First Black player to be drafted in NFL remembers bitter but breakthrough times for Black athletes By Harry M. Anderson, Jr. Special to the Michigan Citizen DETROIT — It was 1949, and Jackie Robinson recently broke the “color line” in sports two years ago when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Although Major League Baseball opened some doors, the National Football League was very staunched and stubborn t ...

Once rivals, now teammates for PSL athletics By Harry M. Anderson, Jr. Special to the Michigan Citizen DETROIT — For almost a century, the rivalry between Western International and Southwestern High School has been one of the biggest in Detroit prep sports. There were many great matches between the two on the basketball court, at volleyball matches, on the baseball field and at track meets. In football, the ...

The Detroit ATA Lions and the Bates Academy Panthers (above) won this year’s Healthy Kidz Flag Football Championships, held June 6 at King High’s Lorenzo Wright Field. The Lions won the Prep School Division defeat University Prep Science and Mathematics Academy 29-12, while Bates Academy came from behind in the second half to defeat the Golightly Educational Packers 55-44. ...

Essence Biggs of Birmingham Seaholm, Carmella Goree of Grosse Pointe South among top prep golfers and tennis players in the state By Harry M. Anderson, Jr. Special to the Michigan Citizen DETROIT — Since the success of pro golfers Calvin Peete and Tiger Woods, and tennis players Yanick Noah, Malwai Washington and Venus and Serena Williams, Black youths have taken to golf and tennis and have accelerated to n ...

Paul W. Smith Golf Tourney raises major funds for Detroit youth organization By Harry M. Anderson, Jr. Special to the Michigan Citizen DETROIT — There are many fundraisers the Think Detroit/Police Athletic league puts on every year to raise funds to pay for their sports programs, but there is one fundraiser that stands out above the rest. That fundraiser is the Paul W. Smith Golf Outing, which is held annua ...

Caprice Dennis of Pershing (left) and Dennis Norfleet of Martin Luther King were named the Detroit PSL Proud Strong Learners of the Year at the second annual Proud Strong Learners of the Year Banquet held at the Marcus Garvey Academy Harambee Center June 6. Dennis excelled in basketball for the Doughgirls and Norfleet in football and basketball for the Crusaders. Dennis will play college basketball at the U ...

State playoffs: Baseball/Softball Western International falls in baseball; Renaissance, Cass Tech dropped in regional softball semi-finals By Harry M. Anderson, Jr. Special to The Michigan Citizen DETROIT — For prep baseball and softball, it’s wait-until-next-year for the Detroit Public Schools as the three surviving DPS schools in the MHSAA state playoffs were eliminated June 9. In boys baseball, PSL and s ...

Detroit ATA, Bates Academy win titles By Harry M. Anderson, Jr. Special to The Michigan Citizen DETROIT — The Detroit Al-Ikhlas Training Academy (ATA) and Detroit Public Schools’ Bates Academy were the big winners at this year’s Healthy Kidz Flag Football Championships held June 8 at the Lorenzo Wright Playfield on the campus on Martin Luther King High School. The ATA Lions (4-2) won the high school divisio ...

PSL track championships By Harry M. Anderson, Jr. Special to the Michigan Citizen DETROIT — Cass Tech outpointed their biggest rival, Renaissance, at this year’s Detroit Public School League Track Championships in both the boys and girls divisions. The Technician girls, under the direction of Chris Wright, repeated as PSL Girls Champions for the second-straight year, while the boys, under the direction of T ...

By Harry M. Anderson, Jr. Special to the Michigan Citizen DETROIT — For the fifth consecutive year, Renaissance High captured the Detroit Public School League Boys Golf Championship. Held May 23 at the Palmer Park Golf Course, the Phoenix, coached by Harry Kennedy, had a combined low score of 189 to clinch the title outright. Southeastern took second with a score of 208, followed by King (251), Southwestern ...