Harrison Fitch

Harrison Brooks "Honey" Fitch (c. 1912 – June 11, 1984) was an African American college basketball player who played for the University of Connecticut (UConn). He was targeted in a racist incident at a scheduled game between UConn and the United States Coast Guard Academy on January 27, 1934.

Biography Fitch was born in New Haven to Connecticut-born parents Collins and Lulu Fitch. His father was a United States Postal Service mail carrier, and his mother was a homemaker. The family had seven sons, including Fitch, and one daughter. Fitch was a star basketball player at Hillhouse High School before enrolling in Connecticut State College (now the University of Connecticut) as a freshman in the fall of 1932.

Despite his popularity at UConn, Fitch regularly faced racist abuse from opposing players, coaches, and fans. Of fourteen collegiate rivals, only teams and fans from the University of New Hampshire and Brown University applauded Fitch and refrained from racist taunts and other harassment. Incidents of racism culminated during a headline-grabbing January 1934 game against the US Coast Guard Academy. At the end of the 1934 spring semester, facing fiscal constraints and in the aftermath of the incident, Fitch transferred to the American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts. Later in life, he became a researcher at Monsanto. He worked with youth groups and refereed basketball in western Massachusetts.

Racist incident On Saturday, January 27, 1934, the Connecticut State men's basketball team was scheduled to play the US Coast Guard Academy team in New London. Earlier that same day, the academy had barred a University of New Hampshire athlete, Fred Moody, from boxing matches because Moody was African American. Around half of the academy's all-white cadets were from the racially segregated South. Coast Guard officials claimed that their athletes had never played a racially integrated team and "there had been a long tradition that no 'negro' players be allowed to engage in contests at the Academy".

The Connecticut State players, including Fitch, traveled to New London, changed into their uniforms, and began practicing on the court. Just before game time, however, Coast Guard officials refused to play Connecticut State if Fitch participated in the game.

The following day, athletic directors Roy J. Guyer (Connecticut State) and Lt. John S. Merriman (Coast Guard) met in Willimantic to adjudicate the previous night's events. They quickly issued a joint statement blaming the incident on a "very unfortunate misunderstanding" that had been "satisfactorily adjusted." The statement concluded that thereafter "any student at either institution will be eligible to participate in various athletic activities scheduled between the two schools." Nominally, this meant that Fitch could participate in future games against the Coast Guard Academy.

Connecticut State students rallied in support of Fitch. The Connecticut Campus sports editor called for rival teams to commit to allowing Fitch to play without regard to his race. In early March, basketball captain Connie Donahue, who would later be a longtime coach at Torrington High School, led a student senate committee to survey students on the state of athletics. The student body voted 169–7 to fire Heldman, who resigned a year later after four consecutive losing seasons, and 112–50 to fire Guyer, who remained athletic director until 1936. Students also voted Fitch the outstanding athlete on campus for the second year in a row. Students widely decried Connecticut State's response as inadequate. The Coast Guard Academy never apologized.

The controversy made state and national headlines. Oscar S. De Priest, the only African-American member of Congress at the time, publicly condemned the exclusion of Moody and Fitch as "un-American". Albert Keane, sports editor for the Hartford Courant, rebuked the Coast Guard Academy but considered the controversy overblown.