Black players in professional American football - wikipedia Black players in professional American football 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. Part of the American football series on History of American football Origins of American football Early history of American football First game Walter Camp First pro player First pro league Modern history of American football Close relations : Medieval football Old division football Rugby football Association football Canadian football Black players in professional American football Homosexuality in American football Concussions in American football Rugby union comparison Rugby league comparison Canadian football comparison Pro Football Hall of Fame College Football Hall of Fame Years in American football NFL season - by - season College football season - by - season Glossary of American football American football Portal Contents 1 Early years 2 1927 through 1933 3 1934 to 1945 4 Post-WWII 5 21st century 6 See also 7 References 8 Sources 9 Further reading 10 External links Early years Charles Follis is believed to be the first black professional football player, having played for the Shelby Steamfitters from 1902 to 1906. Follis, a two sport athlete, was paid for his work beginning in 1904. From its inception in 1920 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, 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. 1927 through 1933 After 1926, all five of the black players that were still in the subsequent National Football League 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 Sr. played one season with the Chicago Cardinals in 1928, and David Myers played for two New York City - based teams in 1930 and 1931. In contrast, ethnic minorities of other races were 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 and 1930s, 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 the first Hispanic players in the NFL, Cuban immigrant Ignacio Molinet of the 1927 Frankford Yellow Jackets and Jess Rodriguez of the 1929 Buffalo Bisons, played in the NFL during this time frame. 1934 to 1945 In 1933, the last year of integration, the NFL had two black players, Joe Lillard 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 despite in 1933 being responsible for almost half of the Cardinals ' points, 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. Marshall 's hostility was specifically directed at the black race ; he openly allowed ( and promoted ) Native Americans on his team, including his first head coach, Lone Star Dietz, widely believed to be a Native American at the time. The choice of Redskins as his team name in 1933 was in part to maintain the native connotations that came with the previous team 's name, the Boston Braves. Another reason for Marshall 's anti-black sentiment was to curry favor in the Southern United States ; Marshall 's Redskins had a strong following in that part of the country, which he vigorously defended, and he stood up against the NFL 's efforts to put expansion teams in the South until Clint Murchison, Jr. 's successful extortion attempt ( Murchison acquired the rights to the Redskins ' fight song and threatened not to let Marshall use the song unless he got an expansion team in Dallas ) led to the establishment of the Dallas Cowboys in 1960. By 1934, there were no more black players in 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. Post-wwii In 1939, UCLA had 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. ( Washington would ultimately serve a tour of duty in the armed forces in 1945 as a type of sports ambassador. ) 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 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. 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. 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. 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, 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. '' The Redskins had no black players until Interior Secretary Stewart Udall threatened to evict them from 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 by 1962. 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. 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. 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 it came time to play professionally ( the move paid off, as Frazier would have a Hall of Fame basketball career ). 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. 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, Marlin Briscoe of the Denver Broncos. Willie Thrower was a back - up quarterback who saw some action in the 1950s for the Chicago Bears. In 1954, running back Joe Perry of the San Francisco 49ers became the first black player to be recognized as NFL Most Valuable Player, when United Press International named him pro football 's player of the year. 21st century At the start of the 2014 season, NFL surveys revealed that the league was approximately 68 % African - American and about 28 % white, with the remaining 4 % comprising Asian / Pacific Islander, non-white Hispanics, and those preferring a Mixed Race category. These statistics are in contrast to the general population of the United States, which is about 28 % non-white ( white including Hispanic whites ) although among the demographic that plays in the NFL ( men approximately 21 to 35 years of age ), the proportion of the American population that is non-white is somewhat greater. 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. '' In recent decades the cornerback position has been played exclusively by black players, and the halfback / tailback position overwhelmingly so. There are currently no white cornerbacks in the NFL and there have not been since New York Giants cornerback Jason Sehorn played his final season for the team in 2002. No white running back rushed for 1,000 rushing yards in a season between Craig James in 1985 and Peyton Hillis in 2010. Toby Gerhart 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. Since the phaseout of the 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 quarterback position, 23 of the 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL were white at the start of the 2013 season. Whites slightly outnumber blacks in the makeup of offensive linemen ( 49 % vs 46 % ) yet the center position is 82 % white. Of the 32 starting kickers in the NFL in 2013, only one was black. Also, there were two African American punters, Reggie Hodges for the Cleveland Browns and Marquette King for the Denver Broncos. 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. ) The league has never had a black franchise owner ( it rejected the opportunity to do so in 1974 when it chose the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an expansion franchise over Rommie Loudd 's Orlando Suns ), and 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. In October 2018, George Taliaferro, the first African American selected by process of the NFL draft died at the age of 91. See also African American portal History of the National Football League History of African Americans in the Canadian Football League Rooney Rule Forgotten Four : The Integration of Pro Football, a 2014 documentary film List of black NHL players References Jump up ^ Ross, 1999, p. 40 -- 45. Jump up ^ Peterson, 1997 p. 179. ^ Jump up to : Barnett, Bob ( January 18, 2005 ). `` Profile : Ray Kemp ''. Retrieved May 16, 2011. Jump up ^ Minor difference in detail exists between authors ( e.g., Piascik p. 2 - 5, Willis p. 314 ) Ross, 1999, p. 50. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ `` ESPN.com - Page2 - A rivalry for a song... and chicken feed ''. Espn.go.com. Retrieved 16 December 2014. Jump up ^ Davis, 2005, p. 98 Jump up ^ Algeo, 2006, p. 38 Jump up ^ Black players in minor professional football from the Professional Football Researchers Association Jump up ^ Wright, Alfred ( September 24, 1962 ). `` The Best College Player Of All Time ''. CNN. Retrieved May 16, 2011. Jump up ^ Strode, 1990, p. 104. Jump up ^ Demas, 2010, pp. 28 -- 29. Jump up ^ Strode, 1990, p. 142. Jump up ^ Peterson, 1997, p. 181. Jump up ^ Demas, 2010, p. 37. Jump up ^ MacCambridge, 2005, p. 19. Jump up ^ Levy writes that Washington 's extra week in Chicago was only ``... apparently at the private request of George Halas ''. Levy, 2003, p. 68. Jump up ^ Ross, 1999, p. 65. Jump up ^ Willis, 2010, p. 329. Jump up ^ `` Pioneer ''. Kenny Washington Stadium Foundation. Retrieved 2018 - 03 - 20. Jump up ^ MacCambridge, 2005, p. 41. ^ Jump up to : Levy, 2003, p. 92 -- 93. Jump up ^ The Commission consisted of `` three representatives of city, county and state government ( which ) was brimming with ( USC ) and UCLA alums. '' MacCambridge, 2005, p. 19. Jump up ^ Davis, 2005, p. 202. Jump up ^ Strode writes the Los Angeles Supervisors also oversaw the Coliseum. Strode, 1990, p. 140. Jump up ^ Coenen, 2005, p. 123. Jump up ^ MacCambridge writes he was signed on May 4, 1946. MacCambridge, 2005, p. 19. Jump up ^ Ross, 1999, p. 82. Jump up ^ Rathet, 1984, p. 210. Jump up ^ `` African - Americans - Football History - Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site ''. Profootballhof.com. Retrieved October 25, 2017. Jump up ^ Hall of Fame : Permanent reintegration of pro football Archived June 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. ^ Jump up to : Rhoden, William C. ( December 12, 2011 ). At some NFL positions, stereotypes reign. The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2013. Jump up ^ Jim Acho ( 1997 ). The `` Foolish Club ''. Gridiron Press. ASIN B0006QUG20. Foreword by Miller Farr. Jump up ^ `` Beginnings : Walt Frazier ''. msgnetworks.com. MSG Networks. Retrieved June 12, 2017. Jump up ^ `` The History of Black Quarterbacks in the NFL ''. Footballperspective.com. February 13, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2017. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ `` NFL Census : Data on Players ' Race, Weight & Height ''. Heavy.com. Retrieved December 16, 2014. Jump up ^ `` ESPN.com : GEN - American football, Samoan style ''. Espn.go.com. Retrieved October 25, 2017. Jump up ^ `` Fantasy College Football Breaking News - Rotoworld.com ''. Rotoworld.com. Retrieved October 25, 2017. Jump up ^ Sheahin, Ed ( December 18, 2009 ). The NFL white cornerback : officially extinct ! Bleacher Report. Retrieved April 25, 2013. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ `` Cleveland Browns Player Profiles : Peyton Hillis ''. NFL. Retrieved January 10, 2011. Jump up ^ Silver, Matt ( April 20, 2010 ). Race factors into evaluation of Gerhart. Yahoo ! Sports. Retrieved 2010 - 11 - 01. Jump up ^ Hill, Jemele ( September 30, 2008 ). Whatever happened to the white tailback ?. Page 2 ( ESPN.com ). Retrieved 2010 - 11 - 01. Jump up ^ there are n't more Black Quarterbacks in the NFL, Matt Ralston. Jump up ^ George Taliaferro, first African - American ever taken in NFL draft, dies at 91 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 ( 1 ) Rozendaal, Neal. African - Americans in Hawkeye Sports, 1895 - 1961 ( 2 ) Rozendaal, Neal. African - Americans in Pro Football -- NFL, 1920 - 1933. ( 3 ) Rozendaal, Neal. Hawkeyes Revisited : Duke Slater When Pride Still Mattered, A Life of Vince Lombardi, by Golden King5, 1999, ( ISBN 0 - 684 - 84418 - 4 ) ISBN 978 - 0 - 618 - 90499 - 0 * Lyons, Robert S. ( 2015 ). 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 : Ho Ho Ho 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 - 7867 - 2603 - 5 External links Hall of Fame list of Black players in the early years of the NFL An Essay About Black Quarterbacks and the Wonderlic African American topics History Atlantic slave trade Maafa Slavery in the United States Partus sequitur ventrem Free negro Reconstruction era Military history of African Americans Jim Crow laws Nadir of American race relations Redlining Great Migration Civil rights movement 1865 -- 1896 / 1896 -- 1954 / 1954 -- 68 Black Power movement Second Great Migration Afrocentrism New Great Migration Post -- civil rights era Inauguration of Barack Obama 2009 / Inauguration of Barack Obama 2013 Black Lives Matter Black flight Culture Art African - American names Afrofuturism Black mecca Dance Film Juneteenth Kwanzaa Literature Music Musical theater Neighborhoods Sexual orientation Soul food Education, science and technology Black schools Black colleges and universities Museums African - American studies Inventors and scientists Women in computer science in medicine in STEM fields Religion Black church Black theology Doctrine of Father Divine American Society of Muslims Nation of Islam Black Hebrew Israelites Political movements Pan-Africanism Self - determination Nationalism Black Power Black fist Anarchism Capitalism Conservatism Populism Leftism Garveyism Back - to - Africa movement Civic and economic groups National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ) Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( SCLC ) Congress of Racial Equality ( CORE ) Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ( SNCC ) Black Panther Party National Urban League ( NUL ) Rights organizations Association for the Study of African American Life and History ( ASALH ) Thurgood Marshall College Fund United Negro College Fund ( UNCF ) National Black Chamber of Commerce ( NBCC ) National Pan-Hellenic Council ( NPHC ) National Council of Negro Women ( NCNW ) Sports Negro league baseball Baseball color line Black players in professional American football African Americans in the Canadian Football League Black players in ice hockey Athletic associations and conferences Central ( CIAA ) Southern ( SIAC ) Mid-Eastern ( MEAC ) Southwestern ( SWAC ) Ethnic subdivisions Black Indians Gullah Fula Igbo Louisiana Creole of color Melungeon Yoruba Demographics Neighborhoods list U.S. cities with large populations 2000 majorities 2010 majorities Metropolitan areas Black Belt Languages English American English African - American English Gullah Louisiana Creole French By state / city Alabama Florida Georgia ( Atlanta ) Illinois ( Chicago ) Iowa ( Davenport ) Louisiana Maryland Massachusetts ( Boston ) Michigan ( Detroit ) Mississippi Nebraska ( Omaha ) New York New York City North Carolina Pennsylvania ( Philadelphia ) Puerto Rico South Carolina Tennessee Texas Dallas - Fort Worth Houston San Antonio Diaspora Africa Gambia Ghana Liberia Sierra Leone Back - to - Africa movement Americas Caribbean history Canada Nova Scotia Dominican Republic Haiti Mexico Trinidad and Tobago Other France Israel Lists African Americans visual artists Republicans US representatives US senators African - American firsts mayors US state firsts Neighborhoods Landmark African - American legislation African American - related articles Topics related to the African diaspora Portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_players_in_professional_American_football&oldid=863872470 '' Categories : History of American football History of the National Football League History of racial segregation in the United States African - American sports history African Americans and sport Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Use mdy dates from October 2012 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2013 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Languages Add links This page was last edited on 13 October 2018, at 16 : 55 ( UTC ). 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Question: when did the first black player play in the nfl
Answer: Fritz Pollard