The Chatham Coloured All-Stars are being honoured by the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
The All-Stars are being inducted as part of their 2026 class, being named as the Conacher Family Heritage Award winner. The hall is inducting six athletes and five recipients with special awards.
The All-Stars intermediate baseball team made history in 1934 as the first Black club to win an Ontario Baseball Amateur Association championship.
Along with their soon-to-be spot in Ontario’s Sports Hall of Fame, the All-Stars are members of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, the Ontario Baseball Association Hall of Fame and the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame.
The Coloured All-Stars are not in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, despite their significance in raising awareness about discrimination and colour barriers. The colour barrier in Major League Baseball was not broken until 1947, and black players faced hurdles involving racism and bigotry in amateur baseball in Ontario in the 1930s.
The “Class of 2026” will be honoured at the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Community Celebration in Toronto at The Granite Club on October 15.
(Article originally posted on the Chatham-Kent Sports Network, April 3, 2026.)
