George Poage moved to La Crosse as a young child in 1884. Locally, he was known as a scholar and remarkable athlete. He went on become the first African-American on the UW-Madison track team. But his greatest triumph came at the 1904 Olympics when he became the first African-American to medal in the 200m and 400m hurdles. WPR’s Maureen McCollum talked with UW-La Crosse retired special collections librarian Ed Hill about George Poage’s life as a student athlete in La Crosse.
