Thomas Harding rushes for a touchdown against Washington & Jefferson. Harding earned eight athletic letters while at Butler before graduating in 1940. Photo courtesy of IndyStar.
DREW FAVAKEH | CO-SPORTS EDITOR | dfavakeh@butler.edu
When Linda Harding was 13, she read an article that detailed the racism her father faced when he was a star at Butler University in the late 1930s.
On the bus that took the Bulldog team to the games, her dad, Thomas Harding had to hide — under blankets, beneath the seats, in the back of the bus — so onlookers couldn’t see the only Black player on the team.