George Taliaferro was a star quarterback on Indiana University's first great football team of 1945, two years before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's racial barrier. Four years later, in 1949, he became the first African American drafted by the NFL when the Chicago Bears expressed their interest in him. Rather than play for his childhood dream team, Taliaferro opted to honour the contract he had previously signed with the Los Angeles Dons of the All American Football Conference. However, Taliaferro would eventually go on to play in the NFL for teams such as the New York Yanks, Dallas Texans, Baltimore Colts, and the Philadelphia Eagles. To prepare this book, Dawn Knight combed NCAA and NFL records and conducted numerous interviews with George Taliaferro, his family, former team-mates, and Colts coach Tony Dungy. More than a biography of one individual, this is a story of historic achievement and inspiration.
- ISBN10 0253349311
- ISBN13 9780253349316
- Publish Date 26 September 2007
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 12 April 2011
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Indiana University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 192
- Language English