Sixteen players from historically black colleges entered pro football in the 1960s and are now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Ten of them joined the AFL: Willie Brown, Charlie Joiner, Ken Houston, Larry Little, Buck Buchanan, Art Shell, Willie Lanier, Winston Hill, Elvin Bethea, and Emmitt Thomas.  By comparison, only six future Hall of Famers entered the NFL from HBCUs despite the senior league having more teams: Deacon Jones, Lem Barney, Rayfield Wright, Leroy Kelly, Bob Hayes, and Claude Humphrey. ^[1]However, most of the best players in the next tier from HBCUs were in the NFL. Harold Jackson, L.C. Greenwood, Jethro Pugh, Roger Brown, Rosey Taylor, John Gilliam, Coy Bacon, and Homer Jones all … Continue reading  And the lasting image of the AFL-NFL wars was Super Bowl IV, a game that saw the 12-point underdog Chiefs, with 8 starters from historically black colleges, upset a Vikings team with zero such players.  Those are two of the big reasons, along with actual words from those in pro football at the time, that the AFL was considered ahead of the curve when it came to bringing in players from these tiny schools.

On the other hand, as we’ll soon see, the narrative doesn’t quite match up with the facts.  Three of the ten AFL players — Thomas, Brown, and Hill — were not selected in the AFL Draft; Hill was chosen by the Colts in the NFL Draft, ^[2]He was soon cut and then signed by the Jets; it probably didn’t help that the Colts spent the 5th pick in the same draft on a future 5-time Pro Bowler at the same position. while the other two went undrafted in both leagues. More importantly, six of those 10 AFL Hall of Famers entered the AFL in 1967 or later, which came after the creation of a common draft. ^[3]Joiner never started a game in the AFL. Shell started one game. Little and Bethea made the AFL Pro Bowl in ’69, but had the overwhelming majority of their success in the NFL. Lanier and Houston … Continue reading These players made most of their marks in the ’70s, and are remembered as NFL stars, now AFL ones. By the time they entered pro football, the AFL had already won: a merger had been agreed upon by the teams, and the credibility of the league had been established.  Sure, it was still the inferior league, and it wasn’t until the Jets and Chiefs both won Super Bowls that the league was truly viewed as comparable to the NFL, but the 1967 AFL was very different than the 1961 AFL.  When we talk about the AFL as an upstart league that challenged the NFL and won, we are mostly talking about the AFL prior to the 1967 season.

And if we look at the most dominant players who entered pro football from HBCUs between 1960 and 1966, you get a different story.  Sure, Buchanan was a big star, but arguably five of the six biggest stars from HBCUs in the ’60s were actually in the NFL: Deacon Jones, Roger Brown, Rosey Taylor, Leroy Kelly, and Bob Hayes.

So let’s take a deeper dive and analyze how the two leagues really approached players from HBCUs prior to 1967.  From 1960 to 1966, the two leagues battled over talent, and the AFL’s surprising ability to keep pace is what led to the AFL-NFL merger, announced in June of 1966. Because I am focusing on the talent battle, I am really focused on the two drafts, but will note key undrafted players (and there were several).

The AFL and Players From Historically Black Colleges and Universities

There were a few stars and a handful of really good players from Historically Black Colleges and Universities that were drafted into — and went to — the AFL. The one standout, of course, was Grambling’s Buck Buchanan, who was chosen by the Chiefs (then the Dallas Texans) with the first overall pick in the ’63 AFL Draft. The Chiefs had up close experience with the value of dominant DT from Grambling: twice a year they went against Chargers great Ernie Ladd, drafted out of Grambling in ’61. Kansas City also drafted Otis Taylor out of Prairie View A&M, and Buchanan and Taylor helped make the Chiefs a consistent championship contender.  Kansas City picked up future HOF CB Emmitt Thomas as an undrafted free agent out of Bishop in ’66, and S Jim Kearney from Prairie View A&M was signed after a short stint with the Lions (where he was just a backup) and became a consistent starter. ^[4]The Chiefs also added some starters from historically black schools like Frank Pitts and Mack Lee Hill from Southern, and Dave Webster from Prairie View A&M, among others.

Two other AFL teams found top talent from these small schools. Coming out of Texas Southern, Winston Hill went undrafted in the AFL, and was taken in the 11th round by Baltimore in 1963. But the after the Colts released him in his rookie training camp, the Jets signed the future Hall of Fame offensive tackle. The Jets also drafted defensive end Verlon Biggs out of Jackson State and running back Emerson Boozer out of Maryland State (now the University of Maryland Eastern Shore). Both players stuck around for a decade and made multiple Pro Bowls, while being large contributors to the Super Bowl III team. ^[5]Joining Boozer on the ’68 Jets out of Maryland State was starting safety Johnny Sample (who spent most of his career in the NFL) and returner Earl Christy.

Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos — who were probably the worst-run team in the AFL — were the AFL team that seemed to spend the most efforts on acquiring HBCU talent while getting the least out of it.  They drafted Hewritt Dixon and Al Denson out of Florida A&M and signed Ike Lassiter from St. Augustine’s University in North Carolina away from the Rams.  Unfortunately for the Broncos, both Dixon and Lassiter did little in Denver before turning into stars with the rival Raiders.  ^[6]Denson, at least, led the team in receiving yards in four seasons and made two Pro Bowls. Denver also drafted future Hall of Famer Bob Hayes (Florida A&M) in the 14th round, but lost him to the NFL. And the Broncos signed future Hall of Famer Willie Brown out of Grambling (after the Oilers signed and released him) before trading him to Oakland, too. They even had Grambling’s Nemiah Wilson, who was a Pro Bowl corner.  One of their best players by the end of the decade was Southern’s Tombstone Jackson, who was an undrafted free agent with the Raiders in ’66.

But the rest of the original 8 AFL teams — the Chargers, Raiders, Bills, Patriots, and Oilers — spent almost no draft capital on  HBCU players. ^[7]The Dolphins and Bengals were the two expansion teams, but they joined in ’66 and ’68, respectively. They did each have a notable draftee in the post-common draft, pre-merger days: Larry … Continue reading

• Buffalo only drafted five players from HBCUs, and never with a pick in the first 8 rounds. ^[8]They did add Tom Day out of North Carolina A&T, but only after he was released by the NFL’s Cardinals.
• The Patriots had a similar story, with no notable players and nothing higher than an 8th round pick. ^[9]Although Boston did have one HBCU star: Jim Lee Hunt, a great defensive lineman out of Prairie View, who was acquired via free agency in 1960.  Other than the Jets, the northeast teams in the AFL didn’t get much out of players from historically black colleges. ^[10]Over in the NFL, the Giants found some steals with Homer Jones and Willie Young, while the Eagles didn’t have much prior to 1967 — although they did draft Otis Taylor.
• Houston did draft Homer Jones and Roy Hilton, but lost both to the NFL; otherwise, the Oilers drafted no notable players.  The city of Houston was segregated when the Oilers were created, and the team had few black players in the first few years of the ’60s. ^[11]The Oilers eventually signed a pair of starters as UDFAs from local Texas Southern in Houston: Charley Frazier and W.K. Hicks, but overall, there was not much here.  They also added Garland Boyette, … Continue reading
• The Chargers had Ladd, but as a 15th round pick, he was more a flier than an investment. ^[12]And remember, the Bears drafted him in the 4th round. Similarly, Speedy Duncan was a 4-time Pro Bowl kick returner and defensive back out of Jackson State, but he was signed a free agent after going undrafted. But overall, the Chargers spent little draft capital and got little out of players from historically black colleges. ^[13]The Chargers also drafted  a couple of role players in Jim Tolbert from Lincoln (MO) and Jerry Robinson from Grambling.
• The Raiders drafted only five players from HBCUs and signed just one of them: defensive lineman Carleton Oats, who started 49 games for the team. The California teams did very little in the Draft with players from HBCUs. Of course, the Raiders did much better picking up such players from other AFL teams. Oakland picked up Willie Brown, Hewritt Dixon, and Ike Lassiter from Denver, and traded for future AFL MVP RB Clem Daniels (Prairie View); he went undrafted in 1960 in the NFL but signed with the Dallas Texans. He found no role there, but was traded to Oakland after one year.

It’s noteworthy that Buchanan and Robert Brown (who went to the NFL) were the only players from HBCUs drafted in the first two rounds by AFL teams, and Buchanan, Taylor, Boozer, and Denson were the only players drafted in the first six rounds of an AFL Draft who signed with the league.   The Jets and Broncos found some talent, and the Chiefs went big with Buchanan and Taylor, but the AFL as a whole did not really prioritize these players in the Draft. And while the league did do well with some UDFA acquisitions, that may also have been due to lower overall talent in the league.

Meanwhile, from 1961 to 1966, the NFL drafted and signed the following players from HBCUs, all of whom became longtime contributors: Deacon Jones, Leroy Kelly, Jethro Pugh, Bob Hayes, Homer Jones, Ken Reaves, Roy Hilton, Robert Brown, Mel Phillips, Ben McGee, Chuck Hinton, Mike Howell, Joe Taylor, Willie Richardson, and Willie Williams.    Even on a per-team basis, the NFL did a better job acquiring top HBCU talent in the ’61 to ’66 Drafts than the AFL did. ^[14]In terms of draft capital used, the NFL was a bit less aggressive. No player from an HBCU went in the first round of an NFL Draft until Claude Humphrey in 1968. During this period from 1961 to 1966, … Continue reading That goes for quantity, too. Ultimately, the AFL only used 65 draft picks on players from HBCUs, while the NFL used 97 such draft picks from ’61 to 66. And while the NFL had more picks overall, that doesn’t account for the full difference: 5.7% of all NFL draft picks were used on players from historically black colleges, compared to 5.0% in the AFL.

So does this mean the narrative about the AFL was wrong?  Not necessarily, although I do think it was overstated.  If you compare the AFL in the ’60s to the NFL in the ’50s, there is a huge difference.  But the NFL was much more involved with recruiting players from HBCUs in the ’60s than the league was in the ’50s, and part of that is due to the presence of the AFL.  A few other factors:

• In ’53, the Giants drafted Rosey Brown in the 27th round out of Morgan State; he turned into a star by the late ’50s.  In ’56, Willie Davis (Grambling) was drafted by the Browns in the 15th round; he would turn into a star defensive end with the Packers by ’62.  And in 1960, the NFL drafted Roger Brown out of Maryland State in the fourth round, and he turned into a near Hall of Famer almost immediately. Rosey Brown was the first player drafted from an HBCU to have any real success in the NFL, ^[15]Tank Younger was the first player from an HBCU to have any success. and that paved the way for others to follow.
• The talent was presumably better in HBCUs in the late ’50s and early ’60s than it was a decade earlier, as pro football became a viable career path for these players.
• Before the 1950s, there were almost no black players.  But the success in the decade of running backs like Joe Perry, John Henry Johnson, Jim Brown and Lenny Moore would help change the league’s view towards black players (even if other positions would take more time).  When Baltimore won titles in ’58 and ’59, four of their best players were black.  It naturally would follow that the league, which avoided all black players for 13 years in the ’30s and ’40s, would start going after players from HBCUs once the league was more welcoming overall to black players.
• The mere presence of more teams forced the NFL to dig deeper for talent: Deacon Jones was spotted by the Rams when they were scouting Mississippi Vocational College (now Mississippi Valley State) for another player.

It is also hard to determine whether to draw the line on giving “credit” to each league; for example, some players went to the NFL and didn’t do much before turning into stars in the AFL. Warren Wells was drafted by the Lions in 1964 out of Texas Southern… then went to the Army after one nondescript season in Detroit, and returned to the Raiders and led the AFL in receiving yards and touchdowns in 1969. ^[16]Wells, of course, saw his playing career end prematurely following a year in prison. Tom Day was drafted by the NFL in the 20th round in 1960 out of North Carolina A&T; he spent one year with the Cardinals before turning into a Pro Bowl lineman with the Bills.   Jim Kearney, a QB drafted by the Lions out of Prairie View in 1966, was switched to defensive back, and then was released and joined the AFL’s Chiefs… where he turned into a longtime starter at safety. Do these three go in the AFL column for credit?  Probably, although they don’t necessarily fit the narrative of the AFL finding a bunch of hidden gems while the NFL was asleep at the wheel.

Ultimately, the story of HBCUs in the AFL was really the story of the Chiefs, along with the Jets and Broncos finding some stars (and the Broncos not holding onto them), and the Raiders doing well as the second stop for many such players (but finding nothing in the draft).  And while in the NFL the Cowboys (with Jethro Pugh and Bob Hayes) were the star ^[17]Thanks to Tex Schramm, who also brought in Younger when he was with the Rams., most NFL teams had at least one notable star player from an HBCU.   Even including the Chiefs, the average NFL team spent about as much resources, and did about as well as the average AFL team, when it came to scouting and adding talent from historically black colleges. The other takeway, of course, is that draft capital used on players from HBCUs really peaked in the late ’60s and early ’70s, as shown here.