Ralph Metcalfe

Maura Dugan Deady
Saint Luke School, River Forest

Ralph Metcalfe was born on May 30, 1910, in Atlanta, Georgia. His family came to Chicago when Ralph was seven years old. Ralph's father worked in the stockyards, while his mother took in sewing to help her family earn money.

In 1930 Metcalfe graduated from Tilden Technical High School. Then he went on to Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was captain of the university track team. Metcalfe then went to Xavier College in Louisiana. There he joined the physical education department and was the track team coach. Metcalfe was the earliest black athlete to excel in sports and return to the South to share his knowledge of track with black students. He inspired many fine athletes by his example.

Many people may not know Ralph Metcalfe was an Olympian. He won the 400-medley relay race with Jesse Owens and two other Americans in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Metcalfe, Owens, and other black athletes stunned Adolph Hitler and the German Olympic team by their performances.

In the previous Olympics, in Los Angeles, Metcalfe broke or tied every world record in races from 40 to 220 yards in track. Although he never won any gold medals in individual events, Metcalfe ran many track events before the 1936 Olympics. He tied Eddie Toolan's record of 9.58 seconds in the one-hundred-yard dash.

Before his career in politics, Metcalfe served in the United States Army in World War II. At the beginning of the war he was a private, but he was soon promoted to lieutenant. Metcalfe was later given the Legion of Merit Award. During World War II, Metcalfe instructed all troops at Camp Plauche, Louisiana.

In 1949 Metcalfe began his political career, and just five years later he was named Athletic Commissioner of Illinois, a job he held from 1954 to 1970. Ralph also served on the Chicago City Council. His loyalty to Mayor Richard J. Daley helped him to be nominated and elected to the United States House of Representatives. Two years later, however, Metcalfe refused to support Mayor Daley because Daley's candidate for state's attorney was thought to have been involved with the killing of members of the Black Panther Party in a police raid. Later that year Metcalfe and Mayor Daley exchanged different views on the issue of police brutality. Two of Metcalfe's friends had been beaten by the police.

In 1974 Ralph Metcalfe was said to be "the strongest politician in the South Side," a predominantly black Chicago neighborhood. In 1976 he was re-elected to Congress.

Metcalfe was not only a congressman but a member of many civic organizations. Some of them involved the Olympics, others had to do with African Americans, veterans, and others. Sadly, on October 10, 1978, Metcalfe died of a heart attack.

"We lost a fine public servant and a dedicated Chicagoan," said Chicago Mayor Bilandic. President Jimmy Carter and Jesse Owens also had very many good things to say about Congressman Metcalfe. Recently a new Federal Office Building in Chicago was named after him, and so his memory endures.—[From "Congressman, 68 Climbed the Ranks," Chicago Tribune (Oct. 11, 1978); "Ralph Metcalfe," Afro-American Encyclopedia; Edwin B. Henderson, The Black Athlete; Harry A. Ploski and James Williams, eds. and comps.. The Negro Almanac; Bruce A. Ragsdale, Black Americans in Congress 1870-1989.]

ILLINOIS HISTORY / APRIL 1994

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