Tom Fears Thomas Jesse Fears ( December 3 , 1922 – January 4 , 2000 ) was a Mexican - American football wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League , playing nine seasons from 1948 to 1956 . He was later an NFL assistant coach and head coach of the New Orleans Saints , and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame . Early life . Born in , Mexico , Fears was the son of an American mining engineer who had married a Mexican woman , and moved with his family to Los Angeles at the age of six . There , he began to display his ample work ethic by unloading flowers for 25 cents an hour , and later serving as an usher at football games for double that amount . Fears first played football at Los Angeles ' Manual Arts High School , then advanced to compete for Santa Clara University . He spent one year at the latter school before he was drafted for World War II and spent the next three years in military service . After his father became a Japanese prisoner of war , Fears sought to become a fighter pilot to fight Japan . He became a pilot , but was instead shipped to Colorado Springs to play football for a service team . Upon his release , he had been drafted by the Rams in 1945 , but remained in school and transferred to UCLA , winning All - American following each of his two seasons at the school . His senior campaign nearly ended in abrupt fashion in 1947 , when he and some Bruin teammates were investigated for posing in local advertisements for a Los Angeles clothing store . When it was determined that Fears and the other players worked for the store , and were not identified as athletes , the matter was dropped . The job had been one of many provided by school boosters , and included a brief bit as a pilot in the Humphrey Bogart film , " Action in the North Atlantic . " The largesse by such people led Fears to joke that his $ 6 , 000 first - year contract and $ 500 bonus from the Rams meant that he was taking a pay cut . Playing career . Los Angeles Rams . Fears was the first player in NFL history to line up on the line of scrimmage , away from the tackle , thus making him the first wide receiver in NFL history . Selected as a defensive back by the Rams , Fears quickly made his mark as a wide receiver in 1948 , while also displaying his versatility by playing on defense and at tight end . During his first three seasons at the professional level , he led all NFL receivers in catches , and broke the league ' s single - season record with 77 catches in 1949 . The record would be short - lived as he increased that mark to 84 during the 1950 NFL season , including a then - record 18 catches in one game against the Green Bay Packers on November 12 . He also helped the team advance to the NFL title game with a trio of touchdown receptions in the divisional playoff against the Chicago Bears , winning All - Pro accolades for the second consecutive year . During the ensuing offseason , Fears became embroiled in a contract dispute with the team for the second straight year . The year before , he hinted at leaving the team to work for General Motors Corporation , then announced on March 13 , 1951 that he was retiring to work for a local liquor distributor . Neither threat materialized , and despite offers from four Canadian Football League teams , Fears signed for $ 13 , 000 . That season , Fears played in only seven games , but helped lead the Rams to their third straight championship game appearance . After two disappointments , the franchise captured its first NFL title since moving to the West Coast , with Fears an integral part of the title game victory when he caught the winning score . His 73 - yard touchdown reception midway through the fourth quarter broke a 17 - 17 deadlock with the Cleveland Browns . After bouncing back in 1952 with 48 receptions for 600 yards and six scores , the beginning of the end of his career began after he fractured two vertabrae in an October 18 , 1953 game against the Detroit Lions . Limited to just 23 receptions that year , he would average 40 catches the next two years , but after a preseason injury in 1956 , he hauled in only five passes and retired on November 6 . For the remainder of that campaign , he served as an assistant coach , finishing his playing days with 400 catches for 5 , 397 yards and 38 touchdowns . Coaching career . Packers , Rams and Falcons . Fears was out of the game for the next two years , but returned briefly as an assistant in the first year of Vince Lombardi ' s reign with the Packers . Business conflicts back in California caused him to leave the position at midseason , but Fears resumed his coaching career the following year with the Rams under former teammate Bob Waterfield . After two seasons in that role , Fears returned to Green Bay for a four - year stint as an assistant , where he was part of championship teams in 1962 and 1965 . Fears applied for the head coaching job with the St . Louis Cardinals ( football ) after the 1965 NFL season , but after not being chosen , he joined fellow Packer assistant Norb Hecker , who had been named head coach of the expansion Atlanta Falcons . In the first game of the 1966 regular season , Fears caused controversy when he accused Rams coach George Allen of attempting to garner inside information on the team from a player that had been cut , charges that were never proven . New Orleans Saints . After that 2 - 12 first season in Atlanta , Fears became a head coach for the first time when he was hired by the expansion New Orleans Saints on January 27 , 1967 . He was the first Latino head coach in the NFL . Despite the promise of the team scoring on the first - ever kickoff return in franchise history , Fears ' nearly four years at the helm of what became a perennial losing franchise were an exercise in frustration . In 1970 , Fears was recognized for his professional playing career when he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame . That March , rumors of Fears replacing the departed Don Shula with the Baltimore Colts surfaced , but Don McCafferty was hired by the Maryland team in early April . Issues between Fears and Saints owner John Mecom , Jr . , primarily Fears seeking the additional role of general manager , fueled such speculation . On April 20 , the matter ended when he was given control over all player personnel matters . Fears ' tenure in his new dual roles , however , would be short , when the team ended the first half of the 1970 NFL season with a 1 - 5 - 1 mark , resulting in his dismissal on November 3 after compiling an overall mark of 13 - 34 - 2 . Ironically , his last game as coach of the Saints was a 30 - 17 loss to the team he played for , the Rams , the same team which defeated the Saints in their first game in 1967 . In the Saints ' next game , Tom Dempsey set an NFL record by kicking a 63 - yard field goal to lift New Orleans to a 19 - 17 victory over the Detroit Lions . Eagles , WFL and USFL . He resurfaced in 1971 , serving as offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles , but when head coach Ed Khayat ( Fears ' defensive line coach in New Orleans ) was fired at the end of the 1972 NFL season , Fears was out of work again . After spending 1973 off the gridiron , Fears was named head coach of the fledgling World Football League ' s Southern California Sun on January 14 , 1974 . The fragile financial condition of the entire league resulted in Fears leading the team for less than two years before the WFL folded in October 1975 . Fears ' disappointment was soothed somewhat when he was named to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1976 , the same year he was named president of the All - Sports Council of Southern California , which helped amateur sports in the area . One year later , he returned to coaching as an assistant at San Bernardino Junior College . During this period , he was also working as a technical adviser for movies with a football connection , and in 1979 , began a football scouting service . The two roles came together in controversial fashion when Fears began working on the production of " North Dallas Forty , " a film that took a look at the sordid side of the professional game . Fears had three clients : the Packers , Houston Oilers and Pittsburgh Steelers , but after the movie was released , Fears saw all three teams drop his services . Claiming that the NFL had blacklisted him , Fears spoke with league commissioner Pete Rozelle ( who had worked for the Rams during Fears ' playing days ) , but never again found work in the league . Remaining on the fringes of the sport , Fears in 1980 worked as a coach for the Chapman College club football team , then became a part - owner of the Orange Empire Outlaws of the California Football League the following year . In 1982 , he was hired as player personnel director of the new United States Football League ' s Los Angeles Express . Bolstered by huge spending from team owner William Daniels , the team reached the conference championship game , but saw financial troubles doom not only the team , but the league as well . Fears ' final position in football came in 1990 , when he was named head coach of the Milan franchise in the fledgling International League of American Football . Four years later , he was diagnosed with Alzheimer ' s disease , spending the final six years of his life battling the disease . Fears was the first Mexican - born NFL player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame .