Bobby Mitchell
Football
 Hot Springs
 

Inducted into Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983 All-NFL four times and played in four Pro Bowl Games Played for Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins Scored 91 touchdowns, caught 521 passes and had eight kick-return TD's.

Mitchell was born June 6, 1935, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. At Hot Springs ' Langston High School, he was a fine basketball player, terrific in football and track and good enough in baseball to be offered a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. But Bobby desired an education first and selected Illinois from a host of schools that offered him scholarships. Bobby had a particularly good sophomore year with the Illins. The first time he handled the football, he raced 64 yards for a touchdown against Michigan. For the day, he had 173 yards on just 10 carries. That year, he averaged a record 8.6 yards per rush. Mitchell was even more successful in track, setting a world record (one that lasted only six days) with a 7.7 mark in the 70-yard indoor low hurdles. He ran the 100-yard dash In 9.7 and broad jumped 24 feet, 3 inches. In the Big Ten championships, he scored 13 points to pace Illinois to the title. Mitchell was blessed with three natural talents — exceptional speed, uncanny faking ability and balance — that were to vault him into pro football stardom. Yet in spite of these obvious abilities, the 6-0, 195-pounder was not drafted until the seventh round in 195B. Somehow, the word had gotten around that Mitchell suffered from "a bad case of fumble-itis". As the 1958 draft progressed and Bobby remained undrafted, Paul Brown , the Cleveland coach-general manager, pondered the situation. "He looked good to us," Brown recalled. He had tremendous speed, the ability to shift his weight without faltering and he could stop and start at full speed. He also noticed that many of his fumbles were not really his fault. He decided to take a chance. It was really one of the best moves we ever made." Bobby himself wasn't sure he wanted to play pro football. Even though the 1960 Olympics were still two years away, he had his sights set on competing on the American team. But he had just married his college sweetheart, Gwen, and with new family responsibilities, he decided he better listen to what the Browns had to say. Mitchell felt he was too small for a pro halfback and he told the Browns' representative, Paul Bixler, that, if he signed, it would have to be with the understanding that he was to play flanker. Bixler assured Bobby that, since the resident flanker, Ray Renfro, was ailing, he would have ample opportunity to play that position. But Renfro bounced back more quickly than expected and Bobby found himself back at halfback, where Coach Paul Brown felt he would be an ideal running mate for Jim Brown. The coach did recognize Mitchell's potential skills as a pass catcher but he felt that, from a halfback spot, Bobby could utilize his ball-carrying abilities more completely. During his tour years in Cleveland, Bobby proved his exceptional versatility many times over. As a Brown, he accounted for 2297 yards rushing, 1463 yards receiving, 607 yards on punt returns and 1550 yards on kickoff returns. He also scored 38 touchdowns. Still, Paul Brown was committed to the idea of another big back to pair with Jim Brown and he longed for a chance to acquire Ernie Davis, who like Jim Brown was a collegiate superstar from Syracuse. Davis was a cinch to be the first pick in the 1962 draft but that first choice was owned by the Redskins, who had a miserable 1-12-1 record in 1961. The Redskins had another distinction that of being the only NFL team without a African American player on its roster. Even though the color barrier had been permanently broken in pro football in 1946 and, one by one, all other clubs had added black players to their teams, Washington owner George Preston Marshall resolutely held out.