Indiana football's first Black player: From charmed life to tragedy

BLOOMINGTON -- Preston Eagleson's life was as charmed as it could have been for a Black kid growing up in the 1870s and 1880s, decades before the Civil Rights movement, decades before Black students played on white football teams and took classes in the halls of elite universities.

Eagleson walked onto the campus of Indiana University in 1892, the first Black athlete in any sport to play at the college. He would spend the next four years on the football team battling it out on the field as his white teammates embraced him.

Dina Kellams, director of University Archives and Special Collections at IU Libraries, tells a story of Eagleson being turned down by innkeepers at Nutt House Hotel while traveling for an away game in Crawfordsville to take on Wabash.

Every one of his teammates stood by his side in solidarity. "If Preston can't stay here, we're not staying here."

Not only did Eagleson have the support of his team but his father, a prominent Black barber in the city, filed a lawsuit against the Nutt House and won -- $50 in damages, worth about $1,801 today.

As a football player, Eagleson found great success as a left halfback (running back) though the team struggled until his senior year, coming up with their first winning season in 1895 (4-3-1).

As a student, Eagleson amassed many accolades, too. "Preston was a big figure on campus," Kellams said.

He was the first Black student to compete in the state oratory contest. And, he was only the second Black student to graduate from IU.

But that charmed life on the Bloomington campus wouldn't last for Eagleson. After a short, successful career in teaching, his life ended tragically at the age of 35. Eagleson was found starved to death in his home after being in and out of mental institutions.

His death came after Eagleson's attempted murder of his wife with a butcher's knife, according to police reports at the time.

"Both of them, Preston and Halson," Kellams said, "have really great, but really sad stories."

Halson V. Eagleson, Jr., was Preston Eagleson's younger brother. And his story on IU's campus was not nearly as charmed as his brother's.

Kidnapped before the Purdue game

Halson didn't play football, but he was a member of the Indiana University Marching Hundred band and, in the early 1920s, he was the only Black student marching in the band.

"Apparently, there was a bit of a brouhaha from some folks about there being an African American member of the band," Kellams said. Among the people unhappy were three white IU students.

In November 1922, before IU was set to take on Purdue in their football rivalry, those three students approached Halson and told him they were going to buy a horn in Owen County. They wanted Halson to go with them to inspect the horn and give his opinion of what it was worth.

Halson agreed. But once in the car with the three boys, things took an unexpected turn. As they were driving to Owen County, their car was pulled over by the sheriff who, without much explanation, took Halson into custody.

According to Kellams, the sheriff had received "a call from a man who identified himself as a detective." That man told the sheriff his department was looking for a Black suspect who was believed to be driving in a car with three white men out to Owen County. That detective asked the sheriff to arrest the Black man.

"And the sheriff said, 'Sure, I can do that,'" Kellams said. "So he set himself up in a spot where he would see them drive by from Bloomington, pulled them over, took Halson into custody."

Newspapers reported that Halson asked to make a phone call to his sister, but the sheriff did not allow that call. Halson spent the night in jail.

The next day, the supposed detective called the sheriff and told him he could release Halson. But that night in jail kept Halson from playing with IU's band at the Purdue game. According to one report, the missed game kept him from earning his letter in the band, which would have made him the first Black member to achieve that.

Kellams says that "would make a whole lot of sense," but her research didn't find the incident was related to Halson earning a letter.

"They tried to talk that it was just a prank, but Eagleson and the Eagleson family really blamed the white community for creating all of this racial tension in Bloomington. And this is why this happened to their son," Kellams said. "And so they decided to go ahead and press charges against the three boys."

Because the Ku Klux Klan was big in Indiana, the potential jury members were interviewed intensely to assure they weren't part of the KKK, according to newspaper articles at the time.

When the jury came back after the trial, nine members had voted for acquittal of the boys and three voted for conviction. The state said it was going to retry the case, but they ultimately dismissed it due to lack of evidence.

Unlike his brother Preston, Halson went on to be extremely successful and lived a long life. Halson became the first Black student to be awarded a doctorate in physics and the first to be elected to Sigma Xi, the honorary science society.

Early in his career, Halson taught at Morehouse and Clark in Atlanta. He then moved to Washington, D.C., where he spent most of his teaching career at Howard University as chair of the physics department.

"It was a very sad and upsetting, I'm sure, piece of his story," Kellams said. "He just went on to be a superstar."

Preston: 'He seemed to have some sort of a breakdown'

Success was expected in the Eagleson family, a prominent name in the city of Bloomington for four generations. Their achievements made such an impact on the city that Bloomington renamed a street in their honor in 2022. Eagleson Avenue became the new name for Jordan Avenue from Davis Street to 17th Street.

"Today, we celebrate and honor the significant contributions made by the Eagleson family to Bloomington," Mayor John Hamilton said at the time. "With this street name change, we illustrate our community’s core values."

The patriarch of the family was Halson V. Eagleson, Sr., who was born into slavery in 1851 and came to Bloomington in the 1880s and became a prominent and successful barber.

Eagleson Shaving Parlors offered it all. "Hair cutting, shaving, shampooing, singeing, professional massage and hot or cold bath with attendant."

But mostly, this city barber shop was known for its owner, Halson V. Eagleson, Sr. He had six children, including Preston and Halson, Jr., who attended Indiana University. In 1910, with legislative approval, he opened Industrial City, a home and farm for Black orphans for the State of Indiana in Unionville.

Halson, Sr., was also a founder of Bethel AME Church in Bloomington, where he served as a trustee, steward and local minister.

His son Preston tried to follow in his father's footsteps after making his name as Indiana football's first Black player. After graduating with a degree in philosophy, Pretson entered law school in 1896 then became a teacher. He tried his hand at operating a barber shop.

"And some of the newspaper articles talk about how he was a really sought-out teacher around the country. And he did some teaching in St. Louis," Kellams said. "And then this is where it gets sad."

In 1908, Preston "seemed to have some sort of breakdown," she said. "And in the newspapers, there's stories about him trying to attack his wife with a butcher knife. And then by 1911, he died."

Kellams looked up Preston's death certificate which said he died at home of starvation. Before his death, he had been in state hospitals in Indianapolis and Madison.

How Preston Eagleson went from a charmed life as the first Black athlete at Indiana University to what became his tragic ending, Kellams says, is not documented in the archives of the Eagleson family. And it may never be known.

But his path as a trailblazer for Indiana football won't be forgotten.

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: [email protected].   

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Preston Eagleson: Indiana football's 1st Black player's life ended in tragedy