Born in 1893, George Sweatt grew up in Humboldt, Kansas. He studied at the Kansas State Normal School (now Emporia State University) on a sports scholarship where he played football for one season. Sweatt lost his scholarship for missing classes and found work in Iola, Kansas where he pitched for the local baseball team, and coached high school basketball. After service in World War I, serving with the 816th Pioneer Infantry Division in France, Sweatt enrolled in the 1920 spring semester at the State Manual Training Normal School (now Pittsburg State University) on a sports scholarship. Sweatt competed in track and field, football, and basketball. He was the first black athlete to letter in a sport at SMTN. On May 4, 1921, Sweatt married his sweetheart from Iola, Kansas, Evelyn Groomer. Sweatt graduated with a teaching certificate in 1922 and taught at Cleveland School in Coffeyville, Kansas with his wife until the end of the 1924 school year.
Sweatt tried out for the Kansas City Monarchs, of the Negro Baseball League, in the summer of 1921, reporting to the team on June 5th. In 1924, the Monarchs played in the first Negro League World Series against the Hillsdale Giants of Philadelphia, winning 5 to 0. In 1926, Sweatt was traded to the Chicago American Giants. Sweatt retired from the Leagues in 1928, having been the only player to have played in the first four Negro Leagues World Series. He moved on to work for the Post Office in Chicago and managed the Giants until 1933. Sweatt passed away in 1983 at the age of 89.
