A champion of NFL minority issues, ex-Colorado star John Wooten a semifinalist for Pro Football Hall of Fame

John Wooten was thrilled when the Los Angeles Dodgers last week won the World Series.

After all, hes been a fan of the team since it was in Brooklyn and Jackie Robinson in 1947 became the first Black player in the major leagues.

Wooten, 87, grew up going to segregated schools in Carlsbad, N.M., through the ninth grade before becoming the second Black player football player at the University of Colorado.

He was a top-notch guard for the Cleveland Browns from 1959-67 and for many of those seasons his roommate and best friend on the team was legendary running back Jim Brown.

We went to a restaurant in Harlem, and Jim took me to meet Jackie Robinson (and former Dodgers pitcher) Don Newcombe for lunch, and Jim says to Jackie, This is one of your biggest fans, and that of course was the truth, Wooten said of meeting Robinson in the early 1960s, several years after Robinson had retired following the 1956 season.

Ever since I was a kid, I had thought of Jackie as representing everything in life I wanted to be.

Not only was he a great athlete, but he became a strong community person.

Just as Robinson was active in minority issues, that was a path Wooten would take.

While with the Browns, Wooten played a key role in putting together the June 1967 Cleveland Summit, an event in which a number of legendary Black athletes, including Brown, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) got together with Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) to show their support after the boxer had been stripped of his heavyweight title for refusing induction into the U.S.

Army during the Vietnam War.

Wooten later helped pave the way as a Black NFL executive, serving in the front offices of Dallas from 1975-91, Philadelphia from 1992-96 and Baltimore from 1997-2003.

He then was co-founder of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, serving as chairman from 2003-19 of the organization that works to promote diversity hiring in coaching, scouting and front-office positions in the NFL.

Due to his illustrious career, Wooten last week was named one of nine semifinalists in the contributor category for the Pro Football of Fame.

Others in consideration for the one finalist to be selected Nov.

12 are K.S.

Bud Adams, Ralph Hay, Frank Bucko Kilroy, Robert Kraft, Art Modell, Art Rooney Jr., Seymour Siwoff and Doug Williams.

Im totally thrilled to be thought of to be in this group because my career has been one of just blessings and also allowed me to give back to the league," Wooten told The Denver Gazette from his home in Arlington, Texas.

After the announcement of being named a semifinalist, Wooten received all sorts of congratulatory calls.

Among those to call were Tony Dungy, the first Black coach to win a Super Bowl, with Indianapolis in the 2006 season, and James Harris, a pioneer as a Black quarterback from the late 1960s to late 1970s.

For Wooten, minority issues have been a lifetime quest.

When growing up in Carlsbad, he couldnt go to many local restaurants and the few movie theaters he could attend, Blacks had to sit up high in the corner.

He was one of seven Black students admitted to Carlsbad High School after the Supreme Court outlawed desegregation in 1954 and then became a star offensive and defensive lineman for the Cavemen.

Wooten became the second Black player at Colorado in 1955, following wide receiver Frank Clarke.

He said he didnt encounter any significant racial issues in Boulder, but he couldnt go to many restaurants and movie theaters on the road when the Buffaloes played at Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State and some other schools.

He said Colorado coach Dallas Ward wouldnt let the team stay at hotels that did not allow Blacks and that he once threatened to take the Buffaloes back to Boulder when they were scheduled to play at Utah but a hotel refused to allow Wooten and Clarke to stay there.

The hotel eventually relented and the game was played.

Before we played Clemson in the Orange Bowl (on Jan.

1, 1956), Clemson sent a letter to our athletic director, saying the constitution in the state of South Carolina does not allow its colleges to play teams that have Negroes on the team, so were asking Colorado to leave its two players at home, Wooten said of a threat that the Buffaloes dismissed and the two ended up playing in that game.

After being a fifth-round pick by the Browns, Wooten was on the team that won the 1964 NFL championship.

Brown retired after the 1965 season but he reached out to Wooten in 1967 during the height of the civil rights movement.

Jim said, We cant stand on the sidelines.

Weve got to be part of this movement, Wooten said.

So Jim said, Get the guys together, and all of the guys came to Cleveland.

...

I think (the summit) was historic in showing Black activism in this country.

...

We wanted to address economic and educational issues in communities.

In a famous photo taken at the Cleveland Summit, Russell, Ali, Brown and Abdul-Jabbar are seated at a table while Wooten is standing behind Abdul-Jabbar on the far right.

Wootens tenure with the Browns did not end well.

He had won a team charity golf outing at the Ashland (Ohio) Country Club in 1967 before then-Browns safety Ross Fichtner, in charge of the annual event, elected in 1968 to not invite any Black players back.

Wooten went public with what happened and eventually was released by the Browns before playing his final NFL season with Washington in 1968.

If youre not going to stand up for yourself, who will? Wooten said.

Wootens career also has included standing up for others.

That was the case when he was chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, named after the NFLs first Black head coach with the Akron Pros in 1921, long before the league again had a Black coach in Art Shell with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1989.

With Wooten in that role, the NFL came up with the Rooney Rule in 2003.

The rule, which has been refined over the years, requires teams to interview diversity candidates for head coaching and coordinator positions and for executive roles.

It also has played a role in hiring for other NFL positions.

I think thats my greatest accomplishment, just the whole thing, Wooten said of his tenure with the Fritz Pollard Alliance.

Look at football and tell me the Rooney Rule hasnt been extremely successful.

Look at game-day officials.

Look at head coaches.

Look at general managers.

Look at the presidents of football operations and executives.

Wooten retired from the Fritz Pollard Alliance in 2019 and was replaced by Rod Graves, whose title is executive director.

And he remains active in supporting the University of Colorado.

Wooten attended the Buffaloes spring game in April 2023 and went to their opener last season, a 45-42 win at TCU.

He remains grateful to the school for giving him an athletic scholarship and helping get him on the road to becoming a football pioneer.

I send them a check every year and tell them they can do what they want with it, Wooten said.

They gave me an opportunity.

Theres no way I would have been able to go to college without a scholarship.

So Wooten spends his days in retirement rooting for the Buffaloes and for the Dodgers.

What Im hearing With Denver (5-3) playing a big game Sunday at Baltimore (5-3), outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper vows to be ready.

I love the big-game atmosphere, said Cooper, second on the Broncos with 5.5 sacks.

But I love the game even more if that makes sense.

Just the game of football.

As soon as they kick the ball off, all that (hype about the game) goes black for me.

CBSs top announcing team of Jim Nantz on play-by-play and Tony Romo as analyst will handle Denvers game against the Ravens.

Nantz, who has two young children, announced last year his intention to spend more time with his family and step away from doing college basketball after handling 32 straight Final Fours through 2023.

People treat it like I retired, said Nantz, who still does golf in addition to the NFL for CBS.

Im still working over 40 weeks a year.

What Im seeing Broncos safety Brandon Jones brought up one aspect of the game for which Ravens star quarterback Lamar Jackson doesnt get enough credit.

Hes one of the best quarterbacks in the league in reading defenses, Jones said.

A lot of people discount that because he can move with his feet and throw a good ball but being able to read a defense, thats hard to do.

Jackson does have two MVP awards, having won in 2019 and 2023, and is a leading candidate to become the seventh player to have won three or more.

Broncos tight end Adam Trautman and fullback Michael Burton are both known for watching a lot of film.

That includes both each week watching footage from around the NFL of players at their positions.

I kind of do my league-wide study and I have about five or six teams I like to watch whether its scheme or players, Trautman said.

Teams Trautman watches a lot include Baltimore, which features three-time Pro Bowl selection Mark Andrews, and San Francisco, which has future Pro Football Hall of Famer George Kittle..

This article has been shared from the original article on gazette, here is the link to the original article.