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- Abbott Hall was named for Cleveland Abbott, a 1916 alumnus from Watertown, S.D. Abbott was SDSU’s first African American varsity athlete, earning 14 letters competing in track, football, basketball and baseball. A World War II veteran, he coached football and served as athletics director at Tuskegee University from 1923-1955. The football stadium at Tuskegee bears his name. Abbott served on the 1946 U.S. Olympic Committee and coached Alice Coachman, the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal, taking the high jump title at the 1948 Olympic Games.