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John Mosley dies at 93: Denver native was Tuskegee Airman, sports pioneer
Retired Lt Colonel John Mosley at Douglas Army Air Field in Arizona in 1944. Mosley served as a Tuskegee Airman during WWII. (Special to The Denver Post)
Former Tuskegee Airman Lt. Col. John Mosley, a Denver native who was a trailblazer in collegiate sports as well as the civil rights movement, died Friday, days before the day set aside to honor the sacrifice of those who like him defended the nation.
snip
Mosley excelled despite segregation and the prejudice that once existed. In his youth, blacks were confined by covenants and standards to living in an area just east of downtown. He refused to become bitter.
"I looked at it as an opportunity to move ahead," he recalled in a 2008 interview. "I was too busy trying to ensure that I got everything I possibly could out of school and also to participate in athletics."
A National Merit Scholar and valedictorian at Manual High School, Mosley refused to let bigotry limit him. He enrolled at Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. At that time, there were just nine black students at the school. He tried out for football as a freshman, in 1939, and became the first black football player in the record-keeping era there, excelling at what now is Colorado State University.
snip
Mosley excelled despite segregation and the prejudice that once existed. In his youth, blacks were confined by covenants and standards to living in an area just east of downtown. He refused to become bitter.
"I looked at it as an opportunity to move ahead," he recalled in a 2008 interview. "I was too busy trying to ensure that I got everything I possibly could out of school and also to participate in athletics."
A National Merit Scholar and valedictorian at Manual High School, Mosley refused to let bigotry limit him. He enrolled at Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. At that time, there were just nine black students at the school. He tried out for football as a freshman, in 1939, and became the first black football player in the record-keeping era there, excelling at what now is Colorado State University.
the rest from the denver post