Black players in American professional football
Encyclopedia
Details of the history of black players in American professional football depend on the professional football
league considered: the National Football League
(NFL), which evolved from the first professional league, the American Professional Football Association, or the American Football League
, (AFL), a rival league from 1960 through 1969, which eventually merged with the NFL.
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 1904.
From its inception in as a loose coalition of various regional teams, the American Professional Football Association had comparatively few African-American players; a total of nine black people suited up for NFL teams between 1920 and 1926. Fritz Pollard
and Bobby Marshall
were the first black players in what is now the NFL in 1920. Pollard became the first black coach in 1921.
left the league. Several teams were kicked out of the league that year, and with a large number of available, talented white players, black players were generally the first to be removed, never to return again. For the next few years, a black player would sporadically pop up on a team: Harold Bradley
played one season with the Chicago Cardinals in 1928, and David Myers played for two New York City-based teams in 1930 and 1931. (Ethnic minorities of other races were also fairly common. Thanks to the efforts of the Carlisle Indian School football program
, which ended with the school's closure in 1918, there were numerous native Americans
in the NFL through the 1920s, most famously Jim Thorpe
. The Dayton Triangles
also featured the first two Asian-Americans in the NFL, Chinese-Hawaiian running back Walter Achiu
and Japanese-Scottish quarterback Arthur Matsu
, both in 1928.)
and Ray Kemp
. Both were gone by the end of the season: Lillard, due largely to his tendency to get into fights, was not invited back to the Chicago Cardinals, while Kemp quit on his own accord to pursue a coaching career (one that turned out to be long and successful). Many observers will attribute the subsequent lockout of black players to the entry of George Preston Marshall
into the league in 1932. Marshall openly refused to have black athletes on his Boston Braves/Washington Redskins
team, and reportedly pressured the rest of the league to follow suit. Marshall, however, was likely not the only reason: the Great Depression
had stoked an increase in racism and self-inflicted segregation across the country, and internal politics likely had as much of an effect as external pressure.
In 1933, Marshall and the owners agreed to ban black players from the league. 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 American Association
and several others found their way into the Pacific Coast Professional Football League
) or found themselves onto all-black barnstorming teams
such as the Harlem Brown Bombers. Unlike in baseball, where 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.
had, arguably until as late as 1962, one of the greatest collegiate football players in history, Kenny Washington
, a senior. Washington, an African American, was very popular, and his team had garnered national attention in the print media. After he played in the College All-Star game in August 1940, George Halas asked him not to return to Los Angeles immediately because Halas wanted to sign him to a contract with the Chicago Bears. After a week or so, Washington returned to Los Angeles without an NFL contract. Washington spent the majority of the early 1940s in the Pacific Coast League
with the 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. In 1946, after the Rams had received approval to move to Los Angeles, members of the African American print media made the Los Angeles Coliseum commission aware the NFL did not have any African American players 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. 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. Subsequently, the Rams signed Washington on March 21, 1946, and racial segregation in the NFL was completely ended. The signing of Washington caused "all hell to break loose" among the owners of the NFL franchises. 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; the first black player, George Taliaferro
(who signed with the rival All-America Football Conference
instead of the NFL), was not drafted until 1949, and only then in the 13th round of the draft. 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. In comparison, only three of the ten NFL teams (the Rams, Detroit 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.
Marshall was quoted as saying "We'll start signing Negroes when the Harlem Globetrotters
start signing whites." In spite of this open bias, Marshall was elected to the NFL's Pro Football Hall of Fame
in 1963. As part of his "qualifications" for enshrinement, the hall says: "Marshall was totally involved in all aspects of his team's operation and endured his share of criticism for not integrating his team until being forced to do so in 1962." The Redskins had no black players until they succumbed to the threat of civil-rights legal action by the Kennedy administration. The Redskins eventually came through by signing Bobby Mitchell
and two other African American
players by 1962.
Even when the NFL did sign black players, poor treatment was evident. At the same time as black players were being reintroduced to the NFL, there was also an influx of players from the Southern United States
, who held particular hostility toward blacks; this discouraged several black players from playing in the NFL, with some opting to go north to what would become the Canadian Football League
, which was at its peak of competitiveness with the NFL at the time.}} 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. Position segregation was also prevalent at this time. According to several books, such as the autobiography of Vince Lombardi
, black players were stacked at "speed" positions such as Defensive Back
but excluded from "intelligent" positions such as Quarterback
and Center
. 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
.
actively recruited players from small colleges that had been largely ignored by the NFL, giving those schools' black players the opportunity to play professional football. As a result, for the years 1960 through 1962, AFL teams averaged 17% more blacks than NFL teams did. By 1969, a comparison of the two league's championship team photos showed the AFL's Chiefs with 23 black players out of 51 players pictured, while the NFL Vikings had 11 blacks, of 42 players in the photo. The American Football League had the first black placekicker in U.S. professional football, Gene Mingo
of the Denver Broncos
(Mingo's primary claim to fame, however, was as a running back, and was only secondarily a placekicker); and the first black regular starting quarterback of the modern era, James Harris of the Buffalo Bills
. (Marlin Briscoe
, a wide receiver/defensive back for the Denver Broncos, also started several games as the Broncos' third-string quarterback at around the same time as Harris, but he returned to wide receiver after leaving the Broncos.) Willie Thrower
was a back-up quarterback who saw some action in the 1950s for the Chicago Bears
.
s, Polynesians
(an anomalously high 1.7% of NFL players are American Samoa
ns), non-white Hispanics
, Asians
, and people of mixed race. This statistic is in contrast to the general population of the United States, which is 34% non-white. A small number of non-whites from outside the United States have also played in the NFL through the years, with notable examples from the past including running backs Rueben Mayes
and Tim Biakabutuka (both Black Canadians) and Christian Okoye
(Nigeria
n) and current examples including defensive linemen Israel Idonije
(also a Black Canadian), Amobi Okoye
(also Nigerian), and Osi Umenyiora
(Black British
) as well as fullback Jehuu Caulcrick
(Liberia
n). All of these players, except Idonije, played college football in the U.S.; Amobi Okoye and Umenyiora played high school football in Alabama, where their families settled in their preteen years, and Caulcrick played high school football in Clymer, New York
. Idonije's first exposure to the American game as a player came in the 2003 East–West Shrine Game, as he had played CIS football
under Canadian rules at the University of Manitoba
.
In recent years the halfback
position has seen a dominance of non-whites, particularly blacks. As of 2010, Cleveland Browns
halfback Peyton Hillis
is the only white starting running back in the NFL. There were none in 2009. As recently as 2005, no white halfbacks received a single carry, and no white running back rushed for 1,000 rushing yards in a season between Craig James in 1985 and Hillis in 2010. (James rose to prominence thanks to the United States Football League
, which James played for as a member of the Washington Federals in 1983.) Brian Leonard
and Toby Gerhart
have yet to see significant action; Gerhart has alleged race was a factor in why four running backs were drafted ahead of him in the 2010 NFL Draft
. There are also allegations that racial profiling
exists at the lower levels of the game that discourages white players from playing halfback.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
league considered: the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL), which evolved from the first professional league, the American Professional Football Association, or the American Football League
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
, (AFL), a rival league from 1960 through 1969, which eventually merged with the NFL.
Early years
Charles FollisCharles Follis
Charles W. Follis, a.k.a "The Black Cyclone," was the first African-American professional football player. He played for the Shelby Blues of the "Ohio League" from 1902 to 1906. On September 16, 1904, Follis signed a contract with Shelby making him the first African-American contracted to play...
is believed to be the first black professional football player, having played for the Shelby Blues
Shelby Blues
The Shelby Blues were an American football team based in Shelby, Ohio. The team played in the Ohio League from 1900 to 1919. In 1920, when the Ohio League became the APFA , the Blues did not join but continued to play against APFA teams, only to later suspend operations...
from 1902 to 1906. Follis, a two sport athlete, was paid for his work beginning in 1904.
From its inception in as a loose coalition of various regional teams, the American Professional Football Association had comparatively few African-American players; a total of nine black people suited up for NFL teams between 1920 and 1926. Fritz Pollard
Fritz Pollard
Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard was the first African American head coach in the National Football League . Pollard along with Bobby Marshall were the first two African American players in the NFL in 1920...
and Bobby Marshall
Bobby Marshall
Robert Wells "Bobby" Marshall was an American sports player. He was best known for playing football, however he also competed in baseball, track, boxing and ice hockey....
were the first black players in what is now the NFL in 1920. Pollard became the first black coach in 1921.
1927 through 1933
After , all five of the black players that were still in the subsequent National Football LeagueNational Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
left the league. Several teams were kicked out of the league that year, and with a large number of available, talented white players, black players were generally the first to be removed, never to return again. For the next few years, a black player would sporadically pop up on a team: Harold Bradley
Harold Bradley
Harold Bradley is a pop guitarist and an American country guitarist.Harold played banjo as a child but switched to guitar on the advice of his elder brother, Owen Bradley. Owen arranged for Harold to tour with Ernest Tubb while Harold was still in high school. After graduation, Harold joined the...
played one season with the Chicago Cardinals in 1928, and David Myers played for two New York City-based teams in 1930 and 1931. (Ethnic minorities of other races were also fairly common. Thanks to the efforts of the Carlisle Indian School football program
Carlisle Indians football
The Carlisle Indians football team represented the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in intercollegiate football competition. The program was active from 1893 until 1917, when it was discontinued. During the program's 25 years, the Indians compiled a 167–88–13 record and 0.647 winning percentage,...
, which ended with the school's closure in 1918, there were numerous native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
in the NFL through the 1920s, most famously Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe
Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe * Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28 * americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American athlete of mixed ancestry...
. The Dayton Triangles
Dayton Triangles
The Dayton Triangles were an original franchise of the American Professional Football Association in 1920. The Triangles were based in Dayton, Ohio, and took their nickname from their home field, Triangle Park, which was located at the confluence of the Great Miami and Stillwater Rivers in north...
also featured the first two Asian-Americans in the NFL, Chinese-Hawaiian running back Walter Achiu
Walter Achiu
Walter Tin Kit Achiu was an American football player. He was a graduate of Saint Louis College in Honolulu, Hawaii. Walter was most notably known as the first Asian to play in the National Football League...
and Japanese-Scottish quarterback Arthur Matsu
Arthur Matsu
Arthur A. Matsu was an American football player and coach. He was the first Asian-American student at The College of William & Mary and the quarterback and captain of the school's football team. He was later selected by the Richmond Times-Dispatch as the best quarterback to play at William & Mary...
, both in 1928.)
1934 to 1945
In 1933, the last year of integration, the NFL had two black players, Joe LillardJoe Lillard
Joseph Johnny Lillard Jr. was an American football, baseball, and basketball player. From 1932 to 1933, he was a running back for the National Football League's Chicago Cardinals. Along with Ray Kemp, Lillard was the last African American to play in the NFL until Kenny Washington and Woody Strode...
and Ray Kemp
Ray Kemp
Raymond Howard Kemp was an American football player and a charter member of the Pittsburgh Pirates football team . He was also the first African-American player in the team's history...
. Both were gone by the end of the season: Lillard, due largely to his tendency to get into fights, was not invited back to the Chicago Cardinals, while Kemp quit on his own accord to pursue a coaching career (one that turned out to be long and successful). Many observers will attribute the subsequent lockout of black players to the entry of George Preston Marshall
George Preston Marshall
George Preston Marshall was the owner and president of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League from 1932 until his death in 1969.-Contributions:...
into the league in 1932. Marshall openly refused to have black athletes on his Boston Braves/Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
team, and reportedly pressured the rest of the league to follow suit. Marshall, however, was likely not the only reason: the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
had stoked an increase in racism and self-inflicted segregation across the country, and internal politics likely had as much of an effect as external pressure.
In 1933, Marshall and the owners agreed to ban black players from the league. 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 American Association
American Association (football)
The American Association was a professional American football league based in New York City. Founded in 1936 as a minor league with teams in New York and New Jersey, the AA extended its reach to Providence, Rhode Island prior to the onset of World War II...
and several others found their way into the Pacific Coast Professional Football League
Pacific Coast Professional Football League
The Pacific Coast Professional Football League , also known as the Pacific Coast Football League and Pacific Coast League was a professional American football league based in California, USA, and competed from 1940 through 1948 in sports...
) or found themselves onto all-black barnstorming teams
Barnstorm (sports)
Barnstorming in athletics refers to sports teams or individuals that travel to various locations, usually small towns, to stage exhibition matches....
such as the Harlem Brown Bombers. Unlike in baseball, where 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.
Reintegration
In 1939, UCLAUCLA Bruins Football
The UCLA Bruins football program represents the University of California, Los Angeles in college football as members of the Pacific-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I FBS level. The Bruins have enjoyed several periods of success in their history, having been ranked in the top ten of the AP Poll...
had, arguably until as late as 1962, one of the greatest collegiate football players in history, Kenny Washington
Kenny Washington (American football)
Kenneth S. "Kingfish" Washington was a professional football player who was the first African-American to sign a contract with a National Football League team in the modern era.-UCLA Bruins:...
, a senior. Washington, an African American, was very popular, and his team had garnered national attention in the print media. After he played in the College All-Star game in August 1940, George Halas asked him not to return to Los Angeles immediately because Halas wanted to sign him to a contract with the Chicago Bears. After a week or so, Washington returned to Los Angeles without an NFL contract. Washington spent the majority of the early 1940s in the Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast Professional Football League
The Pacific Coast Professional Football League , also known as the Pacific Coast Football League and Pacific Coast League was a professional American football league based in California, USA, and competed from 1940 through 1948 in sports...
with the 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. In 1946, after the Rams had received approval to move to Los Angeles, members of the African American print media made the Los Angeles Coliseum commission aware the NFL did not have any African American players 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
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in private businesses , under the doctrine of "separate but equal".The decision was handed...
, by not leasing the stadium to a segregated team. 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. Subsequently, the Rams signed Washington on March 21, 1946, and racial segregation in the NFL was completely ended. The signing of Washington caused "all hell to break loose" among the owners of the NFL franchises. The Rams added a second black player, Woody Strode
Woody Strode
Woodrow Wilson Woolwine "Woody" Strode was a decathlete and football star who went on to become a pioneering black American film actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe award for best supporting actor for his role in Spartacus in 1960...
, 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; the first black player, George Taliaferro
George Taliaferro
George Taliaferro is a former professional American football player. He was the first African American drafted by a National Football League team....
(who signed with the rival All-America Football Conference
All-America Football Conference
The All-America Football Conference was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation's best players, and introduced many lasting innovations...
instead of the NFL), was not drafted until 1949, and only then in the 13th round of the draft. The AAFC, which formed in 1946, was more proactive in signing black players; in 1946, the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
signed Marion Motley
Marion Motley
Marion Motley was a professional football player, a fullback for the Cleveland Browns, and briefly for the Pittsburgh Steelers.-Early years:...
and Bill Willis
Bill Willis
William Karnet Willis was one of the dominant American football players of the 1940s and 1950s, and is an inductee in the College and Professional Football Halls of Fame. Willis was one of the first African American football players to play professional football...
, 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. In comparison, only three of the ten NFL teams (the Rams, Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
and New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
) signed a black player before 1950. The Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
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.
Marshall was quoted as saying "We'll start signing Negroes when the Harlem Globetrotters
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. The executive offices for the team are currently in downtown Phoenix, Arizona; the team is owned by Shamrock Holdings, which oversees the various investments of the Roy E. Disney family.Over...
start signing whites." In spite of this open bias, Marshall was elected to the NFL's Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
in 1963. As part of his "qualifications" for enshrinement, the hall says: "Marshall was totally involved in all aspects of his team's operation and endured his share of criticism for not integrating his team until being forced to do so in 1962." The Redskins had no black players until they succumbed to the threat of civil-rights legal action by the Kennedy administration. The Redskins eventually came through by signing Bobby Mitchell
Bobby Mitchell
Robert Cornelius Mitchell is a former American football halfback and flanker in the National Football League for the Cleveland Browns and the Washington Redskins. Mitchell was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983.-Early life:Mitchell was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas and attended...
and two other African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
players by 1962.
Even when the NFL did sign black players, poor treatment was evident. At the same time as black players were being reintroduced to the NFL, there was also an influx of players from the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, who held particular hostility toward blacks; this discouraged several black players from playing in the NFL, with some opting to go north to what would become the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
, which was at its peak of competitiveness with the NFL at the time.}} Reportedly, black players routinely received lower contracts than whites in the NFL, while in the American Football League
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
there was no such distinction based on race. Position segregation was also prevalent at this time. According to several books, such as the autobiography of Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi
Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi was an American football coach. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight league championships and five in seven years, including winning the first two Super Bowls following the 1966 and...
, black players were stacked at "speed" positions such as Defensive Back
Defensive back
In American football and Canadian football, defensive backs are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage; they are distinguished from the defensive line players and linebackers, who take positions directly behind or close to the line of...
but excluded from "intelligent" positions such as Quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
and Center
Center (American football)
Center is a position in American football and Canadian football . The center is the innermost lineman of the offensive line on a football team's offense...
. 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
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
.
American Football League influence
Conversely, the American Football LeagueAmerican Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
actively recruited players from small colleges that had been largely ignored by the NFL, giving those schools' black players the opportunity to play professional football. As a result, for the years 1960 through 1962, AFL teams averaged 17% more blacks than NFL teams did. By 1969, a comparison of the two league's championship team photos showed the AFL's Chiefs with 23 black players out of 51 players pictured, while the NFL Vikings had 11 blacks, of 42 players in the photo. The American Football League had the first black placekicker in U.S. professional football, Gene Mingo
Gene Mingo
Eugene L. Mingo is a former professional American football player who played several positions including halfback, placekicker, and return specialist...
of the Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
(Mingo's primary claim to fame, however, was as a running back, and was only secondarily a placekicker); and the first black regular starting quarterback of the modern era, James Harris of the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. (Marlin Briscoe
Marlin Briscoe
Marlin Oliver Briscoe is a former American collegiate and Professional Football wide receiver/quarterback who played professionally for nine years...
, a wide receiver/defensive back for the Denver Broncos, also started several games as the Broncos' third-string quarterback at around the same time as Harris, but he returned to wide receiver after leaving the Broncos.) Willie Thrower
Willie Thrower
Willie Lawrence Thrower was a American football quarterback. Born near Pittsburgh in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, Thrower was known as "Mitts" for his large hands and arm strength compared to his 5'11 frame. He was known to toss a football 60 yards...
was a back-up quarterback who saw some action in the 1950s for the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
.
Racial issues today
Today, recent surveys have shown that the NFL is approximately 57-61% non-white, including African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s, Polynesians
Pacific Islander American
Pacific Islander Americans, also known as Oceanian Americans, are residents of the United States with original ancestry from Oceania. They represent the smallest racial group counted in the United States census of 2000. They numbered 874,000 people or 0.3 percent of the United States population...
(an anomalously high 1.7% of NFL players are American Samoa
American Samoa
American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...
ns), non-white Hispanics
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
, Asians
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
, and people of mixed race. This statistic is in contrast to the general population of the United States, which is 34% non-white. A small number of non-whites from outside the United States have also played in the NFL through the years, with notable examples from the past including running backs Rueben Mayes
Rueben Mayes
Rueben Mayes is a Canadian who played in the National Football League from 1986 to 1993.He first gained notoriety as a running back at North Battleford Comprehensive High School in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. In 1980 Mayes led the NBCHS Vikings to an undefeated season and the SHSAA 3A...
and Tim Biakabutuka (both Black Canadians) and Christian Okoye
Christian Okoye
Christian Emeka Okoye , is a Nigerian-American former American football running back for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1987 to 1992. Nicknamed "The Nigerian Nightmare," Okoye was known for his powerful running style and ability to break tackles. Okoye's six seasons in the NFL saw a league rushing...
(Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
n) and current examples including defensive linemen Israel Idonije
Israel Idonije
Israel Idonije is a Nigerian-Canadian defensive end for the National Football League's Chicago Bears. He was signed as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Manitoba...
(also a Black Canadian), Amobi Okoye
Amobi Okoye
-Houston Texans:Okoye signed a five-year deal with the Texans on July 26, which allowed him to begin training camp with his teammates the next day. With his first start, Okoye became the youngest player to appear in an NFL game since 1967....
(also Nigerian), and Osi Umenyiora
Osi Umenyiora
-2003:Umenyiora was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2003 NFL Draft by the New York Giants out of Troy State University, now Troy University. He was number 72. As a rookie in 2003, he played in 13 games with one start.-2005:...
(Black British
Black British
Black British is a term used to describe British people of Black African descent, especially those of Afro-Caribbean background. The term has been used from the 1950s to refer to Black people from former British colonies in the West Indies and Africa, who are residents of the United Kingdom and...
) as well as fullback Jehuu Caulcrick
Jehuu Caulcrick
Jehuu Tobias Caulcrick is an American football fullback who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played college football at Michigan State....
(Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
n). All of these players, except Idonije, played college football in the U.S.; Amobi Okoye and Umenyiora played high school football in Alabama, where their families settled in their preteen years, and Caulcrick played high school football in Clymer, New York
Clymer, New York
Clymer is a town in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 1,501 at the 2000 census. The town is named for George Clymer, a signer of the Declaration of Independence....
. Idonije's first exposure to the American game as a player came in the 2003 East–West Shrine Game, as he had played CIS football
CIS football
Twenty-six universities across Canada compete in football under the auspices of Canadian Interuniversity Sport . The teams are divided into four conferences, drawing from the four regional associations of the CIS: Canada West Universities Athletic Association, Ontario University Athletics, Quebec...
under Canadian rules at the University of Manitoba
Manitoba Bisons
The Manitoba Bisons are the athletic teams that represent the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The football and soccer teams play their games at University Stadium, which also serves as the location of track & field events...
.
In recent years the halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
position has seen a dominance of non-whites, particularly blacks. As of 2010, Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
halfback Peyton Hillis
Peyton Hillis
Hillis was selected by the Denver Broncos in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft.-2008 Season:At the start of the 2008 season, Hillis was listed as the Broncos' starting fullback...
is the only white starting running back in the NFL. There were none in 2009. As recently as 2005, no white halfbacks received a single carry, and no white running back rushed for 1,000 rushing yards in a season between Craig James in 1985 and Hillis in 2010. (James rose to prominence thanks to the United States Football League
United States Football League
The United States Football League was an American football league which was in active operation from 1983 to 1987. It played a spring/summer schedule in its first three seasons and a traditional autumn/winter schedule was set to commence before league operations ceased.The USFL was conceived in...
, which James played for as a member of the Washington Federals in 1983.) Brian Leonard
Brian Leonard
-St. Louis Rams:On April 28, 2007, Leonard was selected by the St. Louis Rams in the second round with the 52nd overall pick of the 2007 NFL Draft. Leonard signed a four-year, $2.8 million contract on July 24, 2007, that includes $1.55 million in guaranteed money. Coach Scott Linehan decided to use...
and Toby Gerhart
Toby Gerhart
Toby Gerhart is a professional football player, a running back for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. He was a consensus All-American running back at Stanford and was selected in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft, the 51st overall pick. In 2009 Gerhart won the Doak Walker...
have yet to see significant action; Gerhart has alleged race was a factor in why four running backs were drafted ahead of him in the 2010 NFL Draft
2010 NFL Draft
The 2010 NFL Draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible football players. Unlike previous years, the 2010 draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with the first round on Thursday, April 22, 2010, at 7:30 pm...
. There are also allegations that racial profiling
Racial profiling
Racial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement...
exists at the lower levels of the game that discourages white players from playing halfback.
See also
- History of the National Football LeagueHistory of the National Football LeagueThe history of the National Football League has roots spanning as far back as 1892 when former Yale All-American guard William Heffelfinger was paid $500 by the Allegheny Athletic Association to play in a game against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, making him the first ever professional football...
- History of African Americans in the Canadian Football LeagueHistory of African Americans in the Canadian Football LeagueAfrican Americans have played prominent roles in the Canadian Football League and its precursors since 1946. In many cases black Americans have been able to pursue professional football opportunities in the CFL that were for one reason or another unavailable in the United States...
Sources
- Algeo, Matthew (2006), Last Team Standing: How the Steelers and the Eagles—"The Steagles"—Saved Pro Football During World War II. Philadelphia: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81472-3
- Coenen, Craig R. (2005), From sandlots to the Super Bowl: the National Football League, 1920–1967. Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 1-57233-447-9
- Davis, Jeff (2005), Papa Bear, The Life and Legacy of George Halas. New York: McGraw-Hill ISBN 0-07-146054-3
- Demas, Lane (2010). Integrating the Gridiron:Black Civil Rights and American College Football. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-4741-1
- Levy, Alan H. (2003). Tackling Jim Crow, Racial Segregation in Professional Football. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., Inc. ISBN 0-7864-1597-5
- MacCambridge, Michael (2005), America's Game. New York:Anchor Books ISBN 978-0-307-48143-6
- Peterson, Robert W. (1997). Pigskin. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507607-9
- Ross, Charles K. (1999), Outside the Lines: African Americans and the Integration of the National Football League. New York: New York Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8147-7495-4
- Strode, Woody; with Young, Sam (1990) Goal Dust. Lanham, MD: Madison Books. ISBN 0-8191-7680-X
- Willis, Chris (2010). The Man Who Built the National Football League: Joe F. Carr. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8108-7669-9
Further reading
- When Pride Still Mattered, A Life of Vince Lombardi, by David Maraniss, 1999, (ISBN 0-684-84418-4) ISBN 978-0-618-90499-0* Lyons, Robert S. (2010). On Any Given Sunday, A Life of Bert Bell. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-59213-731-2
- Brown, Paul; with Clary, Jack (1979). PB, the Paul Brown Story. New York: Atheneum.
- Hession, Joseph (1987). The Rams : Five Decades of Football. San Francisco: Foghorn Press.
- Lyons, Robert S. (2010). On Any Given Sunday, A Life of Bert Bell. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-59213-731-2
- Pervin, Lawrence A. (2009). Football's New York Giants. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-4268-3
- Piascik, Andy (2007). The Best Show in Pro Football. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58979-443-6
- Piascik, Andy (2009). Gridiron Gauntlet. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58979-442-9
- Rathet, Mike; with Smith, Don R. (1984). Their Deeds and Dogged Faith. New York:Balsam Press.
- Rooney, Dan; with Halaas, David F. and Masich, Andrew E. (2007). My 75 Years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-786-72603-5