A MARATHON MISSION: MADISON HOGAN III’S MILES OF MEMORIES

A MARATHON MISSION: MADISON HOGAN III’S MILES OF MEMORIES.

By Pastor Kyev Tatum, Sr.

Some people are built for sprinting. Madison Hogan III was built for the long run—and for a life of service that carried him from the track at I.M. Terrell to Vietnam and into the neighborhoods of Fort Worth.

Hogan still holds I.M. Terrell’s mile record. But the distance that defines his life reaches well beyond the track. He served as a United States Marine during the Vietnam War, worked for the U.S. Postal Service as an automation clerk, and spent decades documenting the people and events around him with a camera. He has been retired from the Postal Service for 16 years. Link: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article245521480.html

His induction into the 2027 class of the Prairie View Interscholastic League Hall of Fame will bring those miles together: the athlete, the veteran, the photographer, the historian, and the neighbor who believed his community deserved to be seen and remembered.

The PVIL Hall of Fame weekend is scheduled for July 9–10, 2027, in Houston. The weekend begins with a Friday meet and greet; the induction banquet is set for Saturday, July 10.

A League Built Under Segregation

The Prairie View Interscholastic League’s history is inseparable from the barriers Black students faced in Texas. Organized in 1920 as the Texas Interscholastic League of Colored Schools, it provided Black high schools with a governing body for athletics and academic competition. The name “Prairie View Interscholastic League” became widely used because Prairie View hosted the state track meet and housed league records. The league’s work extended beyond sports to academic and music competitions. It formally ended in 1970, when its schools joined the University Interscholastic League.

The league created room for Black students to compete, perform, and excel at a time when Texas’s segregated school system denied them equal access. Its championships were earned on the field and court; its broader purpose was to give students opportunities to demonstrate their ability across school life. Today, its records preserve an essential part of Texas history.

Fort Worth’s own PVIL story was carried by four schools: I.M. Terrell, Dunbar, Como, and Kirkpatrick. Together, they built a legacy that reached state championship games and lifted generations of students and families.

Terrell was among the league’s early football powers, winning the 1940 state championship. Its basketball program added titles in 1957, 1965, and 1967. Dunbar reached the 1962 football championship game, while Kirkpatrick claimed football championships in 1962 and 1963. Kirkpatrick also won the 1961 basketball championship, and Como captured the 1962 basketball title. These records tell only part of the story: each school’s legacy also lives in the students, coaches, teachers, and neighborhoods that carried its name.

For Hogan, Terrell was more than a school on a list. It was where he ran the mile, set a mark that has endured, and first began to record the world around him.

A Camera Trained on Community

Hogan began taking photographs in 1963, while attending I.M. Terrell, and never stopped. His photographs became a record of people and events that could otherwise have slipped from public memory. His camera took him to Dallas before President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, to Vietnam during the early years of the war, and to Washington during Watergate. In Fort Worth, he documented the United Front’s protests against discrimination and police brutality.

In a 2020 Fort Worth Star-Telegram interview, Hogan said he photographed for free because he wanted to keep people informed. That simple explanation carries the heart of his work. Photography was not only a craft; it was a way to serve—to make sure people could see what was happening around them and remember who had been there.

That work made Hogan a historian in the most personal sense: someone who paid attention, kept the record, and understood that history is made not only by famous names but also by ordinary people acting together. His photographs helped preserve the texture of Fort Worth life—its struggles, its gatherings, its leaders, and its neighbors.

In 2020, the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference recognized him as a Stone of Hope recipient. It was one acknowledgment of a life shaped by service: first on the track, then in uniform, on the job, behind the camera, and in the community.

The Long Run Continues

The PVIL Hall of Fame induction honors Hogan as an athlete, but his story cannot be contained by a mile record. He is a veteran who served his country, a Postal Service automation clerk who gave years of work to the public, and a photographer whose images help a community see itself.

The four Fort Worth schools in the PVIL story built legacies through championships and excellence. Hogan’s legacy adds another kind of record: a lifetime spent witnessing, documenting, and serving. His induction brings him back to the league that connected his school years to a larger Texas story—one of achievement forged despite segregation and preserved through the memories of the people who lived it.

Madison Hogan III’s marathon is measured in miles of service and memories. And as he enters the 2027 PVIL Hall of Fame, the story he has spent a lifetime capturing takes its place in the record, too.

About Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr.

Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr. is the senior pastor of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church in Fort Worth, where he has served since 2018. Appointed PVIL Legacy Coordinator in 2026, he created Legends in the Locker Room to honor PVIL trailblazers and preserve the stories of the people, schools, and communities that shaped the league’s legacy.