"Full Color Football"

[sport historian]

The NFL Network is running a series titled "Full Color Football," about the AFL. Part 2 and 3 are showing Thursday night starting at 9 PM ET. A persistent theme is that the AFL opened it up for more black players.

Part 2 has a lot on the 1963 San Diego Chargers and does identify lance Alworth as their best player. There is also some footage of Keith Lincoln, who came up in a recent thread.

Part 3, at 10 PM ET, is on for the first time. It concerns the AFL-NFL war for talent and the merger.

 

[Don Wassall]

Sport Historian, do you know if the AFL was much blacker than the NFL during the 1960s? I know the Chiefs were the blackest team in either league, almost a model of the rigid Caste System segregation by position that wasto follow, but what about the rest of the league? I was a kid then and not racially aware, but I collected football cards in the '60s and don't recall the AFL's stars being noticeably blacker than those in the NFL.

 

[sport historian]

Sport Historian, do you know if the AFL was much blacker than the NFL during the 1960s?  I know the Chiefs were the blackest team in either league, almost a model of the rigid Caste System segregation by position that was to follow, but what about the rest of the league?  I was a kid then and not racially aware, but I collected football cards in the '60s and don't recall the AFL's stars being noticeably blacker than those in the NFL.

I was born in 1950 and followed pro football closely from the early 1960's. The NFL Network program claims the AFL was blacker, but I never have checked the numbers. It varied from team to team, not from league to league. The 1960 Houston Oilers had only 2 black players (one starter, I think) and they won the AFL the first two years. The Kansas City Chiefs were the first team in either league to be over 50% black. This was in 1968-69.

Yes, my memory is that the AFL stars were not blacker than the NFL star players. I don't think you really noticed race in sports that much until the late 60's, when the media started harping on the subject nonstop along with the "black militants."

 

[sport historian]

Tonight (Thursday), the NFL Network runs the last two episodes in the series starting at 9 PM ET. They will cover Super Bowls III and IV.

 

[jwhite96]

The San Diego Charger who were the dominant team for several years in the AFL in 1963 ,64 had 2 black starters on offense and 2 blacks on defense. The Buffalo Bills who in , I believe 1965 were champions of the AFL had 3-4 blacks on offense and 3 blacks on defense. I didn't look up KC, or Oakland but the 1968 NY Jets who won the Super Bowl had 3 blacks starters on offense and 3 black starters on defense. Wide Receiver and Defensive back were wide open to whites but it seemed in both leagues, there was already the beginning of a "preference" for black running backs, although it was very mild compared to the racist discrimination white running backs suffer today.

 

[foreverfree]

Wide Receiver and Defensive back were wide open to whites but it seemed in both leagues, there was already the beginning of a "preference" for black running backs, although it was very mild compared to the racist discrimination white running backs suffer today.

It probably started with Joe Perry, Lenny Moore, and Jim Brown in the '50s, and continued into the '60s with Brown, Moore, Leroy Kelly, Elijah Pitts, the Eagles' Tim Brown, plus Abner Haynes, Paul Lowe, Cookie Gilchrist, and Jim Nance, and later the Jets' Boozer and Snell, in the AFL.

Also, the AFL had two of the first black starting QBs, Marlin Briscoe in Denver and James Harris in Buffalo, both towards the end of the '60s.

JohnEdited by: foreverfree

 

[sport historian]

The NFL Network is going to have a "Full Color Football Marathon" on Sunday night. All 5 episodes will be shown beginning at 7 PM ET Sunday night.

 

[white is right]

Wide Receiver and Defensive back were wide open to whites but it seemed in both leagues, there was already the beginning of a "preference" for black running backs, although it was very mild compared to the racist discrimination white running backs suffer today.

It probably started with Joe Perry, Lenny Moore, and Jim Brown in the '50s, and continued into the '60s with Brown, Moore, Leroy Kelly, Elijah Pitts, the Eagles' Tim Brown, plus Abner Haynes, Paul Lowe, Cookie Gilchrist, and Jim Nance, and later the Jets' Boozer and Snell, in the AFL.

Also, the AFL had two of the first black starting QBs, Marlin Briscoe in Denver and James Harris in Buffalo, both towards the end of the '60s.

John

I remember the transition phase was around 78'. Many white tailbacks were small school backs from DII, DIII programs. Ie Marinaro who played at Cornell or Van Eeghan who played at Colgate. This type of player started to get over looked and the big programs stopped recruiting white tailbacks around this time period.

 

[jaxvid]

Soon we will have "Full Colored Football", which is what the NFL is fast becoming.

 

[OldSchoolBoy75]

Jaxvid, Full COLORED Football is what the sportswriters and talking heads wanted since Day One. Leave it to the football MSM to lead the way, with the football establishment coming around and then eventually the DWFs. Pretty pathetic chain reaction.

 

[sport historian]

Tonight (Friday), the NFL Network is showing the first 3 episodes starting at 8pm ET. They are being repeated later that night and in the next few days.