Buck O’Neil Attended Edward Waters College Before Becoming the First Black Coach in Major League Baseball

Did you know that the first African American coach in Major League Baseball got his education at a historically Black college in Florida after his local high school refused to admit him? His name was Buck O’Neil, and his life in baseball helped carry the game toward the integration it had long resisted.

John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil was born on November 13, 1911, in Carrabelle, Florida. Barred from attending Sarasota High School because he was Black, he studied instead at Edward Waters College, now Edward Waters University, the historically Black institution in Jacksonville. That education set the foundation for a life spent in the game he loved.

O’Neil made his name in the Negro Leagues. He joined the Kansas City Monarchs in 1938 as a first baseman and helped lead the team to four straight Negro American League pennants and a Negro League World Series title in 1942. From 1948 to 1955 he served as the Monarchs’ player-manager, where he discovered and developed future stars, including Hall of Famer Ernie Banks and Elston Howard.

His talent for evaluating players caught the attention of the Chicago Cubs, who hired him as a scout in 1955. Then came the moment that made history. As the Baseball Hall of Fame records, on May 29, 1962, the Cubs promoted O’Neil to their coaching staff, making him the first African American coach in Major League Baseball.

O’Neil never stopped serving the game and its history. After returning to Kansas City, he founded the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in 1990 and served as its chairman, dedicating himself to preserving the story of Black baseball for generations to come. He became one of the most beloved ambassadors the sport has ever known.

Honors followed the life he lived. In 2006, O’Neil was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. He died on October 6, 2006, in Kansas City, Missouri, at the age of 94. In 2022, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

From Edward Waters College to the dugout at Wrigley Field to the museum he built with his own hands, Buck O’Neil spent a lifetime opening doors and keeping the story of Black baseball alive.