On Monday the sports world lost one of it’s pioneers. The Big Homie and legend, George Taliaferro, the first black player ever drafted by an NFL team died at age 91. In 1949 the Chicago Bears drafted him but he never played for the team because he’d already given his word that he’d play for the Los Angeles Dons of the All-American Football League just six day before. When I interviewed him at his home in Bloomington a few years ago he told me that “A man is only as good as his word.” He could have played for the Bears “but a man’s word is his bond!!”
George and I, are from the the same town in Northwest Indiana that they call Gary, Indiana. “The G” is what we so affectionately call it. Therefore, he’d become a huge Bears fan but would not back out on his word to play for the Dons. He eventually entered the NFL the following season in 1950 and played for six seasons. He played with the New York Yanks from 1950-51, Dallas Texans in ’52, Baltimore Colts from ’53-54 and the Philadelphia Eagles in 1955. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1951, ’52 and ’53.
He’s the only player to ever play seven positions in the NFL. Ole boy played quarterback, running back, wide receiver, punter, kick returner, punt returner and defensive back and would tell you that every time he saw you just to make sure you understood that wasn’t just a cat on the team.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! George used football and didn’t allow it to use him. He broke the color barrier in sports suiting up for the Indiana Hoosiers two years before his eventual good friend, Jackie Robinson, suited up for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He led the Hoosiers to the only undefeated season in school history in 1945 and became a three-time All-American at what he ALWAYS called I-N-D-I-A-N-A U-N-I-V-E-R-S-T-Y. He never called it IU. He loved INDIANA UNIVERSITY!!! That’s my alma mater as well.
"I met each one of my teammates as a person of worth & dignity & with the right to self determination." pic.twitter.com/WhPAi6ws1z
— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) October 9, 2018
Here’s what’s so crazy about it. George loved IU and was always proud to say INDIANA UNIVERSITY but while he was a student there he couldn’t live on campus. Black players/students were NOT allowed to live in the dorms with the rest of their team and classmates. Ain’t that a blip? So he was assigned a family to live with while he was at IU. He’s winning games, balling out and putting the school on his shoulders and they wouldn’t even give him a place to lay his head.That’s NUTS!!!
However, he balled out, took advantage of the opportunity given to him and made it work. Many of our young players today complain about everything and will transfer schools in a heartbeat because they aren’t getting the playing time that think that they should be getting and will never sniff a degree. Not only did George have to endure the racism at IU but he had to leave school because he was drafted into the military. He came back, balled out some more, played pro ball and then came back and got his degree because he promised his mother he’d graduate. That’s called using your gift to make room for you.
God says in Proverbs 18:16 “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” George used the game to create a great life for himself and his family even under the ridiculous circumstances of racism. He went on to earn a Master’s Degree from Howard University, taught at Maryland, became the dean of students at Morgan State, returned to INDIANA UNIVERSITY as a professor and special assistant to IU president John Ryan before helping to start Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana in Bloomington. That’s what I call ballin’!!!
When I sat down with him at his home a few years ago he pulled out a “Colored” sign he’d taken from the movie theatre in downtown Bloomington while he was a student at INDIANA UNIVERSITY. Excuse the capital letters but I have to write it like George used to say it. Blacks couldn’t use the same entrance or sit in the same section as whites. My man got so fired up about it one night that he took the sign and all these years later he still had it.
Not only were George and I from the same city but we went to the same high school (Gary Roosevelt) and represented 2-5 or 25th Avenue. That’s the street the school rests on and if you went to the ‘Velt you’re family. Of course he was 41 years older than I am but we were family because we represented the G, 2-5 and INDIANA UNIVERSITY. So he’d always keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st with me about everything. Some conversations are only for family but I learned a lot from the Big Homie and I’m proud to have known him and that he always represented The G. May he rest in peace. G.I., 2-5 and INDIANA UNIVERSITY please stand up and give this man a round of applause for showing us how to get it done. Stop me when I start lyin’!