NEW HAVEN, Conn. –Yale University Athletics celebrates Black History month in February and will feature some of pioneers, both past and present, that have helped shaped the Bulldog experience. First up, is Levi Jackson, class of 1950.
Jackson was selected as the first black football captain at Yale for the 1949 season and the appointment came just 19 months after Jackie Robison broke Major League Baseball's (MLB) color barrier. Jackson was also the first Ivy League player to be selected as a captain to start a season. He was the first black captain in any sport at Yale.
Jackson captained Team 70 after playing fullback and punter for Yale's nationally-ranked team in his first year. That season he finished fifth in the nation with 806 rushing yards and earned New England Player of the year honors from the Gridiron Club of Boston. He was slowed by injury as a sophomore but bounced back to lead Bulldogs in rushing and receiving yards as a junior.
Jackson went on to graduate with honors from Yale with majors in sociology, psychology and economics. Additionally, he played basketball for the Bulldogs and was the first black student to make Yale's senior society.
The local, Branford, Conn., product played football and basketball at the Hillhouse High School before he joined the Camp Lee football team in team in Virginia while he served as a staff sergeant in the Army.
After Yale, Jackson went on to join the Ford Motor Company where he held major executive titles in both urban affairs and labor relations while also working in the government affairs office. He was one of the first black executives at a major American corporation.
He was also very involved with the New Detroit Committee after the 1967 riots. The committee worked to create job opportunities for inner-city residents. Two years later, during the Vietnam War, Jackson earned an appointment to the National Selective Service Appeal Board.
Jackson served at Ford until 1983 when he retired with the title of Vice President.
In 1987, Jackson earned the Walter Camp Collegiate Man of the Year Award.
Regarded by many as a symbol of racial progress in America, Jackson died on December 7, 2000 at his home in Detroit. He was 74.
