ST. LOUIS — George Coleman Poage’s connection to St. Louis extended beyond an Olympic track. After becoming the first Black American to win an Olympic medal at the 1904 Games, he remained in the city and worked in education.
Poage earned bronze medals in the 200-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles, according to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum. He also competed in the 60-meter dash and 400-meter run.
Born in Hannibal, Missouri, in 1880, Poage moved with his family to La Crosse, Wisconsin, as a child. At the University of Wisconsin, he competed in sprint and hurdle events and graduated in the class of 1903 with a history degree.
His Olympic appearance came while Black athletes faced calls to boycott the St. Louis Games because of segregated spectator facilities. Poage competed for the Milwaukee Athletic Club and finished third in both hurdle events.
The museum’s account says Poage stayed in St. Louis as a school principal before teaching at Charles Sumner High School. His classroom work connects a pioneering athletic career with the city’s history of Black education.
Poage later lived in Chicago and worked for the U.S. Postal Service. His record brings together several parts of a Missouri story: a Hannibal birthplace, an Olympic breakthrough in St. Louis and service to students after the competition ended.
Sources: U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum: George Poage; University of Wisconsin Athletics: George Coleman Poage
