Kenny Washington (American Football Player)
Kenny Washington | |
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Position (s): running back |
Jersey number (s): 13 |
born on August 31, 1918 in Los Angeles , California | |
died on 24. June 1971 ibid | |
Career information | |
Active : 1946 - 1948 | |
Undrafted in 1946 | |
College : UCLA | |
Teams | |
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Career statistics | |
erlaufene yards | 859 |
Touchdowns | 8th |
Stats at NFL.com | |
Stats at pro-football-reference.com | |
Career highlights and awards | |
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College Football Hall of Fame |
Kenneth "Kenny" Stanley Washington (born August 31, 1918 in Los Angeles , California , † June 24, 1971 there ) was a professional in American football . He was the first African American to sign a professional contract with an NFL club . He played from 1946 to 1949.
Life
After high school, he received a scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles , where he was used for the UCLA Bruins as a running back from 1937 to 1939 alongside Jackie Robinson . The NFL refused to give him a contract in 1940, despite Washington being the United States' best forward and the first all-consensus All-American . Instead, he played semi-professionally for the Hollywood Bears of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League from 1941 to 1945 .
In 1946 he signed a contract with the Los Angeles Rams , as they wanted to play in the publicly funded Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles and Afro-Americans as California taxpayers also have a right to play in this stadium. He played for the Rams from 1946 to 1948. The No. 13 he wore was no longer given to him in honor of UCLA. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1956 . He won 1,914 yards in three years, which was an NCAA record for 34 years.
Parallel to his football career, he worked as a film actor in Hollywood and was seen in ten roles between 1940 and 1950. In 1966 he got another supporting role in the television series Tarzan . From 1950 he worked as a police officer in the Los Angeles Police Department .
Filmography
- 1940: While Thousands Cheer
- 1941: The Little Foxes (The Little Foxes)
- 1941: Gun smugglers from Kenya (Sundown)
- 1947: A World at Your Feet (The Foxes of Harrow)
- 1948: The Man Without a Face (Rogue's Regiment)
- 1949: Bloody Diamonds (Rope of Sand)
- 1949: Easy Living
- 1949: Pinky
- 1950: the predator is on the loose! (The Reformer and the Redhead)
- 1950: The Jackie Robinson Story
- 1956: You Asked For It (TV series, 1 episode)
- 1966: Tarzan (TV series, 2 episodes)
Web links
- Kenny Washington in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Othello Harris: The rise of black athletes in the USA. James Riordan , Arnd Krüger (Ed.): The international politics of sport in the twentieth century. London: Routledge 1999, ISBN 0-419-21160-8 , pp. 150-176.
- ↑ Derek Hart: The Top Ten UCLA Football Players Of All Time. Go Joe Bruin, December 26, 2011, accessed December 21, 2016 .
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Washington, Kenny |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Washington, Kenneth Stanley |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American football player |
DATE OF BIRTH | August 31, 1918 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Los Angeles , California |
DATE OF DEATH | June 24, 1971 |
Place of death | Los Angeles , California |