Gabe Patterson

Gabe Patterson
Nickname(s)"Galloping Gabe"
Born:(1919-09-09)September 9, 1919
Greenwood, South Carolina
Died:October 26, 1991(1991-10-26) (aged 72)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Career information
CFL statusAmerican
Position(s)Halfback, Kicker
CollegeKentucky State, Pittsburgh
Career history
As player
1947–48Saskatchewan Roughriders
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star1947, 1948
Gabe Patterson
Outfielder
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Negro league baseball debut
1941, for the New York Black Yankees
Last appearance
1948, for the Philadelphia Stars
Teams

Gabe Patterson (September 9, 1919 – October 26, 1991) was an American professional multi-sport athlete who played Canadian football and Negro league baseball.

Career

Patterson played high school football at Schenley High School in Pittsburgh,[1][2] and his college football at Kentucky State and the University of Pittsburgh.[3] He was signed by the Montreal Alouettes in 1947, but was released.[4] He then signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, playing two seasons and was selected an all-star in both seasons.[5] Patterson was the first African-American to play for the Roughriders, breaking the colour barrier, like Herb Trawick.[6]

Patterson also played professional baseball for the New York Black Yankees in 1941 and 1947, and for the Philadelphia Stars in 1947 and 1948.[2] He had a wife and three daughters,[3] and died in Pittsburgh in 1991 at age 72. His previously unmarked grave was marked by the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project in 2009.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Gabe Patterson". profootballarchives.com. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Gabe Patterson". seamheads.com. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Regina Grid Fans Blow Gabe's Horn". The Winnipeg Tribune. October 18, 1948. p. 15. Retrieved December 19, 2014 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ Regina Lays Claim to Charlton: Riders set sights on 1948, by George Foster, Ottawa Citizen, Jan. 27, 1948
  5. ^ CFLAPEDIA entry - Saskatchewan Roughriders and Gabe Gets Major Score for Regina, Ottawa Citizen, Sept. 29, 1947
  6. ^ The Rider Pride 100th anniversary book states that Robert "Stonewall" Jackson was the first African-American Rider player, in 1930. He was a porter with the railways and is in a team picture from that year. See: The Migration of African Americans to the Canadian Football League during the mid-20th Century: An Escape from Discrimination? by Neil Longley, Todd Crosset and Steve Jefferson (all Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts), IASE/NAASE Working Paper Series, Paper No. 07-13, June 2007.
  7. ^ "Completed Grave Marker Projects". nlbgmp.com. Retrieved October 7, 2020.