Football Player

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Article

Page, Alan Cedric  

Nadine McIlwain

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
15 March 2013
Published online:
31 May 2013

associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, defensive lineman, and NFL star football player for the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, was born in Canton, Ohio, the youngest of four children of Howard Page, a nightclub owner, and Georgianna Page, a country club locker-room attendant. Like most black families in Canton, the Pages lived on the town's Southeast side. His parents' salaries provided for a standard of living that others in the heart of Canton's black community considered well-to-do. Page described his family's social status as “upper lower class” in an interview with journalist Larry Batson.

Regardless of status, the Page children, Marvel, Twila, Howard Jr., and Alan suffered the same indignities and lack of opportunity as many postwar African American families The children attended Canton City Schools When Page was a fifth grader at South Market Elementary School Howard Page decided ...

Article

Perry, Lowell Wesley  

Adam W. Green

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
30 September 2016

football player, lawyer, and business executive, was born to Lawrence C. Perry, a dentist, and Lillian Bass Perry, a homemaker, in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Perry's father set an example for his children with not only professional but also civic success, running a prominent dental practice and serving as a member of the city's board of education.

The youngest of four children, Lowell attended Ypsilanti High School, where he played quarterback on the football team, receiving All-State honors in 1948. After graduating in 1949 Perry attended the University of Michigan his father s alma mater As an ROTC cadet majoring in history with an eye toward law Perry found triumph in athletics running track and playing for the Wolverines football team In his sophomore year Perry played both sides of the ball as offensive end and safety helping Michigan to the Big Ten Championship and a ...

Article

Renfro, Mel  

Michael C. Miller

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
15 March 2013
Published online:
31 May 2013

football player, was born Melvin Lacy Elisha Renfro in Houston, Texas. When Mel was four his family moved to Portland, Oregon. He attended Jefferson High School, where he excelled as a football player, playing offense (quarterback and running back), defense (defensive back), and special teams (kick and punt returner). Renfro led Jefferson to thirty-four consecutive victories, including three state championships. The only loss he suffered was the state championship his senior year. He graduated high school in 1960.

Renfro attended Oregon University where he ran track and played football becoming one of the best players in the school s history As in high school he played offense defense and special teams For his career he amassed 1 540 rushing yards averaging 5 5 yards per carry and twenty three touchdowns On defense he played safety and once recorded an astounding twenty one tackles in a game against Ohio ...

Article

Simpson, O. J.  

Steven J. Niven

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
15 March 2013
Published online:
31 May 2013

football player, sportscaster, and actor, was born Orenthal James Simpson in San Francisco, California, to Jimmie Simpson, a cook, and Eunice Durden, a nurse's aide. The child disliked his unusual first name, which was-given to him by an aunt who had heard of a French actor named Orenthal. Sometime during his childhood—accounts differ as to when—he began using his initials “O. J.,” which friends later adapted to “Orange Juice” and, later, to “Juice.” When O. J. was four, Jimmie Simpson abandoned his wife and family, leaving Eunice to raise four children in a two-bedroom apartment in the run-down Potrero Hill public housing projects near San Francisco's Chinatown. Eunice Simpson worked long hours to provide for her children but it was often a hard struggle When O J contracted rickets as an infant for example he was left bowlegged and in need of leg braces that his ...

Article

Simpson, O. J.  

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
07 April 2005
Published online:
01 December 2006

O.J. Simpson was born in a poor neighborhood of San Francisco, California, the third of four children. His father left the family when Simpson was a child. At a young age Simpson wore leg braces to correct weakness in his legs, but as a teenager at Galileo High School, he was a star athlete, participating in baseball, track, and football. At the same time Simpson received several suspensions from school for misbehavior. He graduated from Galileo in 1965, but his grades kept him from attending a major university. Instead, he enrolled at City College in San Francisco, where he had a remarkable first season of football and was offered several athletic scholarships. He remained another year at City College before meeting the admissions standards for the University of Southern California (USC), which he entered in 1967. That same year, he married his first wife, Marguerite.

Article

Slater, Duke  

John M. Carroll

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
15 March 2013
Published online:
31 May 2013

football player and judge, was born Frederick Wayman Slater in Normal, Illinois, the son of the Reverend George W. Slater Jr. and Letha Jones. As a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Slater's father moved around so frequently that as a boy he was left to live for long periods with his grandparents in Chicago. During these visits he played “prairie” football, a pick-up form of the game, at Racine Avenue and Sixty-first Street, the neighborhood from which would spring his future team, the Chicago Cardinals. His old friends speculated that Slater received his nickname because of a mongrel dog named Duke, which he owned as a boy.

In 1913 his father accepted a position in Clinton Iowa where Slater attended high school and played football When he asked his parents to buy him a helmet and a pair of football shoes neither of ...

Article

Slater, Duke  

John M. Carroll

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
21 January 1999
Published online:
01 December 2006

Slater, Duke (19 December 1898–15 August 1966), football player and judge, was born Frederick Wayman Slater in Normal, Illinois, the son of the Reverend George W. Slater, Jr., and Letha Jones. As a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal church, Slater’s father moved around so frequently that as a boy he was left to live for long periods with his grandparents in Chicago. During these visits he recalled playing “prairie” football, a pick-up form of the game, at Racine Avenue and Sixty-first Street, the neighborhood from which would spring his future team, the Chicago Cardinals. His old friends speculated that Slater received his nickname because of a mongrel dog named Duke, which he owned as a boy.

In 1913 his father accepted a position in Clinton Iowa where Slater attended high school and played football When he asked his parents to buy him a helmet and a ...

Article

Washington, Kenny  

Lane Demas

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
09 February 2009
Published online:
01 December 2009

football player and actor. At the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), from 1937 to 1939 Washington was the most celebrated college football player on the West Coast. He was also one of two African Americans to integrate the National Football League (NFL) in 1946.

Kenneth S. Washington was born in Los Angeles and played football at Abraham Lincoln High School. From 1937 to 1939 he played tailback at UCLA and rushed for 1,914 yards. In 1939 he led the team to its best season ever and a top-ten national ranking. At a time when prominent teams even outside the South were still unwilling to accept any black athletes, Washington played with four other African American students, including Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson and Woody Strode.

Washington and his black teammates achieved immense popularity on the West Coast and earned national recognition Los Angeles citizens overwhelmingly supported the ...

Article

Washington, Kenny  

Steven P. Gietschier

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
15 March 2013
Published online:
31 May 2013

football player, was born Kenneth Stanley Washington in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edgar Washington, an actor; his mother's name is unknown. He played football at Los Angeles Lincoln High School and was considered by some the best high school football player ever to play in Southern California. In one game against Garfield High School, he made headlines for throwing a sixty-yard touchdown pass.

Washington attended the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), intending to play football and baseball. He played baseball in the spring of 1937, hitting .454, and made the varsity football team in the fall of his sophomore year. The Bruins, coached by William H. Spaulding compiled a lackluster 2 6 1 record but Washington a tailback in UCLA s single wing offense emerged from the season as the first great African American athlete on the West Coast In the second ...