![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SUT-L-CHIEF-INTEGRATE-01.jpg\")
Ben Holman pins the badge onto the chest of San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Robert Logan during his swearing-in ceremony in August 2024. (Aryka Randall)<\/p>\nWhen Ben Holman became a San Diego firefighter in 1951, he wasn\u2019t looking to make history. He was just looking for a good, steady job with an opportunity to advance.<\/p>\n
But the fire chief at the time saw Holman as the perfect hire to help racially integrate the fire department, which until that time assigned all its Black firefighters to a single station in Mountain View, a predominantly Black neighborhood. Every other station was manned exclusively by White firefighters.<\/p>\n
Chief George Courser told Holman he was going to be his Jackie Robinson in the fire department. He would be the one to break the color barrier, just as Robinson had done in professional baseball in 1947.<\/p>\n
He assigned Holman to Station 14 in North Park, where he became the first African American firefighter to bunk down in a firehouse and fight fires next to White colleagues. Soon after, Courser transferred other Black firefighters to stations around the city.<\/p>\n
Holman\u2019s long-acknowledged role in integrating the fire service was celebrated anew last month when he turned 100. The mayor and City Council proclaimed Dec. 26, his birthday, as Alwin Benjamin Holman Day. About 100 friends and family members later gathered at a church for his birthday party.<\/p>\n
Ben Holman pins the badge onto the chest of San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Robert Logan during his swearing-in ceremony in August 2024. (Aryka Randall)<\/p>\n
The city proclamation recognized that Holman \u201cmade history as the first Black firefighter in the city to be assigned to a station other than Station 19, breaking the color barrier that had long segregated Black firefighters to a single post and paving the way for future generations of firefighters of color.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holman \u201cexemplified professionalism and integrity,\u201d the proclamation said, and \u201cserved all people equally, without regarding race or background, and demonstrated through his actions that compassion, service, and courage transcend division.\u201d<\/p>\n
Focused on the work<\/p>\n
When he joined the department, Holman didn\u2019t think much about his color-barrier-breaking role and focused more on doing his job \u2014 putting out fires and rescuing people in need. He got involved in the firefighters\u2019 union and steadily advanced in the department. By the time he retired in 1983, he had reached the rank of deputy chief.<\/p>\n
As time has gone by, Holman has come to accept his place in history.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were other cities around the country that had tried to integrate their departments, and there was all kinds of resistance \u2026 not from the citizens necessarily, but from the firefighters themselves,\u201d Holman said. \u201cSome were very, very prejudiced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some deputy chiefs and battalion chiefs protested the move, but Courser stood firm. Holman, at times, had to endure racist jokes and slurs, and got the silent treatment from some.<\/p>\n
But, he said, the firefighters he was stationed with treated him as they would any probationary firefighter. \u201cI was accepted by most firefighters, Black, White, green or whatever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the fire chief told him that if he had any problems, he should come and see him. Holman never did.<\/p>\n
He knew it was important he succeed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I knew then that if I did not survive, then it would be a long time before the Black firefighters would be accepted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Before he was hired, Holman met with the chief several times, answering questions about his life and family, and about growing up in Alton, Ill. In a 2013 interview<\/a> with the Union-Tribune, he shared how his mother had tried to shield him from experiencing segregation as a child, keeping him from knowing the local drugstore wouldn\u2019t serve Black people by telling him they didn\u2019t need to stop there for a soda since they had cold drinks at home.<\/p>\n Holman\u2019s daughter, Kyra Randall, said her father\u2019s even temper and soft-spoken manner, even when angered, likely appealed to the chief. \u201cMy dad is not distracted by external pressure and can easily focus on the task at hand,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Before coming to San Diego, Holman had enrolled as a pre-med student at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., but World War II intervened after just one semester. He asked to defer his service but was told the draft board needed him sooner.<\/p>\n After enlisting in the Navy, he was stationed in San Diego in January 1945. He left the military and worked several jobs, including with the post office, before applying to the fire department, which had been hiring Black firefighters since 1919.<\/p>\n Holman liked being a firefighter, liked being the person called upon to help others. On his days off, he looked forward to going back to work.<\/p>\n Looking back on his 32-year career, he wishes he\u2019d stayed a battalion chief, working directly with the rank-and-file, instead of moving higher in the department, where he was tasked with personnel decisions and other administrative tasks.<\/p>\n Money was the primary reason he sought promotions. \u201cI looked at the end of the game. I figured out, you know, when I retire, I want the most money I can get. And so that\u2019s what kind of motivated me to keep moving up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Daughter grasped legacy years later<\/p>\n Holman and his wife, Ruby, were married for 71 years before she died in 2020. When asked about his secret for living such a long life, he credits his wife, saying she cared so well for home and family, he never worried about those things when he went off to work.<\/p>\n Randall said her mom frequently visited her dad at his fire stations. She and her brother would go there to hang out after school, playing ping pong and climbing fire poles. The family went on camping trips with other firefighters\u2019 families, enjoying water skiing and outings with the close-knit group.<\/p>\n She doesn\u2019t recall her father ever talking\u00a0about breaking the color barrier when she was little. It wasn\u2019t until she was an adult, helping plan a workplace luncheon to celebrate Black History Month, that she fully grasped the role he played.<\/p>\n A coworker wanted to invite the local firefighters who had integrated the San Diego fire department, a development\u00a0chronicled in a video shown on KPBS called \u201cThe Men of Station 19.\u201d<\/a> Randall had heard of the film and knew her father was one of the four firefighters featured, but had never watched it until then.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when she appreciat her father\u2019s legacy. She said she was in her late 30s or early 40s.<\/p>\n Over the years, Holman encouraged other African Americans to sign on as firefighters, and he supported city diversity efforts. He also encouraged his own family members to consider the career. Holman\u2019s late son, Darryl, worked as a firefighter for a while, and a grandson applied at one point. He said he thought his daughter would have done well and advanced in the fire service, but she disagrees \u2014 noting she doesn\u2019t like getting up in the middle of the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n In August 2024, Holman pinned the fire chief badge on Chief Robert Logan\u2019s chest during his swearing-in ceremony. Logan is the department\u2019s 19th fire chief and the third African American to hold the post.<\/p>\n![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sut-l-firefighter-100th-001.jpg\")
San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Robert Logan chats with Ben Holman at his 100th birthday party held at the Faith Presbyterian Church on Dec. 26 in San Diego. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n