Lucius Banks

Lucius Banks, Jr. (1 May 1886 – February 1955) was an American professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s. He played in England for Hunslet in Hunslet, Leeds in 1912 and, is thought to be the first black athlete to compete in rugby league football; the first American to play rugby league; and, according to the historian Tony Collins, "probably only the fourth black American to play professional football of any code".[2]

Lucius Banks
Personal information
Full nameLucius Banks, Jr.
Born1 May 1886[1]
Harmony Village, Virginia[1]
DiedFebruary 1955 (aged 68)
Boston, Massachusetts
Playing information
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1912 Hunslet

Biography

Early life

Banks was born in Virginia, United States in either 1885 or 1886 to Lucius Banks Sr. and Julia Webb Banks.[3] The family moved to Arlington, Massachusetts when he was still young.[4]

Banks served in the U.S. cavalry,[5] recorded as a private in 1910 in the Army and Navy Register.[6] He was stationed at West Point, New York from 1908–1912, where he excelled in both cricket and American football.[7]

Playing career

Banks was spotted playing as a quarterback in New York by a one-time member of Hunslet's management committee, and the club bought him out of the army and brought him to the UK, apparently partly because the club thought an exotic player would boost revenue. The strategy seems to have worked, as 'his presence significantly swelled the attendance at his first game'.[5]

Local news reporting on Banks's first game in England included some prominent racist coverage, with a local evening paper running the headline 'Hunslet's Coloured Coon' and the Yorkshire Post suggesting that local players should have been hired instead and commenting that "if the club wanted to sign 'coloured' players they should go to South Africa, where there are reputed to be capable goal kickers with bare feet".[5]

Banks's performance seems to have been fairly successful: playing on the wing, he scored four tries during his first four games for the club, the first of which was on 27 January 1912, against York. He later moved to playing as stand-off, before returning to America following his last game with the club, on 26 December 1912.[5]

More recently, however, Banks has become a celebrated figure, seen as a pioneer in what has become a long history of black rugby league players.[8]

Later life

Following his days in England, Banks served in the First World War and saw active service in France. In 1919, he joined the Boston Police Department[9][10][11] and worked as a police officer for 27 years.[7] He was also a member of the Prince Hall Free & Accepted Masonic Lodge. He died in 1955 (when his age was listed as 68) and was survived by his wife, Maude, and son, Richard L. Banks.[7]

References
  1. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
  2. Tony Collins, 'Racial minorities in a marginalized sport: Race, discrimination and integration in British rugby league football', Immigrants & Minorities Historical Studies in Ethnicity, Migration and Diaspora, 17 (1998), 151-69 (pp. 155 and 168 fn 15, quoting 168 fn 15), DOI: 10.1080/02619288.1998.9974933.
  3. Virginia, Birth Records, 1912-2014, Delayed Birth Records, 1854-1911
  4. 1900 United States Federal Census
  5. Tony Collins, 'Racial minorities in a marginalized sport: Race, discrimination and integration in British rugby league football', Immigrants & Minorities Historical Studies in Ethnicity, Migration and Diaspora, 17 (1998), 151-69 (p. 155), DOI: 10.1080/02619288.1998.9974933.
  6. Army and Navy Register, 48 (1910), p. 35.
  7. "Lucius Banks". The Boston Globe. February 10, 1955.
  8. Karl Spracklen, ' "Black Pearl, Black Diamonds": Exploring Racial Identities in Rugby League', in Race, Sport and British Society, ed. by Ben Carrington and Ian McDonald (London: Routledge, 2001), pp. 70-82 (p. 70).
  9. Thomas Ryan, Police records, 56 (1 January 1919 to 31 December 1919), p. 1645.
  10. The Newton Graphic (3 June 1932), p. 4.
  11. Boston (Mass.). City Council, Reports of proceedings (Boston: Municipal Print Office, 1950), p. 6.
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