29 Facts About Sol Butler

Sol Butler finished seventh in the long jump competition at the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Sol Butler played in the National Football League for the Hammond Pros, Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Buffalo Bisons, and Rock Island Independents.

Sol Butler's father was from Morgan County, Alabama, and born a slave in 1842; his mother was born in Georgia in 1867.

Sol Butler's father fought in the Civil War and took the last name of Butler from General Butler whom he admired.

The Sol Butler family escaped slavery and settled in Wichita, Kansas, before moving to Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1909.

Sol Butler led the school in football and in track and field.

Sol Butler placed in the 60-yard dash and hurdles, the 440 yard dash, and in the broad jump.

Sol Butler broke one meet record, tied a world record, and won fourth place overall, competing against entire track teams.

Sol Butler earned 12 varsity letters competing in football, basketball, baseball and track and field at the University of Dubuque from 1915 to 1919.

Sol Butler went to the Penn Relays for that competition and twice won the championship.

In 1919, to illustrate, Sol Butler won both the 100-yard dash and broad jump at the Penn Relays.

Sol Butler was knighted by the King of Montenegro, who made Butler a Knight of the Third Order of Danilo.

Sol Butler went to Antwerp for the 1920 Olympics, but misfortune nailed him quickly.

Sol Butler signed on with the NFL in 1923 with the Rock Island Independents, which local accounts raved about his first appearance in the victory over the Chicago Bears.

Later, returning to football, Sol Butler played alongside Jim Thorpe of the Canton Bulldogs where he was named starting quarterback in 1926.

In 1926, the New York Giants refused to let its all-white team on the field in front of the largest crowd ever to watch an NFL game until Canton withdraw Sol Butler as starting quarterback.

In 1927, Sol Butler returned to Chicago and married.

Sol Butler moved back to the Midwest and went on to work with the youth in the Negro districts as recreation director of Chicago's Washington Park.

Sol Butler worked part-time as a probationary officer, and became sports editor for the Chicago Bee and The Defender newspapers in Chicago.

Sol Butler was active in the Chicago Blackhawk alternative professional football team and began becoming a well known personality after appearing in movies and press regularly.

Sol Butler wife died before Solomon and Berenice would have any children.

Sol Butler would spend his time promoting and coaching youth in city parks activities within the Chicago area.

Sol Butler used his earnings to re-open Jack's Cafe, previously owned by Jack Johnson, former heavyweight boxing champion in 1932.

Sol Butler was named to a key role in a film by Russ Sanders in 1935 being filmed in Hollywood, Calif.

Sol Butler was signed by Oscar Devereaux Mischaux, and independent producer of more than 44 films for Lincoln Motion Picture Company.

Sol Butler died on December 1,1954, after being shot by a patron at Paddy's Liquors, a Chicago tavern where he was employed for seven years.

Sol Butler is buried next to his sister, Josephine Butler, at Maple Grove Cemetery in Wichita, Kansas.

Sol Butler was inducted into the Des Moines Register's Iowa Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2018, Sol Butler was an inaugural inductee into the National High School Track and Field Hall of Fame.