Arthur Wharton, the World's First Black Professional Footballer

Arthur Wharton was born on October 28, 1865, in Jamestown, part of what is now Accra, on the Gold Coast. His father, Henry Wharton, was a Methodist missionary of Grenadian, Scottish and West African descent, and his mother, Annie Florence Egyriba, belonged to Fante royalty. In 1882, at 19, Arthur travelled to England to train as a missionary himself at Cleveland College in Darlington, a plan that unraveled almost immediately once his talent on the football pitch and the running track became apparent.

He signed with Darlington as a goalkeeper and went on to play for Preston North End, Rotherham Town, Sheffield United and finally Stockport County before retiring from football in 1902, a career that spanned nearly two decades and is now widely credited as the first by a Black player in the professional game. His goalkeeping style drew attention for its unconventional athleticism, including a reported habit of hanging from the crossbar between plays, a novelty at a time when the position was still a developing art.

Wharton’s speed made him just as notable outside football. On July 3, 1886, competing at Stamford Bridge in London, he became the first sprinter recorded running 100 yards in 10 seconds under recognized championship conditions, a time that stood as an amateur record for more than thirty years. He also competed as a professional cricketer and rugby player during and after his football career, one of the most versatile athletes of his era.

Wharton’s later years were far harder than his playing days. He struggled with alcoholism, left professional sport, and spent his final years working as a colliery haulage hand in the Yorkshire coalfields. He died on December 12, 1930, and was buried in an unmarked grave at Edlington Cemetery in South Yorkshire, his contribution to the sport largely forgotten for decades. It took until 1997, after a campaign led by the anti-racism organization Football Unites, Racism Divides, for a headstone to be placed on his grave. In 2003 he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame, and in 2014 a statue of him was unveiled at St George’s Park, the English Football Association’s national training center, a public recognition that came more than 80 years after his death.