Black History Month.

On October 10, 1978, Ralph Harold Metcalfe Sr. died in Chicago. He was buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Section 19, Block 5, Lot 8, Grave 2, in Alsip, Illinois.

In 1991, a Chicago federal office building for the United States Environmental Protection Agency was named in his honor. The city also named Metcalfe Community Academy Elementary School and Metcalfe Park in his honor. The city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin also named a school after him.