Frank Grant

Ulysses Franklin "Frank" Grant (August 1, 1865 - May 27, 1937), nicknamed "The Black Dunlap", was an African-American baseball player in the 19th century. Early in his career, he was a star player in the International League, shortly before Jim Crow restrictions were imposed that banned African-American players from organized baseball.

He became a pioneer in the early Negro leagues, starring for several of the top African-American teams of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is widely considered to have been the greatest African-American player of the 19th century. In 2006, Grant was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He is the earliest Negro league player to have received that honor.

Biography

Early life

Grant was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He played semipro baseball in Pittsfield and in Plattsburgh, New York.

Career

In 1886, Grant played for an Eastern League team based in Meriden, Connecticut. He signed with the Buffalo team in the International League, one level below the major leagues, later that season. Though most sources describe the official integration of organized baseball for several more decades, Grant was one of five black players who played in baseball's otherwise white minor leagues. When he debuted with the team, a Buffalo newspaper reporter referred to Grant as "a Spaniard". He hit .344 with Buffalo.

Frank Grant (American football)

Frank Grant (born February 15, 1950 in Brooklyn, New York) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played college football at Southern Colorado and was drafted in the 13th round of the 1972 NFL Draft.

Frank Grant (boxer)

Frank Grant (born 22 May 1965) is a British former boxer who was British middleweight champion between 1992 and 1993.

Career

Born and raised in Bradford, Grant trained out of Phil Martin's Champs Camp gym in Moss Side, Manchester, and made his professional debut in October 1986, when he was stopped by Lincoln Pennant in the first round. He won 19 of his first 22 fights, including a win over Shaun Cummins and defeat to Kid Milo, before getting a shot at the British title in September 1992 at Elland Road against Herol Graham, who was making his fourth defence. Grant stopped Graham in the ninth round to take the title, inflicting Graham's only professional defeat to another British boxer. He made a successful defence in March 1993 against John Ashton, but lost the title in November that year to Neville Brown. He subsequently retired from boxing and ran a pub.

In 1996 Grant, who had spent time in prison as a teenager, was convicted of assault against his wife, and in August 2001 he was arrested after attacking a doorman who he claimed had previously assaulted him, receiving a four-year prison sentence in July 2002. In 2003 he was allowed out of prison twice a week to coach young boxers at Goole Boxing Club.