By LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
Between 1967 and 1976, a span of ten years, a whopping 549 players from America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities were taken in the NFL Draft, an average of nearly 55 per year.
Even when you add the next five years through 1980, the picks still round out to about 45 per year.
When Grambling quarterback Doug Williams was selected in the first round of the 1978 Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it marked the 11th straight year that a black college player was taken in the first round.
That’s the ground we primarily covered last week in Part Two of our series on HBCU NFL Draft History. But things were about to change.
This week in Part Three, our next-to-last installment of the series, we chart what happened to black college players in the Draft covering the 1980s through 1994, the year the Black college SportS page began publication.
WHERE DID THE LOVE GO?
The 1964 hit song by the super girls’ singing group The Supremes, entitled Where Did Our Love Go, would be an apt theme song for what happened to black college players in the draft after 1980.
After that decade-plus of dominance, only two other HBCU talents – Kentucky State defensive back Rod Hill by Dallas in 1982 and Mississippi Valley State wide receiver Jerry Rice by San Francisco in 1985 – went off the boards in the first round.
Meanwhile, the overall numbers also took a nosedive. The downward trend started in 1977 when only 19 HBCU players were taken after 53 were taken just a year earlier in 1976.
It’s very clear that beginning in the late 1970s much larger colleges had decided they were not going to leave talented AfricanAmerican football players to the HBCUs as they had in years past.
From 1977, over the next 18 years to 1994, HBCU draft numbers reached the thirties (at 30) just one time, in 1992, and topped twenty just five times. And black college players were once again primarily relegated to the later rounds as they had been prior to the 1967 merger of the AFL and NFL.
There were just a few HBCU players that had outstanding careers from this period but there were still some gems.
STILL DIAMONDS
Only 18 players went off the boards in 1981. Florida A&M defensive back William Judson was taken by Miami in the eighth round and played eight years in the league including appearing in two Super Bowls.
Hill went to Dallas with the 25th overall selection in 1982 but spent most of his six-year NFL career as a punt returner.
Tennessee State defensive end Richard Dent is definitely the star among the 22 taken in the 1983 Draft. Plucked by Chicago in the eighth round, Dent became a pass rushing phenom for the Bears. He spent 12 of his 15 years in the league with the Bears and posted 137.5 sacks with a high of 17 in 1985.
In that same year (1985) he was the MVP of the Bears’ 46-10 Super Bowl XX win over New England as he posted 1.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and blocked a pass. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. Others taken in the 1983 Draft include outstanding Grambling defensive back Albert Lewis by Kansas City in the third round and Dent’s TSU teammate, fullback Larry Kinnebrew by Cincinnati in the sixth round. Lewis, who should be a Hall of Famer, had 40 interceptions in a 14-year career.
One notable among the 15 from the 1984 Draft is South Carolina State defensive back Barney Bussey taken in the fifth round by Cincinnati. After a I-AA all-American career at SCSU, Bussey had a 10-year NFL career.
There were only 12 HBCU players taken in the 1985 Draft but that was made up by the selection of Rice with the 16th overall selection after a stellar record-breaking collegiate career at MVSU. Rice went on to arguably produce the greatest career in NFL history posting 14 1,000- yard receiving seasons, 11 straight. He finished his career with NFL records of 1,549 receptions for 22,895 yards and 197 touchdowns. Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl 13 times (1986–1996, 1998, 2002) and named All-Pro 12 times in his 20 NFL seasons. He won three Super Bowls with the 49ers and an AFC Championship with the Oakland Raiders.
Reggie Langhorne from Elizabeth City State went to Cleveland in the seventh round of the ‘Rice’ Draft and had a productive nine-year career.
In 1986, only 11 players from the HBCU ranks were selected but the 49ers found a complement to Rice in Delaware State wide receiver John Taylor in the third round. Taylor teamed with Rice to win three Super Bowls (XXIII, XXIV and XXIX) with the Niners, catching the game-winning pass in Super Bowl XXIII. He played nine years in the league.
Winston-Salem State defensive end Donald Evans was the highest pick in 1987 going to the LA Rams in the second round.
No first rounders were among the 16 HBCU players taken in 1987 but Buffalo grabbed two mainstays in later rounds. Defensive end Leon Seals out of Jackson State was taken in the fourth round and offensive lineman Howard Ballard went in the 11th round. Seals and Ballard both played in Super Bowls XXV and XXVI. In his 12-year career, Ballard played in two other Super Bowls and was a two-time AllPro.
Pittsburgh grabbed potential Hall of Famer Greg Lloyd out of Fort Valley State in the sixth round. Lloyd, often a one-man wrecking crew, played 10 outstanding seasons with the Steelers posting 54.5 sacks and 11 interceptions.
The pickings were slim in 1988 (20) and 1989 (15).
Vincent “The Undertaker” Brown, a roving linebacker from Mississippi Valley State went in the 1988 second round to New England and played eight years for the Patriots. South Carolina State defensive back Dwayne Harper was taken in the 11th round by Seattle but stayed in the league nine years with Seattle and San Diego.
North Carolina Central defensive back Robert Massey was the earliest HBCU player off the boards in 1989, going to New Orleans in the second round, 46th overall. Massey, now the head coach at Winston-Salem State, played eight years in the league with four teams.
In 1990, a year that saw only 19 HBCU players selected, a true gem was plucked by Denver in the seventh round when they selected SIAC two-time Player of the Year, wide receiver/tight end Shannon Sharpe out of Savannah State with the 192nd overall selection.
Sharpe played 12 seasons for the Broncos (1990–1999, 2002–2003) and two with the Baltimore Ravens (2000–2001), winning three Super Bowls and finishing his career as the NFL’s all-time leader in receptions (815), receiving yards (10,060) and receiving touchdowns (62) by a tight end. Lion to record double-digit sack totals in four consecutive seasons (1996–99). Porcher should strongly be considered for the Hall of Fame. Another that should receive strong consideration for the Hall from that draft is former Jackson State wideout Jimmy Smith. Taken by Dallas in the second round in ’92, Smith blossomed at Jacksonville posting nine 1,000-yard receiving seasons, seven in a row. He finished with over 12,000 receiving yards and 67 TDs, well past several receivers already in the Hall. The only single-digit HBCU performance in the draft came in 1993 when only eight were selected. But one of those was Texas Southern defensive end Michael Strahan taken by the New York Giants in the second round. Strahan who went on to play 15 marvelous years for the Giants, earning NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2001, seven Pro Bowl selections and being a key part of the Giants win in Super Bowl XLII. He set an NFL record with 22.5 sacks in 2001 and finished his Hall of Fame career with 141.5 sacks. Alcorn State linebacker John Thierry went to Chicago in the first round in 1994, 11th overall, as only 12 HBCU players were selected. Thierry played nine years in the league with four teams. The BCSP began publication in the summer of 1994 and was blessed with headlines galore that fall as Alcorn State quarterback Steve McNair put the finishing touches on his legendary college career. He finished third in that year’s Heisman Trophy race and was the third overall pick in the 1995 NFL Draft. Two other HBCU players also were first round selections. We’ll pick up the story next week in Part Four, chronicling how the BCSP has followed the last 26 years of HBCU players in the NFL D
STANDING TALL IN THE HALL
Photo Caption: PROUD MEMBERS: Unlike some of their predecessors, these HBCU products reached the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite not being first round draft picks. (L. to r.) Tennessee State’s Richard Dent, Savannah State’s Shannon Sharpe, Southern’s Aeneas Williams and Texas Southern’s Michael Strahan.
Photo Caption:NEXT IN LINE: (L. to R.) Central State’s Erik Williams, SC State’s Robert Porcher and Jackson State’s Jimmy Smith have the numbers to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all they need is the votes.