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officials and players from the rival teams argued. The New
Hampshire boxing coach entered the locker rooms to encourage Connecticut to put Fitch on the field, rejecting the Coast Guard's claim that New Hampshire would take offense if Fitch were allowed to compete after Moody had been excluded. Eventually, the game went ahead but Connecticut State coach John Heldman kept Fitch on the bench without explanation. Connecticut State won a hard-fought contest 31–29.
331:, led a student senate committee to survey students on the state of athletics. The student body voted 169–7 to fire Heldman, who resigned a year later after four consecutive losing seasons, and 112–50 to fire Guyer, who remained athletic director until 1936. Students also voted Fitch the outstanding athlete on campus for the second year in a row. Students widely decried Connecticut State's response as inadequate. The Coast Guard Academy never apologized.
220:. As well as being Connecticut State College's only African American student and its first African American basketball player, Fitch's sportsmanship, geniality, and dignity quickly made him one of its most popular students. The student body voted him best athlete in April 1933. Fitch was nicknamed "Honey" due to his smooth play.
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to adjudicate the previous night's events. They quickly issued a joint statement blaming the incident on a "very unfortunate misunderstanding" that had been "satisfactorily adjusted." The statement concluded that thereafter "any student at either institution will be eligible to participate in various
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The
Connecticut State players, including Fitch, traveled to New London, changed into their uniforms, and began practicing on the court. Just before game time, however, Coast Guard officials refused to play Connecticut State if Fitch participated in the game. The game was delayed for an hour while
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applauded Fitch and refrained from racist taunts and other harassment. Incidents of racism culminated during a headline-grabbing
January 1934 game against the US Coast Guard Academy. At the end of the 1934 spring semester, facing fiscal constraints and in the aftermath of the incident, Fitch
294:. Earlier that same day, the academy had barred a University of New Hampshire athlete, Fred Moody, from boxing matches because Moody was African American. Around half of the academy's all-white cadets were from the racially segregated
263:. He married Hazel Brandrum in 1939 and they had two sons: Harrison Brooks Fitch Jr. and Charles. Brooks followed in his father's footsteps, receiving his bachelor's degree from UConn in 1964. Fitch was a 32nd degree
298:. Coast Guard officials claimed that their athletes had never played a racially integrated team and "there had been a long tradition that no ‘negro’ players be allowed to engage in contests at the Academy".
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sports editor called for rival teams to commit to allowing Fitch to play without regard to his race. In early March, basketball captain Connie
Donahue, who would later be a longtime coach at
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Despite his popularity at UConn, Fitch regularly faced racist abuse from opposing players, coaches, and fans. Of fourteen collegiate rivals, only teams and fans from the
338:, the only African-American member of Congress at the time, publicly condemned the exclusion of Moody and Fitch as "un-American". Albert Keane, sports editor for the
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Connecticut
Population schedules: New Haven County, New Haven City (EDs 5–63 to 5–65, 5–74 to 5–75, 5–78 to 5–84, 5–76 to 5–77, 5–85 to 5–91, 5–98 to 5–99)
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athletic activities scheduled between the two schools." Nominally, this meant that Fitch could participate in future games against the Coast Guard
Academy.
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mail carrier, and his mother was a homemaker. The family had seven sons, including Fitch, and one daughter. Fitch was a star basketball player at
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On
Saturday, January 27, 1934, the Connecticut State men's basketball team was scheduled to play the US Coast Guard Academy team in
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After graduating from
American International College, where he played basketball, Fitch went on to play football for the
380:"'Honey' Fitch, UConn's first Black basketball player, endured racism in 1930s to blaze the trail for future Huskies"
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before enrolling in
Connecticut State College (now the University of Connecticut) as a freshman in the fall of 1932.
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505:"Son of UConn's First Black Basketball Star Recounts Father's Story"
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601:"Honoring Harrison 'Honey' Fitch: Star Athlete, UConn Trailblazer"
726:"First African American Students Faced Economic, Racial Problems"
259:. He worked with youth groups and refereed basketball in western
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American International Yellow Jackets men's basketball players
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2022 UConn interview with Brooks Fitch, Harrison Fitch's son
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Connecticut State students rallied in support of Fitch. The
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169:incident at a scheduled game between UConn and the
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278:In 2022, Fitch was posthumously inducted into the
446:. Meriden, Connecticut. June 15, 1984. p. 2.
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467:"'Honey' Fitch Is Voted Favorite State Athlete"
267:and died on June 11, 1984, at the age of 72 in
830:Basketball players from New Haven, Connecticut
543:"Rough Battle Follows Drawing of Color Line"
551:. January 28, 1934. p. 4C – via
255:. Later in life, he became a researcher at
845:20th-century African-American sportspeople
630:"New England Students Protest 'Agreement'"
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747:– via Connecticut Digital Archive.
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511:. Vol. 22, no. 18. p. 8.
271:. He is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in
251:. In 1938 he signed with the Walcos in
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599:Severance, Jaclyn (February 1, 2022).
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171:United States Coast Guard Academy
154:(c. 1912 – June 11, 1984) was an
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378:Amore, Don (February 14, 2021).
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440:"Obituaries: Harrison Fitch".
234:American International College
165:(UConn). He was targeted in a
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73:June 11, 1984 (aged 72)
674:The Connecticut Campus
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134:American International
57:New Haven, Connecticut
33:Harrison Fitch in 1934
682:11134/20002:860216903
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313:(Coast Guard) met in
191:Hillhouse High School
173:on January 27, 1934.
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637:. February 3, 1934.
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471:The Hartford Courant
39:Personal information
835:Guards (basketball)
763:"Calling 'Em Right"
232:transferred to the
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324:Connecticut Campus
181:Fitch was born in
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815:1984 deaths
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253:Wallingford
238:Springfield
130:(1933–1934)
111:High school
82:Nationality
804:Categories
348:References
292:New London
202:basketball
69:1984-06-11
47:circa 1912
643:531016710
183:New Haven
177:Biography
115:Hillhouse
639:ProQuest
257:Monsanto
218:football
210:baseball
85:American
122:College
49: (
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212:, and
167:racist
296:South
265:Mason
198:guard
152:Fitch
148:Honey
128:UConn
774:2021
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689:2021
650:2021
612:2022
586:2021
524:2021
479:2021
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227:and
63:Died
51:1912
44:Born
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236:in
216:in
214:end
208:in
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
