Willard Stargel

Willard Stargel (not to be confused with Willie Stargell of MLB fame) was a popular student athlete who began his college athletics career in 1942 and eventually became a star player on the UC football, basketball, and track teams. A majority of his games were played at Nippert Stadium which was constructed in 1915. Willard Stargel’s upward success was halted in 1946 when he was barred from the Sun Bowl in Kentucky because the opposing team refused to take the field with him due to his skin color. UC’s president at the time turned down the invitation to the Sun Bowl because of this, but the board of trustees overruled him and the team went to play without Stargel. The following season there were two other cases where Stargel was forced to sit out due to refusal of the opposing team to play against a black man--when UC faced the University of Kentucky, and when UC faced Tulsa in Oklahoma. These were the only games that the University of Cincinnati lost that season in 1947. After this event, the Quadres Society of UC, a black student organization, pushed Stargel onto the ballot for student council. Although he did not win a seat, this act highlighted the forward movement in the integration of Black students into all levels of UC student activity. Despite his eventful college career Stargel is most fondly remembered as a coach and father figure to young athletes in the West End, where he coached at Taft High School even driving his pupils to campus in order to ensure their success. The stadium there is named in his honor.