The man who never played or coached football yet probably opened the door for more Blacks to play, coach and work in the front offices of NFL teams and Division I College football than anyone else is dead.
Bill Nunn Jr., who worked for 22 years as a sports writer, sports editor, and managing editor of the National Edition of the Pittsburgh Courier and 45 years as a Steelers scout died May 7. He probably had a greater impact on Black players, coaches and front office personnel than any other individual, yet very few knew.
Nunn like his father was a great athlete, but because Westinghouse High School at the time, would not allow its star basketball players to play football Nunn never played football because he was one of the greatest basketball players to ever play there. He later went to West Virginia State where his team was 26-0 his senior year.
He was such a great basketball player that the Harlem Globetrotters offered him a contract. The NBA wasn’t accepting Black players at the time. But he chose to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a sports writer. His father having started as a sports writer, then city editor, to managing editor of the Courier was a legend in the newspaper industry having helped Ira Lewis and Robert L. Vann build the Courier into the largest Black paper in the country, and later, after Robert Vann’s death helping Jesse Vann move it to even greater heights.
But even though the son built his own name as an outstanding sports writer, editor and later managing editor of the national edition in helping John Sengstacke save the paper, Nunn Jr., moved on to the Pittsburgh Steelers as a scout where he changed history.
No it’s not marked in any history book, but Nunn more than anyone other than Wendell Smith maybe, opened the doors for Blacks into the NFL and eventually the NBA. Actually Wendell got the doors opened with his work during the 1940s and Nunn kept them open, during the 1950s while in a round about way forcing more through the doors than the pro leagues were planning on accepting.
When he started scouting Black Colleges for the Steelers he in fact gave the Steelers exclusive dibs on the top Black athletes at these schools. Back then, during the 1960s, Division I Colleges had their quota systems on how many Black players they were going to offer scholarships to which limited the number of Blacks available for the pro ranks. Most NFL teams didn’t even consider the players at Black colleges because they saw them as inferior players, and by just drafting from the major colleges they could keep the quota system intact.
Bill saw this and went straight to the Steelers telling them they had a gold mine that they needed to take advantage of before the rest of the league woke up. And fortunately the Rooneys, who owned one of the worst franchises in football at the time, listened and the result was four Super Bowl wins in 10 years.
His exposure of Black players at Black colleges led to more coaches at Division I schools recruiting more Black players from Black colleges. They too wanted to win.
One example of this with the Steelers was in 1974 the Steelers selected Lynn Swann in the first round, from USC, but didn’t select John Stallworth until the fifth round. They both are in the Hall of Fame. Why was a Hall of Famer left in the fifth round? Because he went to a small Black college. Nobody knew about him except Bill Nunn. Bill knew because he had selected Stallworth to the Black College All American team two years in a row. The rest of the NFL didn’t wake up until the late 1970s or the mid 1980s. By that time it was too late the Steelers had won four Super Bowls.
When other teams figured out what the Steelers were doing they jumped on the bandwagon. The Kansas City Chiefs were probably the first and a Super Bowl ring was their reward. Now Blacks make up the majority of every team in the NFL. With the exception of quarterback Blacks dominate every position, and that may change in the next five to 10 years.
Bill was always a happy go lucky guy who was dead serious about his job, but was always laughing and joking.
I worked with him when I first came to the city as a sports writer. He was full time with the Steelers but he was still putting the Black College All American team together. I basically did what I was told. The whole process was an enjoyable task. From actually putting the team together, which was hard work, to the banquet in which we bought all the players to Pittsburgh for the event. The players not only came but they looked forward to it.
There will probably never be a statue of him, he will never make the NFL Hall of Fame, and other than Sheridan Broadcasting honoring him as a Hall of Fame Legend in one of its Black College All American team selection, I can’t remember anyone giving Bill Nunn Jr., an award. Yet the majority of the Black players in the league, whether they are from a Black College or not need to give thanks to Bill Nunn Jr.
Farewell Bill. There will never be another like you.
(Ulish Carter is the managing editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier.)
