Frank Kinney Holbrook Frank Kinney Holbrook ( c . 1874 in Tipton , Iowa – ? ? ) was the first African American intercollegiate athlete at the University of Iowa and one of the first African Americans to participate on an American college varsity athletic squad . He played on the Iowa football team and lettered in both football and track in 1895 and 1896 . He was Iowa ' s leading scorer in 1896 and led the Hawkeyes to their first football conference title in school history . Background . Frank Holbrook lettered in track and football for Iowa in 1895 . How he came to be a part of the football team is not widely known . It is true , however , that in 1895 , Iowa nearly did not field an official team . The school Athletic Board ruled that recognition would not be granted until the team paid off its debts , and emergency fundraising was needed for the team to even be formed that season . To save money , however , the school did not hire a head coach . Practices were reportedly disorganized and sloppy , and the 1895 Hawkeyes posted a poor 2 - 5 record . Iowa football would never go without a professional head coach again . It was in this season of uncertainty that Frank Holbrook first participated in the Hawkeye football program as a freshman . The Ivy League was the premier conference in college football at that time , so Iowa hired former Pennsylvania star A . E . Bull as their head coach for the 1896 season . Bull ’ s arrival made Hawkeye fans optimistic that Iowa could bounce back from the disastrous 1895 campaign . The 1896 Season . Frank Holbrook returned for his second season in 1896 and was soon seen as Iowa ' s best ball carrier . Holbrook was a champion sprinter and Iowa ’ s best defensive man . He was described as " one of the best halfbacks in the west . He was generally given the ball when a good gain was needed on the last down . His line bucking was excellent . In falling on the ball after a fumble , he has his superior yet to meet . His ability lay in great part in his strength and sprinting qualities . " He was also Iowa ’ s first black football player and , as a result , a target for opposing teams . Iowa started the 1896 season with a 32 - 0 win over Drake , with Holbrook rushing for four touchdowns . Though Iowa would suffer a 6 - 0 loss at Chicago , the Chicago Times - Herald was complimentary , especially of Holbrook . " Iowa ’ s star work was done by Holbrook . It was brilliant . He made one run of forty yards through a forest of Chicago tackles , and a couple of sprints of thirty yards . Iowa always worked him when it was necessary to make a gain to keep the ball . " Four years earlier , Iowa had joined its first football conference . The conference , titled the Western Interstate University Football Association , had four members : Iowa , Nebraska , Kansas , and Missouri . The four schools played each other every year , with the winner of the round - robin series each year declared the conference champion . Iowa went 0 - 3 against their conference foes in 1895 , being outscored by a combined score of 92 - 0 . In 1896 , Iowa snapped a five game conference losing streak by beating Kansas 6 - 0 . With eight minutes remaining in a scoreless game , Iowa had the ball at the Kansas 45 yard line . Iowa lined up quickly and snapped the ball without a signal . The ball was pitched to Frank Holbrook who sprinted 45 yards for the lone touchdown . After the extra points ( touchdowns were then worth four points , and the extra points try was worth two points ) , Iowa held a 6 - 0 lead , which they maintained for the win . The 1896 Missouri Game . After another easy non - conference win , Iowa carried their 4 - 1 record into Columbia , Missouri , for a game with the Tigers . Missouri had won a share of the conference title the past three years , from 1893 to 1895 . Missouri alumni demanded that Iowa play the game without Frank Holbrook . Coach Bull refused and stated that there would be no game if Holbrook were not allowed to play . The Iowa City Vidette - Reporter ( the University of Iowa ' s student newspaper ) reported , " When Missouri ’ s team came on the field , they were heartily cheered with the Tigers ’ yell , followed by appeals from the rooters to individual players to ‘ kill the nigger ’ . " During the game , there were several physical confrontations . The Vidette - Reporter continued , " There was hardly a man on Iowa ’ s team who did not receive a cowardly blow from the Tigers . Several were hit while on the ground . One man received at least three blows from the fists of the Tigers . Not for ten seconds did one of Iowa ’ s men forget himself or lose his temper . At all times they placed themselves near and about Holbrook . " Iowa won the game , 12 - 0 , on two touchdowns , one by halfback Joe Meyers and one by Frank Holbrook . Iowa refused to play Missouri again until 1902 . Before a 1910 game with Missouri , Missouri officials warned Iowa coach Jesse Hawley not to bring black tackle Archie Alexander to the game . Furious , Hawley postponed the Iowa - Missouri football series indefinitely . It has not been resumed since . The 1896 Conference Title . Two and a half weeks later , on Thanksgiving Day , the Hawkeyes carried a 6 - 1 record into a game against Nebraska to determine the Western Interstate conference champion . However , a mixture of rain , sleet , and snow prevented any scoring , and the game ended in a scoreless tie . Athletic officials from both schools , therefore , agreed to replay the conference title game two days later on Saturday . In the rematch , Iowa won their first ever conference title by defeating Nebraska , 6 - 0 . Iowa won the game on a thirty yard touchdown run by Frank Holbrook . Iowa finished the year 7 - 1 - 1 , and Holbrook finished his senior year with 12 touchdowns . Name Confusion . The correct name of the first black football player at the University of Iowa is Frank Kinney Holbrook , not Carleton William Holbrook . The apparent misinformation may have begun around 1939 when the University ’ s athletics department released a commemorative publication about Iowa football referring to “ C . W . Holbrook . ” C . W . Holbrook was the only other student with that last name enrolled at the University of Iowa during the mid - 1890s , according to general catalogs issued by the University at the time . However , C . W . Holbrook was a law student from Manchester , Iowa , and was not on the football team . Frank Kinney Holbrook ( called “ Kinney ” by his teammates , according to one edition of the Hawkeye yearbook ) was a sophomore when he competed as a halfback in the fall of 1896 . According to University alumni records , he did not graduate . C . W . Holbrook graduated in 1897 and his name is the only Holbrook that appears in alumni lists from that period . As a result , it is possible that C . W . Holbrook ’ s name , and not that of Frank Kinney Holbrook , was brought forward by mistake . Numerous publications subsequently repeated the error , including the McGrane and Bright titles cited below . Bright ’ s work has no citations ; McGrane quotes an undated Chicago Times - Herald article which uses only Holbrook ’ s last name .