Throughout the 2014-15 school year the Ohio Valley Conference will celebrate the stories of pioneers and leaders from each of our member institutions who paved and continue to pave the way for future generations of student-athletes and administrators. Check back here often as well as check out www.OVCSports.com/Diversity to learn more.
Charles B. Hall became the first African-American student-athlete at Eastern Illinois when he enrolled in the fall of 1938. He lettered in football and track and helped the Panthers football team to a combined 9-6-1 record in the 1938 and 1939 seasons.
Hall was described as a hard worker, spending time waiting tables at The Little Campus, a popular restaurant with students, to help put himself through school.
On his way to a great career as a halfback for the Panthers, he decided to put school and athletics on hold for a greater cause. He left EIU in the spring of 1941 to join the United States Army Air Corps.
Hall was sent to Tuskegee Army Air Field in 1942 where he received his pilot’s wings on July 3.
Hall joined the
99th Pursuit Squadron and was sent to North Africa on April 15, 1943. Almost three months later on July 2, 1943 Hall made history by becoming the first African-American fighter pilot to shoot down a German plane during World War II.
This distinction brought visits by several generals including the commander of U.S. forces in Europe and future president Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Despite his sudden fame, Hall did not forget the students of Eastern Illinois or the citizens of Charleston. He wrote the following statement in a letter dated December 21, 1943 (the passage can from this feature on EIUPanthers.com:
http://eiupanthers.com/news/2008/2/25/08inthelaircharleshall.aspx?path=gen).
“Up in the blue it doesn’t make any difference where you come from, what color you are, etc. I can appreciate the land, sea, engineers, cooks, nurses, Red Cross, tanks, defense workers, people buying bonds and a thousand and one other things. I look at them and say this is worth fighting for.”
Hall eventually flew nearly 200 missions over African, Italy and other parts of Europe and shot down three enemy planes before returning home.
Hall received numerous awards and honors over his lifetime and since his death in 1971. Hall was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (the first African-American to earn the honor), the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters, a portrait in the Military Hall of Fame,
a memorial statue in his home town of Brazil, Indiana and the Oklahoma City Chapter of the Tuskegee Airman Inc. is named after him.
In 2002 the Tinker Air Force Base air park in Oklahoma City, where Hall worked for almost 20 years after his service in the Army concluded,
was renamed Major Charles B. Hall Memorial Airpark.