The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and the highest professional level of American football in the world. The league is headquartered in New York City.
Details of the history of black players in professional American football depend on the professional football league considered, which includes the National Football League (NFL); the American Football League (AFL), a rival league from 1960 through 1969 which eventually merged with the NFL; and the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), which existed from 1946 to 1949.
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order relative to its record in the previous year, which means that the last place team is positioned first and the Super Bowl champion is last. From this position, the team can either select a player or trade its position to another team for other draft positions, a player or players, or any combination thereof. The round is complete when each team has either selected a player or traded its position in the draft. The first draft was held in 1936, and has been held every year since.
Clarence McKay "Ace" Parker was an American football and baseball player and coach. He played professional football as a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1937–1941) and Boston Yanks (1945) and in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) for the New York Yankees. He was an All-American halfback at Duke University in 1936. Parker also played Major League Baseball during 1936 and 1937 with the Philadelphia Athletics. He served as the head baseball coach at Duke from 1953 to 1966. Parker was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972.
Wayne Vernal Millner was an American professional football player who was an offensive and defensive end for the Boston / Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Frank Dominic Bernardi is a former American football defensive back who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). He played college football at the University of Colorado at Boulder. A 4th round selection in the 1955 NFL Draft, Bernardi played for the NFL's Chicago Cardinals from 1955 through 1957, and for the AFL's Denver Broncos in 1960.
James C. Caroline was an American professional football player in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign where he was a consensus All-American in 1953. After a year in the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts and Montreal Alouettes, Caroline played for ten seasons in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Ralph Vincent Guglielmi was an American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. He played high school football in Columbus, Ohio at Grandview Heights High School, college football at the University of Notre Dame and was drafted in the first round of the 1955 NFL Draft. Guglielmi was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001.
Eugene Edward Cronin is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League for the Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins, and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at the University of the Pacific.
Emil Karas was an American professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins and in the American Football League (AFL) with the Los Angeles / San Diego Chargers. He was on the Chargers' 1963 AFL Championship team, and an AFL All-Star in 1961, 1962, and 1963. Karas played college football at the University of Dayton and was drafted in the third round of the 1959 NFL Draft. He died of pancreatic cancer on November 25, 1974, a month before his 41st birthday.
Gerald Bernard Huth was an American football guard who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings. He played college football at Wake Forest University and was drafted in the 24th round of the 1956 NFL Draft. Postmortem research diagnosed Huth with chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Sheldon Thurlow Cooper was a college and professional American football player. A tight end, he played college football at the University of Maine, and played professionally in the American Football League (AFL) as an original New York Titan in the 1960 through 1962 AFL seasons. He was drafted in 1956 by the National Football League (NFL)'s Cleveland Browns, but never played in the NFL.
This is a list of the Washington Commanders selections in the NFL Draft. The team was founded as the Boston Braves in 1932, named after the local baseball franchise. The team changed their name to the Redskins in 1933 and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1937. The Redskins name was retired in 2020, with the team taking on the temporarily branding of the Washington Football Team before fully rebranding to the Commanders in 2022.
A. D. Williams was an American football end in the National Football League (NFL) who played for the Green Bay Packers, the Cleveland Browns, and the Minnesota Vikings. Williams was drafted in the third round of the 1956 NFL Draft out of University of the Pacific. He played for 3 years in the NFL, and retired in 1961.
Billy Russell Kinard was an American football player and coach. He played professionally as a defensive back for the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL) and the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League (AFL). Kinard played college football at the University of Mississippi before being drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the second round of the 1956 NFL Draft. He played professionally for four seasons and retired in 1960. Kinard later served as the head football coach at Ole Miss from 1971 to 1973 and at Gardner–Webb University in 1978, compiling a career coaching record of 20–14–1.
John Connell Johnson was an American football defensive back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears. He also was a member of the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Texans in the American Football League (AFL). He played college football at the University of Miami.
John McMullan was an American football guard who played two seasons with the New York Titans of the American Football League He was drafted with the 165th pick in the 14th round of the 1956 NFL draft He played college football at Notre Dame
The Eagles–Steelers rivalry is a National Football League (NFL) rivalry between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Unofficially nicknamed "The Battle of Pennsylvania", this is an in-state, interconference rivalry between the two NFL teams located in the state of Pennsylvania.
