WOOSTER — Shelby native Jim Stoner has devoted years to telling people the story of Charles Follis, the first Black professional football player in America.
Stoner started by researching and writing the stage play “The Black Cyclone.” He’s now assisting in planning a feature film on the life of Follis, who played for the Shelby Blues from 1902-1906.
Most importantly, he continues keeping the remarkable story Follis in front of the public.
An event to mark his life and legacy — which had been scheduled on his birthday Feb. 3 in Wooster, where he became a football star — has been rescheduled for Thursday, Feb. 10 in the hallway outside of the Wayne County Convention and Visitors Bureau, 428 W. Liberty St.
“Charles should be recognized on the same level as Jackie Robinson, as he predated him by 45 years in breaking the race barrier in major sports,” said Stoner, who now lives outside Fredericktown.
“As Archie Griffin put it in my first conversation with him, ‘If you had not had Charles Follis, we would not have had Jackie Robinson for decades,’ ” Stoner said.
Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich in 2018 signed legislation approved by the General Assembly selecting Feb. 3 “Charles Follis Day,” to honor the 6-0, 200-pound star who attended Wooster High School and helped establish the first varsity football team in 1899.
Stoner said since then, a number of hardworking individuals from across north central Ohio have worked to find ways to celebrate Follis’ accomplishments, and heightening folks’ recognition of the phenomenal athlete.
Though information surfaced in the 1970s that there was a contract discovered, identifying Follis as the “first” pro football player of color in 1902 Shelby, he did not begin to gain broad recognition until local football historian Stoner wrote the play about his life.
Follis was also featured in a chapter in the book Ohio’s Autumn Legends, Volume I (available at Amazon.com) by Richland Source managing editor Larry Phillips.
In recent years, a street in Shelby was renamed “Charles Follis Way,” the play has been staged across Ohio nine times, and a “driving tour” called “The Black Cyclone Trail” has been installed at 12 stops between Wooster and Shelby.
Stoner’s research has solidified the connection between Follis and Robinson. He has determined Branch Rickey played football with Follis in Shelby in 1902, providing an example Rickey could later draw on when he signed Robinson for Major League Baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
“For Black History Month, The Charles Follis Committee hopes that people will take a moment and respect Charles Follis for facing the racism and strife as he became a standout athlete, and changed the face of sports in America forever.,” Stoner said.
Follis died from pneumonia in 1910 at age 31.
For more information, one can reach Jim Stoner at the Black Cyclone website, www.blackcyclone.org.
