Douglas Fergusson Roby (March 24, 1898 – March 31, 1992) was an American sportsman and
Olympics official. After playing
football at
Phillips University
Phillips University was a private university Enid, Oklahoma. It opened in 1906 and closed in 1998. It was affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It included an undergraduate college and a graduate seminary. The university wa ...
and the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, he worked for American Metal Products Company, an automobile parts manufacturer, from 1923 to 1963. From 1951 to 1953, he was the president of the
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...
, then America's governing body for many amateur sports. He was vice president (1953–65) and president (1965–68) of the
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...
and one of two American members of the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(1952–84). As president of the USOC during the
1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...
, he expelled African-American athletes
Tommie Smith
Tommie C. Smith (born June 6, 1944) is an American former track and field athlete and former wide receiver in the American Football League. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Smith, aged 24, won the 200-meter sprint finals and gold medal in 19.83&nb ...
and
John Carlos after their
raised-fist Black Power salute during a medal ceremony.
Early years
Roby was born in
Port Tobacco, Maryland
Port Tobacco, officially Port Tobacco Village, is a town in Charles County, in southern Maryland, United States. The population was 13 at the 2010 census, making Port Tobacco the smallest incorporated town in Maryland.
Overview
This was historical ...
,
and grew up in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
where he attended
Wendell Phillips High School
Wendell Phillips Academy High School is a public 4–year high school located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Phillips is part of the Chicago Public Schools district and is managed by the Acad ...
.
In 1916 he received a scholarship to the
Michigan Military Academy
The Michigan Military Academy, also known as M.M.A., was an all-boys military prep school in Orchard Lake Village, Oakland County, Michigan. It was founded in 1877 by J. Sumner Rogers and closed in 1908 due to bankruptcy. Some journalists h ...
at
Brighton, Michigan
Brighton is a city in the Detroit metropolitan area in southeastern Livingston County, Michigan, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,444. Brighton forms part of the South Lyon-Howell-Brighton Urban Area. It is one of ...
, where he helped the football team to an undefeated season that fall.
[
]
Phillips University
While attending the academy, Roby became friends with John Maulbetsch
John Frederick Maulbetsch (June 20, 1890 – September 14, 1950) was an All-American football halfback at Adrian College in 1911 and for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1914 to 1916. He is also a member of the College Football Hal ...
,[ a star halfback at the ]University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. After graduating, Maulbetsch accepted the head football coaching job at Phillips University
Phillips University was a private university Enid, Oklahoma. It opened in 1906 and closed in 1998. It was affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It included an undergraduate college and a graduate seminary. The university wa ...
in Enid, Oklahoma
Enid ( ) is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,308. Enid was founded during the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in the Land Run of 1893, a ...
. Phillips was a small, private school without a well-known athletic program. Roby was Maulbetsch's first recruit to play at Phillips. With Roby as team captain and future Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...
r Steve Owen also on the team, Phillips lost only one game in 1918 and 1919, including a 10–0–1 record in 1919.[ The Phillips "Haymakers" defeated Oklahoma and the ]Texas Longhorns
The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...
, gaining a reputation as "one of the strongest teams in the southwest." When Phillips defeated Texas 10-0 in Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
in October 1919, the Longhorns had not lost a game since 1917. One Texas newspaper reported that Phillips had "whitewashed the Longhorns in their own corral."
University of Michigan
In February 1920, Roby transferred to the University of Michigan,[ where he worked his way through college by racking balls in a billiards parlor six hours a day.][ He played for the Michigan Wolverines in 1921 and 1922 both as a ]left fielder
In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...
in baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
and a fullback in football.[ He graduated in a degree in business administration in 1923.][
]
Professional football and squash
Roby played professional football for one year with the Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
in 1923. Roby was the starting tailback in all seven games for the Indians in 1923, scoring one touchdown
A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...
and also kicking an extra point
The conversion, try (American football, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, or (depending on the number of points) extra point/2-point conversion), or convert (Canadian football) occurs immediately after a touchdown during which the sc ...
.[ Statistics are not available for his yardage gained. He later played ]squash
Squash may refer to:
Sports
* Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets
* Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling
* Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
for the Detroit team from 1928–1936, winning the national championship in 1932.
American Metal Products Company
Roby joined the American Metal Products Company, a Detroit-based automotive parts manufacturer in 1926, and retired as board chairman in 1963.[ Roby was the company's president in 1958 when a furnace being used to temper automobile seat springs exploded, collapsing the roof of the company's three-block-long plant, causing injury to several workers.
]
Amateur athletics official
Roby began a fifty-year career as an athletic official by serving several terms on the University of Michigan's Board in Control of Athletics. From 1951 to 1953, he was the president of the U.S. Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...
, then America's governing body for many amateur sports.[ And in 1952, he was selected to serve on the ]International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
and was one of two American members on the IOC from 1952-1984.[ He also served as vice president of the ]United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...
from 1953–1965 and as the president of the USOC from 1965-1968.[ Roby was also elected as the third president of the Pan American Sports Organisation for the 1955-1959 term.
]
Detroit's Olympic bids
From 1939 through the 1960s, Roby sought to bring the Olympics to Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
. When Detroit was selected over Los Angeles as the USOC's proposed site for the 1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...
, IOC member John Garland from California declined to support the American bid. Roby noted: "John Garland of California -- I doubt if he will support us. He was quite hurt that Detroit prevailed over Los Angeles in the competition before the American Olympic Committee for the right to bid for the games. But I don't think that will hurt us. On the contrary, the propaganda by people in California against us might help because it has been unsportsmanlike." Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
ultimately proceeded to win the right to host the 1968 Games.
Leadership at the 1968 Olympics
During the 1968 Olympics as the president of the USOC, Roby took disciplinary action against members of the U.S Olympic delegation due to their participation in an act of political protest during the 1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...
in Mexico City. The protest involved African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
athletes Tommie Smith
Tommie C. Smith (born June 6, 1944) is an American former track and field athlete and former wide receiver in the American Football League. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Smith, aged 24, won the 200-meter sprint finals and gold medal in 19.83&nb ...
and John Carlos, who raised black-gloved fists and bowed their heads while "The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...
" was played during a medal ceremony. Initially inclined not to take action against Smith and Carlos, Roby faced considerable pressure from the International Olympic Committee and ultimately ordered the two to be removed from the Olympic village and sent home, though he did not strip them of their medals.[ Roby had called the USOC executive board into session immediately after the protest; they issued a two-page statement apologizing to the IOC and the Mexican hosts for the act, saying no action was planned but hinting that no further demonstrations would be tolerated.][ Hours later, the USOC was asked to withdraw its statement. Roby explained, "At 6 p.m. I had a call from the IOC to meet with them at 9 p.m. When I got there, I found the committee was adamant that severe action be taken against the offending athletes. I told them our committee was undecided. I asked, 'What if we do nothing?' They told me quite firmly that if the United States found that it could not control its athletes, then the IOC might be forced to firm action. I was led to believe that there was a threat of throwing out the entire U.S. team."] Other accounts have confirmed that the USOC refused to ban the two but gave in when the IOC threatened to expel the entire US track team. The USOC went back into session after midnight and ordered the removal of Smith and Carlos.[ Roby later defended the decision in an interview with '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', saying:
We suppressed the demonstrators because we felt if we let it go it would get progressively worse, it would become a tip-off to others, white as well as black. We let a lot of things go by—berets, black socks, hands up and down—even though there are specific rules against changes in uniform in the competitor's handbook. But we felt that would be flyspecking. But we couldn't let a flagrant demonstration go by. We considered that we might have a boycott on our hands but we had to take the chance.
At the 1968 Olympics, Roby also condemned members of the rowing team from Harvard that publicly endorsed the demonstrations. Roby sent a letter to Harvard’s coach criticizing his alleged involvement. Roby wrote:
At one point, I personally was in favor of disqualifying you and your crew for acts grossly unbecoming to members of our Olympic team. I am now glad I did not encourage such a harsh action for I feel that the miserable performance of you and your crew at Mexico City will stand as a permanent record against you and the athletes which you led. As a boy I had great admiration and respect for Harvard and the men it produced. Certainly serious intellectual degeneration has taken place in this once great University if you and several members of your crew are examples of the type of men that are within its walls.
Controversies over China and South Africa
In 1979, Roby voted against the readmission of China to the Olympics, but China prevailed by a vote of 62-17.[ In 1984, he advocated the readmission of ]apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
-era South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
to the Olympics.[ Roby resigned from the IOC in 1985 and retired from the USOC in 1986.
]
Death
Roby died of heart failure at a nursing home in Ann Arbor.[ He was 94 years old at the time of his death in 1992, making him the oldest living U-M letterman.][ He was survived by a son, Douglas F. Roby Jr., two daughters, Hermine Roby Klingler, and Ruth Roby Glancy.][
]
See also
* University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor The University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs.
* 1968 Olympics Black Power salute
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roby, Doug
1898 births
1992 deaths
American chief executives
American football fullbacks
People in the automobile industry
Cleveland Indians (NFL 1923) players
International Olympic Committee members
Michigan Wolverines baseball players
Michigan Wolverines football players
Phillips Haymakers football players
Ross School of Business alumni
People from Port Tobacco Village, Maryland
Players of American football from Chicago
Players of American football from Detroit
Presidents of the United States Olympic Committee
Sportspeople from Detroit
Sportspeople from Chicago
American male squash players