Not enough recognition of Nunn, who opened NFL doors to Blacks

Michael Wilbon, much-acclaimed ESPN reporter and commentator, dutifully acknowledged on Pardon the Interruption the 2021 Hall of Fame elections of Peyton Manning, Charles Woodson, Calvin Johnson, Drew Pearson, Alan Faneca, John Lynch and Tom Flores.

But Wilbon neglected to mention one of the honorees: Bill Nunn, who will be posthumously inducted as a “contributor” to building the National Football League.  Wilbon, who is Black, somehow overlooked the African American who did more than anyone else to open up professional football to athletes from historically Black colleges and universities.

In the 1960s, Nunn was a sportswriter for a Black-owned weekly newspaper, the Pittsburgh Courier.  He wrote many articles about outstanding football players who were being snubbed in the drafts because their college careers were unpublicized.  

This was an era of very unsophisticated football scouting.  Most NFL teams relied largely on newspaper and magazine articles for making their draft calls.  Mainstream journalism had little interest in games played at Grambling and Prairie View, et al.  

Fortunately, Art Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, happened to read a few of Nunn’s stories and decided he could be onto something big.  Rooney in 1967 hired Nunn to be a scout for his franchise.

Nunn tipped Rooney off to L.C. Greenwood, Mel Blount, Ernie Holmes, John Stallworth and Donnie Shell.  For good measure he also tabbed a white linebacker who would be in the Hall of Fame: Jack Lambert, from lightly-scouted Kent State.

Nunn, who died in 2014 at 89, was instrumental in the Steelers winning four Super Bowls in six years.  He worked 45 years for the organization.

Tony Dungy, former Super Bowl-winning head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, said, “There is no way the Steelers win those Super Bowls in the ’70s without him.  He tutored me during my time on the staff as well.”

Dungy put forth a major effort during the past year to publicize Nunn’s achievements.

Nunn had a diverse and admirable life.  He played basketball at West Virginia State, captained an undefeated team in 1948.  He was a slick enough ballhandler to receive an offer from the Harlem Globetrotters.  But he directed his efforts more toward the NFL, which integrated in 1946 with Kenny Washington signed by the Los Angeles Rams.

It’s too easy to forget that in the 1960s there were no Black football players at the University of Texas or the U of Alabama or at many other major colleges in the South.  Bill Nunn shed light where it was needed.  “Contributor” is a designation that sells him short.  He changed the history of the NFL.