Walter Schlichter

Henry Walter "Slick" Schlichter (1866-1944) was an American sports executive, sportswriter, and boxing referee. He wrote for the Philadelphia Item, a daily newspaper. Along with National Baseball Hall of Famer Sol White and Philadelphia Tribune baseball writer Harry A. Smith, Schlichter co-founded the Philadelphia Giants Negro league baseball team. He owned the Philadelphia Giants until he disbanded the team in 1911. He also co-founded an early all-black baseball league, the National Association of Colored Baseball Clubs of the United States and Cuba, and served as its president from 1906 to 1909.

He also worked as a boxing referee from 1893 to 1910. Schlichter appears as the referee in Thomas Eakins's 1898 painting Taking the Count.

Taking the Count (1898) by Thomas Eakins, Yale University Art Gallery.

The Referee - Study for Taking the Count (1898) by Thomas Eakins, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.