page_title: Bob Mann (American football)
section_title: 1948 season
hierarchical_section_title: Bob Mann (American football) / Professional football / Detroit Lions / 1948 season
caption_attribution_description: English: 1948 Bowman football card of Bob Mann of the Detroit Lions; card number #47.
context_page_description: Robert Mann was an American professional football player in the National Football League. A native of New Bern, North Carolina, Mann played college football at Hampton Institute in 1942 and 1943 and at the University of Michigan in 1944, 1946 and 1947. Playing the end position, he broke the Big Ten Conference record for receiving yards in 1946 and 1947. After not being selected in the 1948 NFL Draft, Mann signed his first professional football contract with the Detroit Lions, where he stayed for two seasons. He later played for the Green Bay Packers for parts of five seasons until 1954. Mann broke the color barrier for both teams.
  Mann led the NFL in receiving yards and yards per reception in 1949. He was asked to take a pay cut after the 1949 season and became a holdout when the Lions opened practice in July 1950. He was traded to the New York Yanks in August 1950 and released three weeks later. Mann charged that he had been forced out of professional football for refusing to take a pay cut. He signed with the Green Bay Packers near the end of the 1950 NFL season and was the team's leading receiver in 1951. He remained with the Packers through the 1954 season.
context_section_description: As a rookie in 1948, Mann and halfback Mel Groomes became the first African Americans to play for the Lions. Even though team owners claimed that a ban on African American players did not exist, between 1933 and 1945 no African American played in the NFL. Teams in the rival AAFC were much more willing to sign African American players. Even after the NFL began signing African American players to their rosters, it took many years for them to be given the same opportunities as white players.
  Mann appeared in all 12 games for the Lions in the 1948 season, though none as a starter. Despite his role as a backup, Mann finished the season with 33 catches for 560 yards, ranking him seventh in the NFL in receiving yards and fourth in yards per reception. The Lions would finish the year with a record of 2–10, putting them in last place in the Western Division. In December 1948, Mann joined Jesse Owens' Olympians professional basketball team in Cleveland. Mann had played two years of college basketball at Hampton Institute.
caption: Mann's 1948 Bowman football card
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