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HBCU Football: 10 of the best players of all time

By Dante Pryor

Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair (9) scrambles out of the pocket during the game against the Jaguars at Alltell Stadium in Jacksonville Dec. 22, 2002. The Titans defeated their AFC South foe 28-10.021222 B
Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair (9) scrambles out of the pocket during the game against the Jaguars at Alltell Stadium in Jacksonville Dec. 22, 2002. The Titans defeated their AFC South foe 28-10.021222 B /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – CIRCA 1962: Deacon Jones #75 of the Los Angeles Rams in action against the Dallas Cowboys during an NFL football game circa 1962 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. Jones played for the Rams from 1961-71. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – CIRCA 1962: Deacon Jones #75 of the Los Angeles Rams in action against the Dallas Cowboys during an NFL football game circa 1962 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. Jones played for the Rams from 1961-71. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

5. Deacon Jones, DE, South Carolina State

Legendary defensive end Deacon Jones is no stranger to controversy in his life. Later in life, Jones recounted a story witnessing a carload of young white boys throwing a watermelon into a crowd of black people after a church service.

The watermelon hit an elderly woman who would succumb to her injuries later on. “I was maybe 14 years old, but I chased that car until my breath ran out,” Jones told The San Diego Union-Tribune in 1999. “I could hear them laughing. Thank God I had the ability to play a violent game like football. It gave me an outlet for the anger in my heart.”

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Jones played at both South Carolina State and Mississippi Vocational (now Mississippi Valley State) because of a situation at SCSU. While at South Carolina State, Jones had his scholarship revoked after getting involved in a civil rights protest.

In the NFL, the league would ban his patented head slap deeming it too dangerous to use. If there is anything to be said about David “Deacon” Jones is that he never compromised about who he was.

Jones was discovered accidentally after he was outrunning the running backs the Rams were scouting. The Rams would select Jones in the 14th round of the 1961 draft. It did not take Jones long to assert himself as one of the dominant defensive linemen in the NFL.

From 1963-66, Jones along with Rosie Grier, Lamar Lundy and Merlin Olsen would terrorize opposing quarterbacks as the “Fearsome Foursome”. During that time, Jones would coin the phrase “quarterback sack”.

Unofficially, Jones had 173.5 sacks in his NFL career. If the stat were official, Jones would have ended his career the NFL’s all-time leader in sacks.

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