Donald André Bly is an American football coach and former player who is cornerbacks coach for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played as a cornerback for 11 seasons in the NFL. He played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels, earning All-American honors twice. Bly was selected by the St. Louis Rams in the second round of the 1999 NFL draft, and spent four seasons with the Rams, earning a Super Bowl ring with them in Super Bowl XXXIV over the Tennessee Titans. He was selected to two Pro Bowls during his four-year tenure with the Detroit Lions, and also played for the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers.
Grimsley Senior High School, also known as Grimsley High School or simply Grimsley, is a public high school in Greensboro, North Carolina. Formerly known as "Greensboro High School," "Greensboro Central High School," and then "Greensboro Senior High School," it is part of the Guilford County Schools system. The school has an enrollment of around 1,800 students in grades 9–12. Grimsley has a reputation for strong academics, having an IB program.
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School is a private, Catholic, college-preparatory, coeducational high school in Olney, Maryland, an unincorporated area of Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
Hillside High School is a four-year high school located in Durham, North Carolina. Hillside is one of seven high schools in the Durham Public Schools system. Of more than 300 historically black high schools that once operated in the state before desegregation, only five remain today, with Hillside being the oldest. Hillside is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Benjamin Frank Davis is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback and return specialist for 10 years in the National Football League (NFL). He is the brother of political activist Angela Davis.
Charles Alvin Sanders was an American professional football player who was a tight end for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) from 1968 to 1977. Sanders was chosen for the NFL's 1970s All-Decade Team and voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007.
James Roosevelt Jones is an American former professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons during the 1980s and early 1990s. Jones played college football for the Florida Gators and then played professionally for the Detroit Lions and the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL.
Jibreel Khazan is a civil rights activist who is best known as a member of the Greensboro Four, a group of African American college students who, on February 1, 1960, sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina challenging the store's policy of denying service to non-white customers. The protests and the subsequent events were major milestones in the Civil Rights Movement.
David Amerson is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at North Carolina State University and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He was also a member of the Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs, and Arizona Cardinals.
Melvin Harold Groomes was an American football player and baseball coach. He played college football at Indiana University from 1944 to 1947 and helped lead the Indiana Hoosiers football team to the Big Ten Conference championship in 1945. In April 1948, he signed with the Detroit Lions, becoming the first African-American signed by the team. He played for the Lions during the 1948 and 1949 seasons and spent the next four years serving in the United States Air Force. He later spent more than 30 years, as a professor and head baseball coach, at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Franklin Eugene McCain was an American civil rights activist and member of the Greensboro Four. McCain, along with fellow North Carolina A&T State University students Ezell Blair Jr., Joseph McNeil and David Richmond, staged a sit-in protest at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 1, 1960, after they were refused service due to the color of their skin. Their actions were credited with launching the Greensboro sit-ins, a massive protest across state lines involving mostly students who took a stand against discrimination in restaurants and stores by refusing to leave when service was denied to them. The sit-ins successfully brought about the reversal of Woolworth's policy of racial segregation in their southern stores, and increased national sentiment to the fight of African-Americans in the south.
John Scott Jr. is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the defensive line coach for the Detroit Lions in 2023. Scott played professionally for the Greensboro Prowlers of the AF2 and the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL before entering the collegiate coaching ranks.
David Leinail Richmond was a civil rights activist for most of his life, but he was best known for being one of the Greensboro Four. Richmond was a student at North Carolina A&T during the time of the Greensboro protests, but never ended up graduating from A&T. He felt pressure from the residual celebrity of being one of the Greensboro Four; his life was threatened in Greensboro and he was forced to move to Franklin, NC. Eventually, he moved back to Greensboro to take care of his father. Richmond was awarded the Levi Coffin Award for leadership in human rights by the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce in 1980. Richmond seemed to be haunted by the fact that he could not do more to improve his world, and battled alcoholism and depression. He died in 1990 and was awarded a posthumous honorary doctorate degree from North Carolina A&T
Nelle Artis Coley, a noted educator, was born in Greensboro, NC in 1909. She attended local parochial primary schools in Greensboro before starting public school. She entered Bennett College in 1926, completing her high school studies in 1927. For the next four years, she alternated her studies with summer employment as a waitress in restaurants on the New Jersey shore. She completed her undergraduate studies at Bennett College in 1931. Unable to find work in Greensboro, she moved to Beaufort, North Carolina, where she found a teaching job.
Alim McNeill is an American football defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at NC State, and was drafted by the Lions in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Franklin "Mac" McCain III is an American football cornerback who is a free agent. He played college football for North Carolina A&T and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Denver Broncos in 2021.
Alan Hendon Hooker is an American football quarterback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Virginia Tech and Tennessee, where he was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Year in 2022. Hooker was drafted by the Lions in the third round of the 2023 NFL draft.
Kerby Joseph is an American football safety for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Illinois.
