Packers' first black player dies at 82
Mann 'never had any problems' in Green Bay from 1950 to 1954
By Mike Vandermause
October 24, 2006
Packers.com
As the first African-American to play for the Green Bay Packers, Bob Mann will go down as a trailblazer in team history.
Mann, who played for the Packers from 1950 to 1954, died Saturday in the Detroit area. He was 82.
Mann was a 5-foot-11, 175-pound end who led the Packers with 50 catches, 696 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in 1951.
Off the field, he built a reputation as a quiet man with an even temper and dry sense of humor.
Art Daley, who covered the Packers for the Green Bay Press-Gazette in the 1950s, remembers when Mann was forced to stay in a different hotel than the team on road trips because of his race.
Daley recalls Mann telling him, "All it is is politics."
One of Daley's favorite stories about Mann involved teammate Dick Afflis, a guard who later became better known as pro wrestler Dick The Bruiser.
According to Daley, the Packers were staying at a Baltimore hotel that didn't allow black guests. After a team meeting, Mann was forced to go to another hotel and was joined by Afflis, his 252-pound teammate.
"They walked out of the hotel together and got outside and called a cab," Daley said. "The cab came up and the driver said, 'I can't take him because he's black.' Afflis grabbed the cab driver by the shirt and he said, 'You take him where he wants to go.'"
Mann was an honorary captain at a 1997 Packers game at Lambeau Field. In an interview with the Press-Gazette at that time, Mann said: "I never had any problems. Everyone treated me well."
According to Daley, hotels in bigger cities and in the South had restrictions based on race at the time, but no such edicts existed in Green Bay.
"He had a lot of fun," Daley said.
Mann was an honorable-mention all-America player on Michigan's national championship team in 1947.
He signed with Detroit after college and along with Melvin Groomes became the Lions' first African-American players in 1948.
Mann led the NFL with 1,014 receiving yards in 1949, and his 66 catches ranked second to the Rams' Tom Fears, who set an NFL record that season with 77 receptions.
The Lions traded Mann to the New York Yanks in 1950 for quarterback Bobby Layne, a future Pro Football Hall of Famer. Mann was released by the Yanks and signed by the Packers.
"He was on the small side, but he was a very nifty and productive wide receiver," Packers historian Lee Remmel said.
Mann said his biggest thrill was being inducted into the Packer Hall of Fame in 1988.
"That was the highlight for me," Mann told the Press-Gazette in 1997. "Coming back for that was my greatest memory, although I had a lot of them as a player as well."
Mann finished his Packers career with 109 catches for 1,629 yards and 17 touchdowns. He was released midway through the 1954 season and retired.
Mann, a native of Newvern, N.C., earned his law degree after retiring from football.
He headed Robert Mann & Associates in Detroit for more than 30 years. His office was located just a few blocks from Ford Field, where the Lions play.
"Bob was a great example to everyone," Pro Football Hall of Famer Lem Barney said in a Lions press release announcing Mann's death.
"He not only was a great football player but a man who gave of himself to the city and the entire community."
Mann is survived by his wife of 50 years, Vera. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Mann 'never had any problems' in Green Bay from 1950 to 1954
By Mike Vandermause
October 24, 2006
Packers.com
As the first African-American to play for the Green Bay Packers, Bob Mann will go down as a trailblazer in team history.
Mann, who played for the Packers from 1950 to 1954, died Saturday in the Detroit area. He was 82.
Mann was a 5-foot-11, 175-pound end who led the Packers with 50 catches, 696 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in 1951.
Off the field, he built a reputation as a quiet man with an even temper and dry sense of humor.
Art Daley, who covered the Packers for the Green Bay Press-Gazette in the 1950s, remembers when Mann was forced to stay in a different hotel than the team on road trips because of his race.
Daley recalls Mann telling him, "All it is is politics."
One of Daley's favorite stories about Mann involved teammate Dick Afflis, a guard who later became better known as pro wrestler Dick The Bruiser.
According to Daley, the Packers were staying at a Baltimore hotel that didn't allow black guests. After a team meeting, Mann was forced to go to another hotel and was joined by Afflis, his 252-pound teammate.
"They walked out of the hotel together and got outside and called a cab," Daley said. "The cab came up and the driver said, 'I can't take him because he's black.' Afflis grabbed the cab driver by the shirt and he said, 'You take him where he wants to go.'"
Mann was an honorary captain at a 1997 Packers game at Lambeau Field. In an interview with the Press-Gazette at that time, Mann said: "I never had any problems. Everyone treated me well."
According to Daley, hotels in bigger cities and in the South had restrictions based on race at the time, but no such edicts existed in Green Bay.
"He had a lot of fun," Daley said.
Mann was an honorable-mention all-America player on Michigan's national championship team in 1947.
He signed with Detroit after college and along with Melvin Groomes became the Lions' first African-American players in 1948.
Mann led the NFL with 1,014 receiving yards in 1949, and his 66 catches ranked second to the Rams' Tom Fears, who set an NFL record that season with 77 receptions.
The Lions traded Mann to the New York Yanks in 1950 for quarterback Bobby Layne, a future Pro Football Hall of Famer. Mann was released by the Yanks and signed by the Packers.
"He was on the small side, but he was a very nifty and productive wide receiver," Packers historian Lee Remmel said.
Mann said his biggest thrill was being inducted into the Packer Hall of Fame in 1988.
"That was the highlight for me," Mann told the Press-Gazette in 1997. "Coming back for that was my greatest memory, although I had a lot of them as a player as well."
Mann finished his Packers career with 109 catches for 1,629 yards and 17 touchdowns. He was released midway through the 1954 season and retired.
Mann, a native of Newvern, N.C., earned his law degree after retiring from football.
He headed Robert Mann & Associates in Detroit for more than 30 years. His office was located just a few blocks from Ford Field, where the Lions play.
"Bob was a great example to everyone," Pro Football Hall of Famer Lem Barney said in a Lions press release announcing Mann's death.
"He not only was a great football player but a man who gave of himself to the city and the entire community."
Mann is survived by his wife of 50 years, Vera. Funeral arrangements are pending.
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