BHS Day 27: Donna Cheek

For this year's final Sports Spotlight, I wanted to focus on one more unsung African-American sports pioneer in another field I didn't know we used to dominate. Black jockeys/equestrians aren't really given much attention, especially now that football, basketball and track & field are now the major sports that we are most known for. I wanted to change that for the last Sports Spotlight, so let's get to it!

Source

Name: Donna Cheek, 1964--

Profession: Equestrian

Why is the Spotlight on her today? For opening the door for Black equestrians at a professional level

Accomplishments:
--Was the first Black female member of the 1981 US Equestrian Team
--Was once called the future 'Jackie Robinson of the equestrian world'
--Starred in her own NAACP Image award-winning after school documentary
--Ran her own private horse training facility for nearly a decade
--Has represented a number of groups in order to give lectures and motivational speeches
--Won a Bronze Halo Award for her documentary
--Is a volunteer contributing producer for an animal-related show on public radio
--Was the first Black rider to represent the US in an international format in Show Jumping history
--Was the first equestrian to be inducted into the Women's Sports Hall of Distinction

Further reading links:
BF Equestrians | The Tribune | 

Unfortunately, even though Donna Cheek opened the door to future Black female equestrians to compete professionally or at Olympic-level, there isn't a plethora of information available on who she is. There's a Facebook open in her name that I believe she runs herself, but it's updated rather infrequently. But she's done a lot for both Black and female equestrians and I think her accomplishments deserve their day in the sun. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you tomorrow!