Donald Edward Hudson (November 20, 1929 – September 30, 2018) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Macalester College from 1972 to 1975 and at Lincoln University in

Jefferson City, Missouri Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the capital of Missouri, United States. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 census, ranking as the 15th most populous city in the state. It is also the county seat of Cole County and the princip ...

from 1976 to 1979, compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

record of 9–72–2. When he was hired at Macalester, Hudson became first African-American head football coach at a predominantly white college in the modern era. Hudson became the head coach in December 1971 when his predecessor, Dick Borstad, resigned. Macalester College barely publicized the milestone. As a result, other predominantly white schools were subsequently reported to have hired the first African-American head football coach in the modern era:

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

with the hiring of

Ron Stratten Ron Stratten (born 1943) is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Portland State University team from 1972 to 1974. He compiled an overall record of 9–24 in three seasons. Stratten was one of the first Africa ...

in 1972 and

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

with the hiring of Cass Jackson in 1973. Hudson was recognized for his breakthrough at half time of a Macalester game in October 2007. Hudson played

as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for Lincoln University and was an assistant coach there through the 1950s and 1960s. He was offered a head coaching job at Minneapolis Central High School, where he was the first African-American coach in that school's league. He then took a coaching and teaching job at predominantly white Macalester College in 1971. He went 3–36 in his first four seasons as head coach at Macalester.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Don 1929 births 2018 deaths American football quarterbacks Lincoln Blue Tigers athletic directors Lincoln Blue Tigers football coaches Lincoln Blue Tigers football players Macalester Scots football coaches High school football coaches in Minnesota Sportspeople from Pittsburgh Players of American football from Pittsburgh African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people

Head coaching record

College

Further reading

References