Bough Breaks the Color Barrier

As the first Black History Month of this new decade, February of 2020, was commemorated at St. Francis College (SFC) Brooklyn Heights, NY,  the Athletics department kicked it off by honoring Al Innis, center with the 1955-56 St. Francis Terriers, who was the Metropolitan New York Conference Regular Season Champions with a 21—4 record. He became the first recipient of the Levi “Yogi” Bough Trailblazer Award.

This award came about because of the diligence of Jamal Womack, Men’s Basketball Assistant Coach at SFC. In researching the college’s basketball historical events, he came across the story of Levi “Yogi” Bough breaking the color barrier as the first African American to play on the men’s basketball team in 1947.

As an amateur “genealogist”, I developed a blog that included the Bough family. I also, on occasion, try to sharpen my skills by participating in various challenges. One such challenge, the Amy Crow genealogy series “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, provided me with an opportunity to showcase my uncle, Levi “Yogi” Bough.

The article caught the attention of Asst. Coach Womack, who commented “the time is now”. That led to St. Francis College finally acknowledging my uncle’s challenges as the first Black player at their institution, and his many contributions, athletically and academically.    In November 2019, he was officially recognized with a ceremony on campus, with his family, including myself, in attendance. It was on that very special celebration that the Levi “Yogi” Bough Trailblazer Award was established; to pay tribute to a player who displayed the same trailblazing attributes that my uncle, “Yogi” exhibited as an alumnus of this grand center of learning.

My uncle’s legacy will remain in the annals of the history books, to be of encouragement to the many young black/brown men, those now here and those to come. I am proud of my uncle, thankful to SFC Director of Athletics Irma Garcia, Associate Director Maggie Martini.  I am also grateful to the Bough family in New York for joining me to celebrate this historic event, honoring the legacy, of our beloved Levi “Yogi” Bough. 

A heartfelt thank-you to Jamaal Womack who believed that during the 70^th year of the SFC Terriers basketball team; it was time to honor “Yogi” officially.   Jamaal said the celebration would be filled with publicity activities for the 2-3-day event, to include the NY Amsterdam News coverage.   Coach Womack proudly stated:  For the first time ever, The Levi “Yogi” Bough Trail Blazer award will be presented every first basketball game, Black History (February) Month, at St. Francis College, Bklyn, NY.

Levi G. Bough was born 1921 in St. Croix, USVI.  He was the son of Julius and Carolyn Gasper-Bough. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 87 at his home in Switzerland.