researching obscure college football player--1951 Topps Magic #65 Bill Matthews

[TanksAndSpartans]

Maris61, happy to add to the thread - glad you started it.

Mike, NFL Network is good news!, of course I had to downgrade when my promotion ran out a few months ago, but I'll try to find a way to catch it.

I get SCD second hand from a friend when they are done and there was a good article on 1950 Topps feltbacks recently - it mentioned Levi Jackson and Deacon Dan Towler as "among the black players" and the first thing that came to my mind was is Bill Matthews in there? Here is the article:

http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.co...pps-felt-backs

One last thing - I really like this chart that Neal Rozendall gives us:

1920 – 2 (Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall)
1921 – 4
1922 – 5
1923 – 5
1924 – 3
1925 – 5
1926 – 5

1927 – 1 (Duke Slater)
1928 – 2
1929 – 1 (Duke Slater)
1930 – 2
1931 – 2
1932 – 1 (Joe Lillard)
1933 – 2 (Joe Lillard and Ray Kemp)

It shows that participation by black players in the early NFL was never that great and after some teams folded before the 27 season, it was very limited. Football wasn't that different than Baseball after all. Images of these guys would make for a nice "pioneer" collection. Something else I learned - Duke Slater is a pretty solid HOF candidate - another player lost in the shuffle of history - I plan to read up some more on his career myself.