Samuel Ransom
| Samuel "Sammie" Ransom | |||
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| Second baseman | |||
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Born: 1883 Illinois |
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Died: 1970 Minnesota |
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| Negro league baseball debut | |||
| 1907, for the St. Paul Colored Gophers | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| 1907, for the St. Paul Colored Gophers | |||
| Teams | |||
Samuel L. "Sammie" Ransom (1883–1970) was an African American high school, college, and professional athlete for several sports. He played professional football, baseball, and later coached college football. Some researchers believe he is the first African American to play college basketball.
Ransom was born in Illinois and attended Hyde Park Preparatory Academy from 1899 to 1902. In football, he played halfback. In baseball, he played catcher, he was a forward on the basketball team, and worked on field events for the track team.
During his time at Hyde Park, the basketball team went to the championship. The football team went to county, state and even an "intersectional preparatory school game" with Brooklyn Polytechnic, beating them 105 to 0.
The track team went to the Penn Relays. And according to a close teammate, he also worked as a bell boy in the Del Prado Hotel after classes and sports practice.
The teammate, Walter Eckersall, also said Ransom got good grades and used the time between calls as a bell boy to study. Eckersall went on to Quarterback for the University of Chicago and became a sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune.
Amos Alonzo Stagg of the University of Chicago football team tried to recruit Ransom along with Quarterback Walter Eckersall. Ransom declined and instead attended Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin playing four sports there. He graduated in 1908. He led the 1904–1905 Beloit team to a 9-4 record.
In 1906, Ransom was injured during rush week, dislocating his shoulder. Later in 1906, he helped the basketball team go undefeated, 9-0 in the winter of 1906–1907.
Between his Junior and Senior year at Beloit, he was a second baseman for the St. Paul Colored Gophers. He moved to Minnesota again after graduation in 1908. During the years in Minnesota, when not playing professional sports, Ransom also worked for a business men's club in St. Paul called the "Minnesota Club."
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