Members of the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame, the University of Windsor, and
the Harding family will officially launch the “Breaking the Colour Barrier: Wilfred ‘Boomer’ Harding
and the Chatham Coloured All-Stars (1932-1939)” project on June 10 at the W.I.S.H Centre in Chatham from 1 – 3 p.m.
Funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, this project documents and celebrates the legacy of the Chatham Coloured All-Stars, the first black team to win an Ontario Baseball Association provincial championship in 1934.
The project features oral histories from friends and family members of the 1930s Chatham Coloured
All-Stars team, digitized materials related to Harding and the All-Stars players, a timeline
documenting newspaper coverage of the 1934 season, K-12 educational resources drawing on the
Ontario curriculum, a display in the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame, an 8-panel traveling exhibition, and a
cartoon history of the All-Stars and a set of Chatham Coloured All-Stars trading cards.
The website will go live on June 10 at http://cdigs.uwindsor.ca/BreakingColourBarrier/.
Don Bruner, Treasurer of the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame will talk about how the “Breaking the
Colour Barrier” project connects with the mission of the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame.
Heidi Jacobs, Dave Johnston, Miriam Wright of the University of Windsor will provide an overview
of the website and show highlights of the completed project and Pat Harding will conclude with remarks on behalf of the Harding Family and the families of the Chatham Coloured All-Stars
