Wilmeth Sidat-Singh

WHO IS WILMETH SIDAT-SINGH?

A Tuskegee airman, athlete and scholar, Wilmeth Sidat-Singh is a class of his own. A man considered friend to all those who knew him. Born in Washington D. C. to Elias and Pauline Webb in 1917, Elias died of a stroke when Wilmeth was 5 years old. Pauline remarried to Samuel Sidat-Singh, a medical student from India. The family moved to New York City where Dr. Sidat-Singh set up his pharmacy practice in Harlem.

It was in the Harlem playgrounds where he developed his character of toughness and level-headedness by playing many sports like baseball, basketball, football, and tennis. He attended Dewitt Clinton High and led his basketball team to the Public School Athletic League championship in the 1933-1934 year and named All-City in 1935. Yet, Syracuse was the only school that offered Sidat-Singh a basketball scholarship despite being one of the top students at DeWitt Clinton. His goal was to be a doctor like his step-father and chose his step-father’s last name of Sidat-Singh. Local newspapers publicized him as Hindu, fully aware of his real ancestry.In Wilmeth’s sophomore year at Syracuse, Roy Simmons, Sr. an assistant football coach asked him to join the varsity team for his junior year after he saw him throw a football at intramural game for 55 yards. He became a lead halfback in the single-wing offense which is equivalent of today’s quarterback. Passing as a Hindu, Syracuse coaches decided to play road teams that discriminated against African-Americans until an article by Sam Lacy, an African-American sportswriter, told the truth about Sidat-Singh’s ancestry. This action resulted in him not being allowed to participate in a game against Maryland in 1937 and against Navy as a basketball player.

A star on the basketball team, Syracuse went undefeated in his senior year at 14-0 with overall record at 40-13 during his tenure. He is credited with the no-look pass. On the football field, he was dominant as ever in 1938 when he beat then undefeated Cornell 19-17. In that game, Sidat-Singh threw 6 passes for 150 yards and 3 touchdowns in the final 9 minutes of that game. The same year, Syracuse beat Maryland 53-0 in Syracuse and played Duke in Durham by agreement from the two University presidents.After graduation with a degree in zoology, he played barnstorm basketball for the Syracuse Reds, New York Renaissance and Washington Bruins.

The NFL had an unofficial rule of banning black players from 1933-1946. Yet for Sidat-Singh, his goal was to be a doctor in the surgery field and basketball was there to pay for his medical education. When World War II broke out, he returned to his birthplace and became a policeman as well as basketball In 1943 to serve his country, he passed the U.S. Army Air Corps exam to serve with the Tuskegee Airmen. On May 9, 1943, Sidat-Singh lost his life during air-training exercises over Lake Huron, Michigan. On February 26, 2005, Syracuse retired his basketball jersey number 19. He is buried in National Arlington Cemetery."We are certain he would feel that his life was not in vain," "if it served to put a spark into the lives of aspiring youngsters and to impress upon them that ability, slowly but surely, receives recognition." ---Dr. Samuel Sidat-Singh, Wilmeth’s father speaking at his funeral.

© 2006 as unpublished work by Davan Mani