Joe Lillard is arguably one of the greatest all-around athletes of the early 20th century. How many other athletes of that era, or any era, could boast about having played at the highest level in three different sports in a single year? Lillard did it multiple years in a row.
In 1932-1933, Lillard played professional football in the NFL for the Chicago Cardinals. He was a halfback and back-up quarterback for the Cardinals and led the team in rushing, passing and scoring in 1933. His NFL career however was cut short, not by an injury or declining skills, but by an unofficial league ban on African American players which lasted for twelve seasons.
In the summers, Lillard played baseball in the Negro Leagues for the Chicago American Giants, one of the strongest African American teams at that time. Lillard was a pitcher and outfielder for the club between 1932-1934. During those years, the team won the Negro Southern League pennant and came in second in the NNL II the following year.
And, as if that wasn't enough, Lillard played semi-pro basketball for the legendary Savoy Big Five in Chicago - considered to be one of the best teams in the city. He had been a guard on the team since their beginnings in 1927 and continued to play with the club until 1933. Several of the players from the Savoy team would go on to form the first Harlem Globetrotters team.
In the years prior to his three-sport professional career however, Joe Lillard spent several summers playing baseball for Gilkerson's Union Giants. For most of that time, Lillard played under a pseudonym - Joe Johnson.
After the fact, Lillard would explain that his mother had been married to a man named Johnson and that he had an older half-brother named Ben Johnson who was also a ball player in North Dakota. He claimed there was nothing deceptive about his use of the name. He was known as Ben's younger brother and so he became known as Joe Johnson, simple as that. Despite Lillard's insistence, the use of the name would help bring an abrupt end to his college playing days.
In the fall of 1930, after playing for Gilkerson most of the summer, Lillard had enrolled at the University of Oregon where he quickly became a sensation on the football field. His running, passsing and kicking skills made him a triple threat on the gridiron.
In his sophomore year, the night before a big game against the University of Southern California, Lillard was ruled ineligible by the Pacific Coast Conference for having broken rules of amateurism. The official reason given was that Lillard had played semi-professional baseball under an assumed name, specifically, he had played for Gilkerson's Union Giants as Joe Johnson. This quickly became a national news story.
Lillard admitted to travelling with the Union Giants as the chauffeur and "filling in" on the diamond only when necessary. He maintained that he was paid for driving the team vehicle and not for playing baseball.
As I'll show below, this was not entirely accurate. Lillard's tenure with Gilkerson lasted longer than anyone at the time likely realized. He may have driven the bus at times, but he was also a regular part of the Union Giants' roster on and off for more than two seasons. He was undoubtedly paid as a ballplayer.
Still, it was not uncommon for college athletes to play semi-professional sports in the offseason and to be paid for doing so. The West Coast colleges already had a "gentleman's agreement" to look the other way on this matter and so this alone wouldn't have been enough to remove Lillard from the team. Hence the added charge of having "played under an assumed name," which was ultimately used to justify his ineligibility. Why exactly that mattered was never explained.
Of course, the real reason Lillard was singled out and essentially banned from playing college sports was no mystery. Lillard was never given a chance to defend himself to the conference officials. Without Lillard, USC defeated Oregon 53-0.
Here we'll focus on the four summers that Lillard spent barnstorming with the Union Giants. It seems he first joined up with Gilkerson in late June of 1928 as the Union Giants were passing through North Dakota on their annual tour. Earlier that summer, Lillard had been playing (already as Johnson) with the Johnnie Baker post, American Legion team of Minneapolis, an African American all-salaried club that traveled around Minnesota and North Dakota.
Once he was on the Union Giants, Lillard was quickly inserted into the pitching rotation. On non-pitching days, he often played the outfield. In a big July 4th game in Breckenridge, Minnesota against the House of David team, Lillard pitched a complete game, giving up six runs and eight hits, striking out seven and walking four. The Union Giants however were only able to muster four hits and lost the game 6-1.
Four days later he pitched the first game of a doubleheader against the Bismarck Grays. This time he allowed only two runs on nine hits, striking out four in a seven-inning complete game. The Union Giants won that game 7-2 as well as the second game, 10-2.
Lillard pitched again on July 11th in Wadena, Minnesota, his third start in eight days. He allowed just six hits with seven strike outs and had a shutout going into the eighth. The Union Giants won the game 5-4.
For the second half of July and part of August, Gilkerson's team travelled north to Canada. In Winnipeg, they played several series against the House of David team as well as Happy Felsch's All Stars of Plentywood, Montana. Lillard pitched in several of these contests.
When Gilkerson's team returned to the States they headed to Montana and then back through the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa. It is unclear when Lillard parted ways with the team but he doesn't show up in any of the available box scores from mid-August or September. The Union Giants ended the season with a record of 103 wins, 23 losses and 3 ties.
With the 1929 baseball season, Lillard shows up on the Gilkerson squad from the beginning. In an early exhibition game on April 27, 1929, Lillard pitched for the Union Giants against the Davenport Blue Sox in Davenport, Iowa. The Union Giants won the game 7-4. Lillard faced 23 different players that day, giving up just six hits.
In the Davenport Democrat and Leader box score Lillard was listed under his own name - a rare occurrence. He would be listed as "Johnson" in all future box scores that year.
Lillard would pitch and play the outfield for the Union Giants for the entire summer of 1929. Like the year before, the team traveled to Canada for a series of tournaments and exhibition games.
On August 15th, during a series in Winnipeg against a local all-star team, Lillard pitched a shutout in the opening game of a doubleheader. The Winnepeg Evening Tribune wrote, "In the first tussle, Joe Johnson had his fast ball working to perfection and scored his second shut-out of the series. He allowed only six singles, struck out seven and just one All-Star player got as far as third during the nine rounds."
The Union Giants won both games of the doubleheader that day, capping a seven-game winning streak over local teams in Winnepeg. In fact, the Union Giants won every tournament they were in while in Canada that year, most of which came with a prize of $500 or more.
By the end of August, the Union Giants were back in Iowa where Lillard pitched yet another shutout, this time against the Hanford India Owls. "Joe Johnson twirling airtight ball for the winners" commented the Sioux City Journal. In mid-September, Lillard continued to dominate, pitching a complete-game shutout against the Oakland (Nebraska) team in Arlington, NE. He had a two-run homer in the game as well.
The Union Giants closed out the 1929 season by winning the Eastern Nebraska baseball tournament which came with a purse of $1,000. They finished the year with a a record of 122-26-4.
At the start of the 1930 season, "Joe Johnson" was right back in the lineup for the Union Giants, once again pitching and playing the outfield. For 1930, Gilkerson had been contracted to headquarter his team in Bismark, North Dakota and represent the city in local competition. According to the Bismark Tribune, Gilkerson was paid $350 for keeping his team in the city for the month of June. In truth, Gilkerson's team continued to barnstorm most of the summer. While they did play in Bismark regularly, they also traveled on off days, including several trips to Canada and other parts of North Dakota.
Before the end of June however, Lillard and pitcher Fred Sims had left Gilkerson for Bismark's rival, the Jamestown, ND team. In fact, Lillard was pitching for Jamestown when the two teams met at the fair grounds in Mandan, ND on July 2nd. "Smoky Joe Johnson," as the Bismark Tribune often referred to him, and the Jamestown team defeated the Union Giants that day, 7-3.
The next day Hurley McNair pitched for the Union Giants and they won easily, 11-5. Swede Risberg pitched for Jamestown.
Lillard and the Jamestown team faced off against the Union Giants again later in the month. Once again, Jamestown won, largely due to Lillard's pitching. He struck out seven and gave up just two runs on eight hits.
At the end of July, the Union Giants' contract with Bismark came to an end and the team headed back to Canada. Gilkerson had strengthened his starting rotation with ? Young (possibly Maurice Young who played for Gilkerson in 1926). Before the end of of the month both Sims and Lillard were back with the Union Giants. Lillard however appears to have lost his spot in the pitching rotation to Young. Instead, he shows up playing right field in most box scores in late August and into September.
In the championship game of the Southwestern Iowa tournament on September 2nd, Lillard did relieve Sims on the mound in the 4th inning. Lillard pitched 4 2/3 innings of shutout ball against the Kari-Keen Karriers of Sioux City but it was not enough. The damage was done in the first couple innings and the Union Giants failed to rally in the 9th, losing out on the $1,000 purse by a score of 6-5.
The Union Giants would get their revenge on the Kari-Keens later in the month by defeating them in the Eastern Nebraska tournament. Lillard however had already left the team by that point and was headed to Minnesota to prepare for the football season. There he played a few football games for the Good Samaritan team in Minneapolis but in October it was announced that he had enrolled at the University of Oregon and would be playing on their freshman football team.
In fact, during his freshman year, Lillard starred in both football and basketball at Oregon. Before the end of his first year there were already articles being written about how Lillard would likely be named team captain of the varsity football team the following season. Regarding his basketball skills, the yearbook referred to him as the "most outstanding man" on the freshman squad who "displayed the most heady, and consistent brand of basketball that was shown this year."
Curiously, Lillard did not play baseball for the University in the spring. One article mentioned a conflict with early football practice. He did remain in Oregon however and in June it was announced that Lillard would be pitching for the local team, the Eugene Townies, that summer.
In his first game, Lillard struck out 10 men and the Townies won easily. In his second game pitching, he struck out 8, giving up just three hits for another Townies' victory. At the plate in his first two games, Lillard had four hits in nine at-bats.
In early July it was reported that Lillard would not be with the team for their next game. A few days later however it was announced that Gilkerson's Union Giants were coming to Eugene and Lillard would be back on the mound for the Townies when they arrived.
The Union Giants had started the 1931 season off in mid-April. In May and June they barnstormed throughout Iowa and into South and North Dakota. By the end of June, they were headed west, playing in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and into Washington.
Lillard's sudden absence from the Townies was the result of him joining back up with the Union Giants in Washington. As early as July 9th, Lillard was playing the outfield for the Union Giants. On July 14th, "Johnson" pitched in Kelso, WA, where the Union Giants defeated the Timber Wolves 4-3.
On July 18th when the Union Giants arrived in Eugene, Lillard was back on the mound for the Townies as promised. The game reportedly drew the biggest crowd in two years for a baseball game in Eugene. Lillard pitched well but the Union Giants were able to defeat him and the Townies, 4-3, in a close game.
Soon after, the Union Giants left Oregon and were headed back east. Once again, Lillard went with them. He shows up in box scores in Salt Lake City and Ogden, UT. In Casper, Wyoming, Lillard pitched in an easy 20-4 victory over the Yesness Clothiers.
The team reached Nebraska just in time for tournament season. At the beginning of September, Gilkerson's team was eliminated in the Southwestern Iowa tournament in a controversial loss to the Sioux Falls Canaries. Lillard played centerfield. It was likely one of the last games he would ever play for Gilkerson.
With the University of Oregon football season scheduled to start September 25th, Lillard soon returned to Eugene. The Webfoots won their first three contests easily but Lillard suffered a knee injury early on and had yet to make a big impact on the field.
Still, efforts to prevent him from playing in the Pacific Coast Conference were starting to take shape. Rumors about Lillard having played semi-professional baseball, possibly under an assumed name, were now being openly discussed in newspapers up and down the West Coast. An anonymous protest was filed with the PCC and as a result Lillard was temporarily deemed ineligible two days before a game against the University of Washington. The conference hired an investigator.
As more details were being gathered, Lillard was temporarily reinstated before the game which Oregon won 13-0. In the contest, Lillard rushed for a touchdown and had two key interceptions. The next game on the schedule however was with the University of Southern California. Earlier in the month, USC officials publicly denied being behind the rumors and formal protest against Lillard (It would be proven later on to have been them all along). On the eve before the big game between the two schools, the PCC handed down their final ruling. Lillard was out.
The Chicago Defender, in response to the whole affair, were convinced that USC was to blame for Lillard's treatment: "the Trojans with the idea of a Pacific coast title and only Lillard standing in their path. They feared Lillard and admitted it to the tune of sending a man to Spring Valley where Gilkerson was questioned about Lillard's having played with the Spring Valley Giants."
The newspaper did not report on Gilkerson's response or ask him for any kind of statement. If Gilkerson provided any official testimony to the PCC officials, it was never made public. Once the verdict was in, newspapers across the Great Plains and Upper Midwest were quick to point out that Lillard had indeed played in their town under an assumed name.
Barred from college sports, Lillard would soon turn pro. As a result, there would be no reunion between Gilkerson and Lillard in 1932. In early June of that year, the Chicago Defender reported that Lillard had joined the Chicago American Giants and would finish the season with the team.
