Black players in professional American football

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Details of the history of black players in professional American football depend on the professional football league considered, which includes the National Football League (NFL); the American Football League (AFL), a rival league from 1960 through 1969 which eventually merged with the NFL; and the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), which existed from 1946 to 1949.

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Early years

Charles Follis is believed to be the first black professional football player, having played for the Shelby Blues from 1902 to 1906. Follis, a two-sport athlete, was paid for his work beginning in 1899.[1]

From its inception in

African-American players; a total of nine black players suited up for NFL teams between 1920 and 1926, including future attorney, black activist and internationally acclaimed artist Paul Robeson, as well as famed race record producer J. Mayo Williams. Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall were the first black players in what is now the NFL in 1920. Pollard became the first (and until 1989, only) black coach in 1921; during the early-to-mid-1920s, the league used player-coaches and did not have separate coaching staffs.[citation needed
]

1927 through 1933

After

Orange Tornadoes in 1929; and Dave Myers played for the Staten Island Stapletons in 1930 and the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1931.[1]

In contrast, ethnic minorities of other races were fairly common. Thanks to the efforts of the

Buffalo Bisons, played in the NFL during this time frame.[1]

1934 to 1945

In

Hail to the Redskins", the team's fight song, and threatened not to let Marshall use it unless he got an expansion team in Dallas.[7]

By 1934, there were no more black players in the league.[8][9] The NFL did not have another black player until after World War II.

Most black players either ended up in the minor leagues (six joined the

Negro leagues flourished, no true football Negro league was known to exist until 1946, and by this time, the major leagues had begun reintegrating.[10]

Post-WWII

In 1939,

Hollywood Bears, even during World War II, during which he managed to avoid military service, thanks in part to a timely injury that forced him to miss the 1942 season but likely rendered him ineligible for service. Washington, after his injuries were healed, was a rarity in that he was a healthy, available athlete during a time when the NFL was resorting to using partially handicapped players ineligible for service, but received no interest from any NFL teams at the time. (Washington would ultimately serve a tour of duty in the armed forces in 1945 as a type of sports ambassador.[21]
)

In 1946, after the Rams had received approval to move to Los Angeles and Washington returned from the war, members of the African American print media made the Los Angeles Coliseum commission aware the NFL did not have any African American players[22] and reminded the commission the Coliseum was supported with public funds. Therefore, its commission had to abide by an 1896 Supreme Court decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, by not leasing the stadium to a segregated team.[23] Also, they specifically suggested the Rams should give Washington a tryout. The commission advised the Rams that they would have to integrate the team with at least one African American in order to lease the Coliseum, and the Rams agreed to this condition.[24][23][25][26] Subsequently, the Rams signed Washington on March 21, 1946.[27][28][29] The signing of Washington caused "all hell to break loose" among the owners of the NFL franchises.[30] The Rams added a second Black player, Woody Strode, on May 7, 1946, giving them two Black players going into the 1946 season.

Even after this incident, racial integration was slow to come to the NFL. No team followed the Rams in re-integrating the NFL until the Detroit Lions signed Mel Groomes and Bob Mann in 1948. No black player was selected in the NFL draft until 1949 when George Taliaferro was selected in the 13th round; Taliaferro signed instead with the rival All-America Football Conference.[31] The AAFC, which formed in 1946, was more proactive in signing Black players; in 1946, the Cleveland Browns signed Marion Motley and Bill Willis, and by the time the AAFC merged with the NFL in 1950, six of the league's eight teams had signed Black players, most by the league's second season in 1947. The AAFC was also more aggressive in combating racism on the field and aggressively penalized unsportsmanlike conduct that had been motivated by racism, through the work of one of its lead officials, former 1920s NFL star Tommy Hughitt.[32] In comparison, only three of the ten NFL teams (the Rams, Lions and New York Giants) signed a black player before 1950. The Green Bay Packers followed in 1950, but the bulk of NFL teams did not sign a Black player until 1952, by which time every team but the Washington Redskins had signed a Black player.[33]

Marshall was quoted as saying "We'll start signing Negroes when the

D. C. Stadium unless they signed a Black player. The Redskins first attempted to comply by drafting Ernie Davis, who refused to play under Marshall; the Redskins in turn traded Davis to the Cleveland Browns. The Redskins eventually signed Bobby Mitchell and two other African American players in 1962.[34]

Quotas limiting the number of Black players were commonplace, and Black players were often stacked into the same positions to allow them to be eliminated as a matter of competition.[35] Reportedly, Black players routinely received lower contracts than whites in the NFL, while in the American Football League there was no such distinction based on race.[36] Position segregation was also prevalent at this time. Walt Frazier, an esteemed high school quarterback who received scholarship offers to play college football, chose to play basketball in college instead, believing he had no future as a Black quarterback when his time came to play professionally (the move paid off, as Frazier would have a Hall of Fame basketball career).[37] However, despite the NFL's segregationist policies, after the league merged with the more tolerant AFL in 1970, more than 30% of the merged league's players were African American.[38]

The American Football League had the first Black

NFL Most Valuable Player, when United Press International named him pro football's player of the year.[40]

21st century

At the start of the 2014 season,

NFL surveys revealed that the league was 68.7% African-American and 28.6% non-Hispanic white, with the remaining 2.7% comprising Asian/Pacific Islander, non-white Hispanics, and those preferring an other category. In the 21st century, the percentage of non-Hispanic white players has decreased slightly, falling from 29.0% in 2003 to 26.8% in 2019. The 2019 racial and gender report card included for the first time a two or more races option to which 9.6% of players reported themselves, thus resulting in a lower African American percentage at 58.9%.[41]

Scout.com national recruiting analyst Greg Biggins said: "I honestly think it’s harder for a white wide receiver than it is a black quarterback to get recruited at a high level in this day and age," Biggins said. "Unless you have an extreme skill set that jumps out."[42]

In recent decades the

free safety to cornerback in 2021,[44][45]
there were no white cornerbacks in the NFL.

No white

fullback position, more white halfbacks have been included in the NFL; in addition to Hillis and Gerhart, Danny Woodhead, Brian Leonard, Chase Reynolds, Rex Burkhead, Zach Zenner and Christian McCaffrey
have all seen playing time at the position since 2010.

At the start of the 2013 season, 23 of the 32 starting quarterbacks (72%) in the NFL were white. Whites slightly outnumber blacks in the makeup of offensive linemen (49% vs 46%) yet the center position is 82% white.[50]

Of the 32 starting kickers in the NFL in 2013, only one was black. In 2013, there were two African American punters, Reggie Hodges for the Cleveland Browns and Marquette King for the Denver Broncos.[1]

In October 2018, George Taliaferro, the first African American selected by the process of the NFL draft, died at the age of 91.[51]

In Week 1 of the 2020 NFL season, 10 quarterbacks with known Black African ancestry (Cam Newton, Teddy Bridgewater, Dwayne Haskins, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, Dak Prescott, Tyrod Taylor, Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson) started games for their teams, the most ever on opening week.[52]

Coaching

Outside of playing, the first black head coach in the NFL since the end of the player-coach era did not come until 1989, when Art Shell took over the then-Los Angeles Raiders; he was followed three years later by Dennis Green of the Minnesota Vikings. An affirmative action policy known as the Rooney Rule was implemented in 2003 requiring teams to interview racial minorities for head coaching positions and, since 2009, other senior management and player personnel positions. (Such minorities need not specifically be black; Hispanics of any race and persons of any nonwhite race are also eligible to qualify under the rule.)[citation needed]

The league has never had a black franchise owner. It rejected the opportunity to do so twice, first with Rommie Loudd's Orlando Suns expansion bid, and then with Reggie Fowler's bid on the Minnesota Vikings; in both cases, the prospective black owners were revealed to have inflated their wealth through illegal activities. Only two of the league's owners (Korean-born Kim Pegula of the Buffalo Bills, and Pakistani-American Shahid Khan of the Jacksonville Jaguars) are of non-European descent.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Charles W. Follis - Ohio History Central". ohiohistorycentral.org. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  2. ^ Ross, 1999, p. 40–45.
  3. ^ Peterson, 1997 p. 179.
  4. ^ a b Barnett, Bob (January 18, 2005). "Profile: Ray Kemp". Retrieved May 16, 2011.
  5. ^ Minor difference in detail exists between authors (e.g., Piascik p. 2-5, Willis p. 314) Ross, 1999, p. 50.
  6. ^ McCartney, Robert (May 28, 2014). "1933 news article refutes cherished tale that Redskins were named to honor Indian coach". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  7. ^ "ESPN.com - Page2 - A rivalry for a song ... and chicken feed". Espn.go.com. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  8. ^ Davis, 2005, p. 98
  9. ^ Algeo, 2006, p. 38
  10. ^ Black players in minor professional football from the Professional Football Researchers Association
  11. ^ Wright, Alfred (September 24, 1962). "The Best College Player Of All Time". CNN. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
  12. ^ Strode, 1990, p. 104.
  13. ^ Demas, 2010, pp. 28–29.
  14. ^ Strode, 1990, p. 142.
  15. ^ Peterson, 1997, p. 181.
  16. ^ Demas, 2010, p. 37.
  17. ^ MacCambridge, 2005, p. 19.
  18. ^ Levy writes that Washington's extra week in Chicago was only "... apparently at the private request of George Halas". Levy, 2003, p. 68.
  19. ^ Ross, 1999, p. 65.
  20. ^ Willis, 2010, p. 329.
  21. ^ "Pioneer". Kenny Washington Stadium Foundation. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  22. ^ MacCambridge, 2005, p. 41.
  23. ^ a b Levy, 2003, p. 92–93.
  24. ^ The Commission consisted of "three representatives of city, county and state government [which] was brimming with [USC] and UCLA alums." MacCambridge, 2005, p. 19.
  25. ^ Davis, 2005, p. 202.
  26. ^ Strode writes the Los Angeles Supervisors also oversaw the Coliseum. Strode, 1990, p. 140.
  27. ^ Coenen, 2005, p. 123.
  28. ^ MacCambridge writes he was signed on May 4, 1946. MacCambridge, 2005, p. 19.
  29. ^ Ross, 1999, p. 82.
  30. ^ Rathet, 1984, p. 210.
  31. ^ "African-Americans - Football History - Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site". Profootballhof.com. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
  32. ^ Miller, Jeffrey. Tommy Hughitt profile at the Professional Football Researchers Association
  33. ^ Hall of Fame: Permanent reintegration of pro football Archived June 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  34. ^ "Washington Club Should be Better". The Record (Hackensack, NJ). August 24, 1962. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  35. ^ a b Rhoden, William C. (December 12, 2011). At some NFL positions, stereotypes reign. The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  36. Jim Acho (1997). The "Foolish Club". Gridiron Press. ASIN B0006QUG20. Foreword by Miller Farr
    .
  37. ^ "Beginnings: Walt Frazier". msgnetworks.com. MSG Networks. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  38. ^ ""Bias Charged to Senators"". Baltimore Sun. February 14, 1962. p. 24. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  39. ^ "The History of Black Quarterbacks in the NFL". Footballperspective.com. February 13, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
  40. ^ Schudel, Matt (April 26, 2011). "Joe Perry, football star of the 1950s and first African American MVP, dies at 84". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  41. ^ https://43530132-36e9-4f52-811a-182c7a91933b.filesusr.com/ugd/3844fb_1478b405e58e42608f1ed2223437d398.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  42. ^ "Fantasy College Football Breaking News - Rotoworld.com". Rotoworld.com. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
  43. ^ Sheahin, Ed (December 18, 2009). The NFL white cornerback: officially extinct! Archived December 28, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Bleacher Report. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  44. ^ Gates, Riley. "Report: Troy Apke getting reps at cornerback". 247 Sports. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  45. ^ Manning, Bryan (August 4, 2021). "5 takeaways from day 6 of Washington training camp". Washington Wire. USA Today. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  46. ^ Wilson, Allen (December 10, 2010). Obscure back finds his place with Browns: Peyton Hillis wins hearts in Cleveland. The Buffalo News. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  47. ^ "Cleveland Browns Player Profiles: Peyton Hillis". NFL. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
  48. ^ Silver, Matt (April 20, 2010). Race factors into evaluation of Gerhart. Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  49. ^ Hill, Jemele (September 30, 2008). Whatever happened to the white tailback?. Page 2 (ESPN.com). Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  50. ^ there aren’t more Black Quarterbacks in the NFL, Matt Ralston.
  51. ^ George Taliaferro, first African-American ever taken in NFL draft, dies at 91
  52. ^ "50 years later, King's speech in Winnetka still resonates". chicatotribune.com. June 29, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2020.

Sources

Further reading

 
Jack (1979). PB, the Paul Brown Story. New York: Atheneum.

External links
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