Cheering spectators filled Barbour Gymnasium, applauding as U-M’s freshman and junior women competed for the class basketball championship. Leading the freshman team to a 14-7 victory was Phyllis Wheatley Waters, the first Black athlete to play organized basketball at U-M. Her precision passes were pivotal in securing the win, as reported by the 1914 Michigan Daily.
Waters’ athletic reputation was established early during her time at Ann Arbor High School in the 1910s, where she excelled in basketball, tennis, and swimming while maintaining an excellent academic record. After high school, she joined U-M, where she made history in sports. “Undaunted by tradition, custom, or opposing counsel, Miss Waters [ . . . ] made her fight for the basketball team of the university, and was elected by an overwhelming majority,” reported The Freeman newspaper in 1914.
Her father, Philip Waters, also attended U-M and was a notable athlete on the Law School’s class baseball team. He later became chief deputy clerk of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Despite facing significant racial prejudices, Waters became a standout on the class basketball team and the first known Black woman to earn a letter from the Women’s Athletic Association at U-M. She served as team captain and graduated in 1917 with a bachelor’s degree and teachers’ diploma.
Waters pursued a successful career in Indianapolis as a teacher, local politician, and philanthropist. She designed the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority crest and received the Outstanding Achievement Award from U-M in 1973. Waters passed away on Dec. 30, 1973, at the age of 75.
— By Madeleine Bradford, the Bentley Historical Library. This article originally appeared in the Bentley’s spring 2026 edition of “Collections” magazine.
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