A LOOK BACK: KAPPA HISTORY
In 1919, while serving the United States in the military during World War I, he competed in the Inter-Allied Games in Paris, France. Sol won a gold medal in the long jump, setting a U.S. long jump record and was knighted by the King of Montenegro Sol was made a Knight of the Third Order of Danilo – while still being refused to be served at local establishments in the U.S. Belgium, the first Black from Kansas to compete in this premier sporting event. Sol was rated as a heavy favorite for the championship, his 24’ 9.5” winning jump at Paris, was two inches from the Olym- pic record and was considered a strong possibility for a new Olympic record. Sol was among 29 long-jumpers and placed seventh after he pulled a tendon on his first jump and was forced to withdraw;
seven school athletic records and won 186 medals at Dubuque. According to Arthur Ashe Jr.'s book, Hard Road to Glory, A History of the African-American Athlete, Butler was the first Black to quarterback a team for all four years of college. He averaged 25 yards per carry as quarterback. When Sol was competing, track and field of activities were restricted. There was no national collegiate meet and few indoor competitions. In the early years of the Drake Relays, there was no such event as the broad jump. Sol won the championship twice. In 1919, Sol won both broad jump and the 100-yard-dash at the Penn Relays. In 1919, while serving the United States in the military during World War I, he competed in the Inter-Allied Games in Paris, France. Sol won a gold medal in the long jump, setting a U.S. long jump record and was knighted by the King of Montenegro. Sol was made a Knight of the Third Order of Danilo – while still being refused to be served at local establishments in the U.S. He was a 1920 Olympics competitor at Antwerp,
the injury-hampered effort was a shade under 21’ 8”. He won the U.S. National Amateur Athletic Union championship that same year by jumping 24’ 8”, break- ing the record set in 1900. He was a member of the once famous 40-Club basketball team. Sol moved to Chicago, where he became an early member of the Chicago (IL) Alumni Chapter, lived in the Kastle on Kalumet in the middle 1920s, participated in the Fraternity’s early theatrical productions, and played in the Fraternity’s 1920s championship basketball team. He also played on six early National Football League teams, including the Hammond Pros, Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs (starting quarterback), Buffalo Bisons, Rock Island Independents, and Chicago Cardinals (halfback). He signed on with the Rock Island Independents in 1923. Local testimonies raved about his first appearance in the victory over the Chicago Bears. His contract from Rock Island was sold to the Hammond Pros in November 1923 for the remain- der of the season for $10,000.
Butler at the Inter-Allied Games in Paris France in 1919.
THE JOURNAL ♦ SPRING 2020 | 117
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