Lowell Perry Lowell Wesley Perry ( December 5 , 1931 – January 7 , 2001 ) was an American football player and coach , government official , businessman , and broadcaster . He was the first African American assistant coach in the National Football League ( NFL ) , the first African American to broadcast an NFL game to a national audience , and Chrysler ' s first African American plant manager . He was appointed as the Commissioner of the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ( EEOC ) by President Gerald Ford , holding that position from 1975 to 1976 . He later served as the director of the Michigan Department of Labor from 1990 to 1996 . He also served on the board of the NFL Board of Charities . Early years . Perry was born in Ypsilanti , Michigan . His father , Lawrence C . Perry , was a dentist who graduated from the University of Michigan in 1920 . Perry was the youngest of four children . He grew up in Ypsilanti , where his father maintained a dental practice and was a respected civic leader . University of Michigan . Perry attended the University of Michigan where he studied history . He played at the end position for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 1950 to 1952 . Perry was a two - way player who was a safety on defense and also handled punt returns for the Wolverines . After the 1951 season , he was selected as a second - team All - American by the Central Press Association and a third - team All - American by the United Press . He was also rated as the best defensive back in college football during the 1951 season . He was also selected by the Associated Press as a first - team All - Big Ten Player and by the United Press as a first - team player on its All - Midwest team . In three seasons for Michigan , Perry had 71 receptions for 1 , 261 yards and nine touchdowns . Perry ' s three - year career total of 1 , 261 receiving yards was not exceeded by another Michigan player for a decade until Jack Clancy totaled 1 , 917 yards in four years from 1963 to 1966 . Perry ' s highest single - game total came against Indiana in 1951 , with five catches for 165 yards . He had two additional touchdown catches against Indiana in 1952 . His 165 - yard game against Indiana was the Michigan single - game receiving record for 15 years , until Clancy had 197 yards against Oregon State in 1966 . Perry also returned 42 punts at Michigan for 351 yards , an average of 10 . 9 yards per return . Pittsburgh Steelers and military service . Perry was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the eighth round ( 90th overall pick ) of the 1953 NFL Draft . His professional football career was deferred due to Reserve Officers ' Training Corps ( ROTC ) obligations . Perry joined the United States Air Force , where he achieved the rank of second lieutenant . While serving in the Air Force , Perry played on the Bolling Air Force Team that included Al Dorow , Tommy O ' Connell , and Johnny Lattner . Perry was named the outstanding football player in the military . In 1956 , Perry joined the Pittsburgh Steelers as an end . On his first play for the Steelers , Perry ran 93 yards for a touchdown in a pre - season game against the Detroit Lions . In his first six NFL games , Perry totaled 14 catches for 334 yards and two touchdowns , including a 75 - yard touchdown catch against the Cleveland Browns . Perry also returned 11 punts for 127 yards and nine kickoffs for 219 yards . In his sixth regular season game , Perry sustained a fractured pelvis and dislocated hip that forced his retirement . Football writer Mark A . Latterman later wrote about witnessing Perry ' s career - ending injury : " A skinny 15 year - old boy and his dad were cheering the Pittsburgh Steelers new rookie star , Lowell Perry as he roared whippet - like around the New York Giants ' fabled 1956 defensive line and headed full - throttle for the open field . The boy ' s cheers turned to tears when Giants ' star , Roosevelt Grier crunched Perry from behind and linebacker Bill Svoboda hit him from the side simultaneously , filling the stadium with a sickening ' crack ' which silenced the Steelers ' faithful . I will never forget my sadness as the stretcher carried my new hero from the field . Perry ' s pelvis was fractured , his hip dislocated and he never played pro football again . " Perry was hospitalized at Pittsburgh ' s Mercy Hospital for 13 weeks after the injury . In June 1957 , the Steelers hired Perry as the team ' s ends coach , making him the NFL ' s first African American coach since Fritz Pollard in the 1920s . He worked as a scout for the Steelers in 1958 . While working for the Steelers , Perry went to the Duquesne University law school . Government , broadcast , and business career . Perry received a law degree from Detroit College of Law in 1960 . That same year , he became a law clerk to U . S . District Court Judge Frank A . Picard ( the Michigan Wolverines ' quarterback from 1909 to 1910 ) . In 1961 , he accepted a job with the Chevrolet Division of General Motors in the personnel department of the gear and axle division . In 1962 , he left Chevrolet to prosecute unfair labor practice charges for the National Labor Relations Board , a position he held until 1963 . In 1963 , Perry began a 17 - year career with Chrysler . He started as a personnel specialist . In April 1966 , Perry was hired as a color analyst for CBS Television to broadcast Steelers games alongside Joe Tucker . He was the first African - American to broadcast an NFL game to a national audience . After his stint as a television broadcaster , Perry returned to Chrysler where he became a personnel manager in 1970 . In 1973 , he was appointed the plant manager of Chrysler ' s Eldon Avenue Axle Plant in Detroit . He was the first African American to hold the plant manager position at a U . S . automobile company . In 1975 , Perry was appointed by President Gerald Ford to be commissioner of the U . S . Equal Employment Opportunity Commission . At the ceremony in which Perry was sworn in , President Ford spoke and made the following comments : " He first came to my attention when I saw his prowess on the gridiron at the University of Michigan . He made it and I didn ' t . He was really good and played not only exceptionally well at Ann Arbor but very well for the Pittsburgh Steelers . I have known Lowell over a period of time since then . I have always looked at his career , both in Government and with private employment , as an example of what a person can do who has got ability and the desire and the dedication . I think it ' s , in this instance , Government ' s gain to have Lowell with us , and Lynn Townsend probably is losing one of his very finest young people in his Chrysler organization . " He served as EEOC commissioner until 1976 . Perry resigned from the EEOC after one year and returned to Chrysler . Perry returned to government service in 1990 as director of the Michigan Department of Labor , a position he held for six years . In March 1996 , Governor John Engler appointed him as the director of the Office of Urban Programs , a position that he held until his retirement in April 1999 . Family and death . Perry was married to Maxine Lewis in January 1954 . They had two sons , Lowell Perry , Jr . ( born c . 1957 ) and Scott Perry ( born c . 1964 ) , and one daughter , Meredith Perry ( born c . 1970 ) . Perry died of cancer at a hospital in Southfield , Michigan , in January 2001 .