Halfback Kenny Washington (March 21) and end Woody Strode (May 7) signed with the Los Angeles Rams to become the first African-Americans to play in the NFL in the modern era. Guard Bill Willis (August 6) and running back Marion Motley (August 9) joined the AAFC with the Cleveland Browns.
The first black player to play internationally was Andrew Watson who played for Scotland between 1881 and 1882. He played club for Queen's Park but in those days, players took pride in being amateurs. The first black professional player was Arthur Watson for Preston North End in 1889. He was mainly a goalkeeper who sometimes took the field. Artur Friedenreich was the first black Brazilian who started his career in 1910. He dyed his hair and skin to avoid problems for the first years of his career. He is the leading goalscorer of all time with even more goals than Pele. There were a number of black professional in the US before 1960. There was no color barrier in soccer as in the other American sports so the first black players essentially went more or less unnoticed. One of the early pros was Giles Heron whose son Gil Scott-Heron, musician has been called the "Godfather of Rap". The senior Heron played for the Detroit Corinthians in the American Soccer League in 1950's. He later played in Scotland for Glasgow Celtic. Otey Cannon was the first African-American player in the North American Soccer League for the Dallas Tornadoes in the 1960's. The MLS allocated the best players so there technically was no real firt black player because a ton of them started at the same time. One interesting fact. There is a greater percentage of African Americans in MLS than MLB 17 to 8.
Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall 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 Independents.
Fritz Pollard was also the first Black Head Coach in the NFL when he became Co-Head Coach at Akron in 1921, while remaining in the runningback position.
He was also the first Black to be on a Championship team when Akron Won the tirle in 1920.
Eddie McAshan
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.
In professional tennis, the first black male to win a Grand Slam event in singles was Arthur Ashe in 1968 at the U.S. Open.
Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, a famous return specialist for the houston oilers was the first NFL player to wear withe cleats.
American Athea Gibson was the first black professional tennis player. She won her first Grand Slam tennis title in 1956.
The first black woman soccer player was named Briana Scurry. She was the goalkeeper. As of 2014, she is now retired.
The first black player to play for Manchester United was Tony Whelan in the 1960s.
Pele
It is believed he is the first black to play at international level, but there are arguments that British player Arthur Wharton was.
Scotland's first black international footballer - and, in fact, the first black footballer for any national side, was British Guianan-born Andrew Watson, who made his international debut in 1881. Watson retained amateur status throughout his footballing career - meaning that the honour of the first black British professional footballer goes to the Gold Coast-born Arthur Wharton.
Dimayor has 2 real meanings, The first one: DIMAYOR:Asociación de Clubes del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano (Soccer) DIMAYOR:South American Basketball league
The name of the first Austrailian soccer player to play for Liverpool was Craig Johnson
Pele
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Me
Brazillian
Francisco Jiménez Tejada, the Spanish soccer player known to fans as Xisco, has become the first openly gay soccer player in England's Premier League. I found this here: http://www.queerty.com/englands-first-out-gay-soccer-player-xisco-isnt-even-out-20090314/