San Francisco 49ers fullback Joe Perry in 1954.
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Running back Franco Harris of the Pittsburgh Steelers was the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl IX.
Charles Follis was believed to be the first black player in the NFL from 1902 to 1906. Between 1920 and 1926, there were only nine black people that played in the NFL, making Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall the first black players in the NFL in 1920.
Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, a famous return specialist for the houston oilers was the first NFL player to wear withe cleats.
Art Shell became the first African American NFL head coach of the modern era when he was hired by the Los Angeles Raiders in 1989.
Jim Thorpe (link below) was probably the first American Indian to play pro football. He played professionally with the Pine Village Pros in Indiana in 1913 and later went on to become the first president of the NFL, where he also played for the Oorang Indians (an all-American Indian team) in Ohio.
Bobby Marshall, along with Fritz Pollard, were the first two African Americans to play in the NFL in 1920. Pollard played for the Akron Pros and Marshall played for the Rock Island Independants