Chatham Coloured All-Stars

Dave Johnston, Miriam Wright and Heidi Jacobs were awarded with the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation for their project Breaking the Colour Barrier: Wilfred "Boomer" Harding and the Chatham Coloured All-Stars (193Dave Johnston, Miriam Wright and Heidi Jacobs were awarded with the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation for their project Breaking the Colour Barrier: Wilfred "Boomer" Harding and the Chatham Coloured All-Stars (1932-1939).

UWindsor history project earns Ontario Heritage Award

There were no easy games for the Chatham Coloured All-Stars.

It's what Wilfred "Boomer" Harding recalled decades after his team was forced to overcome adversity both on and off the baseball diamond to become champions of the Ontario Baseball Amateur Association's Intermediate B-1 class in 1934.

That road to the championship game was onerous.

The Black baseball team travelled across the province to compete in games, often being denied accommodations and forced to continue driving in precarious conditions before eventually reaching a welcome refuge.