David Albritton

Biography

David Donald Albritton was born on April 13, 1913 in Danville, Alabama. He was the son of sharecroppers Peter and Josephine Albritton. One of the first high jumpers to use the straddle technique, Albritton attended as well as was a stand-out member of the track team at East Coast Technical High School in Cleveland, Ohio. Following graduation from high school in 1934, David went on to attend Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Alpha Fi Alpha fraternity and received expert training from noted track and field coach Larry Snyder. Albritton won the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship during his sophomore year at Ohio State in 1936 (he graduated from Ohio State two years later). That same year David and fellow athlete Cornelius Johnson both jumped a new world record height of 6'9 3/4 feet at the Olympic Trials. Albritton subsequently won a silver medal in the high jump event at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Moreover, David not only either won or tied for seven National Athletic Amateur Union outdoor titles from 1936 to 1950, but also was the AAU champion for the years 1937, 1946, and 1947 and tied for three national collegiate titles in 1938, 1945, and 1950. In addition, Albritton worked as an industrial arts teacher and track and field coach at Dunbar High School in Dayton, Ohio, where as a coach he led the school to three state track titles. In 1960 David ran for the Ohio House of Representatives; he wound up serving six terms on the General Assembly and made history in 1969 by becoming the first black man to chair a House committee. (He also served as a trustee of Wright State University.) Albritton was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Ohio State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1978. David died at age 81 on May 14, 1994.