Black History Month
A celebration of excellence
Ken Boyd (’74)
Ken Boyd broke into the New England college basketball scene in spectacular fashion. As a sophomore in 1971-72, he led the Terriers and the Yankee Conference in scoring with 23.4 points per game. The third best scorer in New England, Boyd also averaged 12.5 rebounds per game and was ranked fourth in the conference and seventh in the region in that category. The most valuable player on the team as a sophomore, Boyd was named the Yankee Conference Sophomore of the Year and to the All-New England second team.
A shoulder injury his junior year hampered Boyd but he still managed to average 17 points and 9.8 rebounds. The numbers were impressive enough to earn him third team All-New England honors.
Boyd returned to form his senior year and led the Terriers in scoring, with 21.3 points per game, and rebounding, with 10.9 per game. A first team All-Yankee Conference selection and the team MVP, Boyd helped the Terriers to the 1973-73 Beanpot title, scoring 23 points in the 92-90 semifinal win over Harvard and 16 points in the 95-94 overtime win over Boston College in the final.
The Fredrick, Md. native scored 1,461 points, had 784 rebounds, and an averaged 20.5 ppg over his collegiate career and upon graduation was drafted by the NBA’s New Orleans Jazz in 1974.
Boyd was inducted in BU’s Hall of Fame in 1984.
Ken Boyd
Sharon Colyear-Danville (’83)
One of the most dominant collegiate runners of her era, Sharon Colyear-Danville’s legacy still lives on in the Boston University track and field record book.
A member of the class of 1983, Colyear-Danville still holds the BU records in the 60m hurdles (8.21) and the 300m dash (37.55).
In her career at BU, Sharon won 13 Greater Boston and New England individual titles. In addition to her many accomplishments as a Terrier, the Manchester, England, native also represented Great Britain in the 1976 and 1984 Olympic Games. At the Montreal Games, she advanced to the semifinals in the 100 meter hurdles and quarterfinals in the 100 meter dash. Sharon also won gold and bronze medals in the 1978 Commonwealth Games and competed at the European Championships the same year.
While competing at the 1980 AIAW Indoor Track and Field Championships, Colyear-Danville set a women's United Kingdom mark in the 60 meter hurdles. She ran a record time of 8.22 seconds in her semifinal heat, and eventually placed second in the finals. That finish earned her All-America honors.
Sharon Colyear-Danville was inducted into the BU Hall of Fame in 1988.
Sharon Colyear-Danville
John Thomas (SED’63)
On January 31, 1959 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Boston University freshman John Thomas broke the world record in the high jump, becoming the first athlete ever clear the 7-foot barrier. He was just 17 years old.
After his record-setting performance as a freshman, Thomas became world famous, but his career was just getting started. He was selected to four consecutive All-America teams and represented the United States in the Olympics in 1960 (bronze medal) and 1964 (silver medal). At the 1964 Games in Tokyo, Thomas tied for first place with Valery Brumel of the USSR but Brumel was awarded the gold medal because of fewer misses.
John held the world record in the high jump of 7 feet, 3 3/4 inches for many years. He jumped over the 7-foot mark 191 times and was voted into the prestigious Helms Foundation Hall of Fame.
Thomas’ historic jumps had reporters waxing poetic, comparing him to a dancer or a plane in flight. Esteemed running broadcaster Toni Reavis once described the young Thomas in mid-jump as “surging upward in a series of elongated body parts: the bold straight lead leg, the thrusting right arm. He would rise like a great airship rises from the tarmac…up, up, up he powered, seven feet plus in all until, cresting the bar, he would hold in a moment of suspended animation.”
Thomas went on to become a coach, a successful businessman and athletic director of Roxbury Community College. He was elected to the BU Hall of Fame in 1968. Thomas passed away in 2013 at the age of 71.
John Thomas
Charlie Thomas (SED’46)
Born in Georgia, BU Hall of Famer Charlie Thomas (SED’46) spent most of his childhood in Dayton, Ohio before he attended Boston University. He became known as one of the school’s finest three-sport athletes, as he earned a combined nine varsity letters in football, basketball and baseball.
Highlights included a 45-yard touchdown run against Tampa in his first-career varsity football game in 1939 and a late game-winning home run against Boston College in 1941. He beat out four upperclassmen his sophomore year to win the starting shortstop job and was also one of the top scoring guards for the basketball team.
Thomas’ presence on the football team helped erode the athletic color line in the south. First barred from traveling to a game in 1939 at Western Maryland, the senior Thomas and then junior Howie Mitchell faced a similar ban in 1941. Once the campus student paper got wind of the ban just days before the scheduled Friday night game, several hundred students confronted then-BU President Daniel Marsh to get involved.
Marsh convinced Western Maryland’s president to drop the Jim Crow policy for the contest. Thomas and Mitchell were able to stay at the same hotel as the rest of the team. A special pep rally and lunch were also held in their honor at historically black college Morgan State the day of the game.
Following a successful collegiate career with the Terriers, Thomas went on to play professional baseball with the Newark Eagles in the National Negro League alongside Larry Doby, who eventually became the first African American to play in the American League with the Cleveland Indians. Thomas also played baseball for the Boston Colored Giants, New England’s most successful independent professional team, and football for the Providence Steamrollers.
Thomas didn’t just represent BU proudly in sports but also on the battlefield, as he served with distinction from 1942-45 with the Army in Europe during World War II. Even though he reported for duty in August 1942, he managed to remain involved with sports and become the first African American to play for the Travelers, the 91st Infantry Divisions championship baseball team.
After receiving multiple decorations for his service, including five bronze stars, and attaining the rank of corporal, Thomas returned to BU in 1946 to complete his degree and captain the baseball team. He shortly thereafter moved to Providence, where he enjoyed a strong presence as a community leader and civil servant working for the city's recreational department and family court system. He also worked as a guidance counselor in the city's school system.
Thomas was formally inducted into the BU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1969.
Charles Thomas
Ken Boyd (’74)
Ken Boyd broke into the New England college basketball scene in spectacular fashion. As a sophomore in 1971-72, he led the Terriers and the Yankee Conference in scoring with 23.4 points per game. The third best scorer in New England, Boyd also averaged 12.5 rebounds per game and was ranked fourth in the conference and seventh in the region in that category. The most valuable player on the team as a sophomore, Boyd was named the Yankee Conference Sophomore of the Year and to the All-New England second team.
A shoulder injury his junior year hampered Boyd but he still managed to average 17 points and 9.8 rebounds. The numbers were impressive enough to earn him third team All-New England honors.
Boyd returned to form his senior year and led the Terriers in scoring, with 21.3 points per game, and rebounding, with 10.9 per game. A first team All-Yankee Conference selection and the team MVP, Boyd helped the Terriers to the 1973-73 Beanpot title, scoring 23 points in the 92-90 semifinal win over Harvard and 16 points in the 95-94 overtime win over Boston College in the final.
The Fredrick, Md. native scored 1,461 points, had 784 rebounds, and an averaged 20.5 ppg over his collegiate career and upon graduation was drafted by the NBA’s New Orleans Jazz in 1974.
Boyd was inducted in BU’s Hall of Fame in 1984.
Ken Boyd
Sharon Colyear-Danville (’83)
One of the most dominant collegiate runners of her era, Sharon Colyear-Danville’s legacy still lives on in the Boston University track and field record book.
A member of the class of 1983, Colyear-Danville still holds the BU records in the 60m hurdles (8.21) and the 300m dash (37.55).
In her career at BU, Sharon won 13 Greater Boston and New England individual titles. In addition to her many accomplishments as a Terrier, the Manchester, England, native also represented Great Britain in the 1976 and 1984 Olympic Games. At the Montreal Games, she advanced to the semifinals in the 100 meter hurdles and quarterfinals in the 100 meter dash. Sharon also won gold and bronze medals in the 1978 Commonwealth Games and competed at the European Championships the same year.
While competing at the 1980 AIAW Indoor Track and Field Championships, Colyear-Danville set a women's United Kingdom mark in the 60 meter hurdles. She ran a record time of 8.22 seconds in her semifinal heat, and eventually placed second in the finals. That finish earned her All-America honors.
Sharon Colyear-Danville was inducted into the BU Hall of Fame in 1988.
Sharon Colyear-Danville
John Thomas (SED’63)
On January 31, 1959 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Boston University freshman John Thomas broke the world record in the high jump, becoming the first athlete ever clear the 7-foot barrier. He was just 17 years old.
After his record-setting performance as a freshman, Thomas became world famous, but his career was just getting started. He was selected to four consecutive All-America teams and represented the United States in the Olympics in 1960 (bronze medal) and 1964 (silver medal). At the 1964 Games in Tokyo, Thomas tied for first place with Valery Brumel of the USSR but Brumel was awarded the gold medal because of fewer misses.
John held the world record in the high jump of 7 feet, 3 3/4 inches for many years. He jumped over the 7-foot mark 191 times and was voted into the prestigious Helms Foundation Hall of Fame.
Thomas’ historic jumps had reporters waxing poetic, comparing him to a dancer or a plane in flight. Esteemed running broadcaster Toni Reavis once described the young Thomas in mid-jump as “surging upward in a series of elongated body parts: the bold straight lead leg, the thrusting right arm. He would rise like a great airship rises from the tarmac…up, up, up he powered, seven feet plus in all until, cresting the bar, he would hold in a moment of suspended animation.”
Thomas went on to become a coach, a successful businessman and athletic director of Roxbury Community College. He was elected to the BU Hall of Fame in 1968. Thomas passed away in 2013 at the age of 71.
John Thomas
Charlie Thomas (SED’46)
Born in Georgia, BU Hall of Famer Charlie Thomas (SED’46) spent most of his childhood in Dayton, Ohio before he attended Boston University. He became known as one of the school’s finest three-sport athletes, as he earned a combined nine varsity letters in football, basketball and baseball.
Highlights included a 45-yard touchdown run against Tampa in his first-career varsity football game in 1939 and a late game-winning home run against Boston College in 1941. He beat out four upperclassmen his sophomore year to win the starting shortstop job and was also one of the top scoring guards for the basketball team.
Thomas’ presence on the football team helped erode the athletic color line in the south. First barred from traveling to a game in 1939 at Western Maryland, the senior Thomas and then junior Howie Mitchell faced a similar ban in 1941. Once the campus student paper got wind of the ban just days before the scheduled Friday night game, several hundred students confronted then-BU President Daniel Marsh to get involved.
Marsh convinced Western Maryland’s president to drop the Jim Crow policy for the contest. Thomas and Mitchell were able to stay at the same hotel as the rest of the team. A special pep rally and lunch were also held in their honor at historically black college Morgan State the day of the game.
Following a successful collegiate career with the Terriers, Thomas went on to play professional baseball with the Newark Eagles in the National Negro League alongside Larry Doby, who eventually became the first African American to play in the American League with the Cleveland Indians. Thomas also played baseball for the Boston Colored Giants, New England’s most successful independent professional team, and football for the Providence Steamrollers.
Thomas didn’t just represent BU proudly in sports but also on the battlefield, as he served with distinction from 1942-45 with the Army in Europe during World War II. Even though he reported for duty in August 1942, he managed to remain involved with sports and become the first African American to play for the Travelers, the 91st Infantry Divisions championship baseball team.
After receiving multiple decorations for his service, including five bronze stars, and attaining the rank of corporal, Thomas returned to BU in 1946 to complete his degree and captain the baseball team. He shortly thereafter moved to Providence, where he enjoyed a strong presence as a community leader and civil servant working for the city's recreational department and family court system. He also worked as a guidance counselor in the city's school system.
Thomas was formally inducted into the BU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1969.
Charles Thomas
