Alfred Donnell Jenkins (born January 25, 1952) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver who played for the

Birmingham Americans The Birmingham Americans were a professional American football team located in Birmingham, Alabama. They were members of the four-team Central Division of the World Football League (WFL). The Americans, founded in late December 1973, played in t ...

in 1974 and nine seasons for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

from 1975 through 1983. Jenkins was selected to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

during the 1980 and 1981 seasons and is considered the most successful

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

player from the short-lived

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest t ...

. Jenkins played college football at Atlanta's

Morris Brown College Morris Brown College (MBC) is a private Methodist historically black liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded January 5, 1881, Morris Brown is the first educational institution in Georgia to be owned and operated entirely by African Ame ...

and went undrafted in the

1974 NFL Draft The 1974 NFL draft took place at the Americana Hotel in New York City, New York, on January 29–30, 1974. Each of the 26 NFL teams were granted 17 selections for a total of 442 picks. Many experts consider the 1974 Pittsburgh Steelers to have h ...

. He received a tryout and signed with the WFL's

and led them to the WFL's only championship that season. The WFL folded midway through the following season and Jenkins signed with the Falcons and became a mainstay at wide receiver, starting every game in each of his NFL seasons (with the exception of 1978, in which he played only one game before suffering a broken collarbone). Jenkins led the NFL in receiving yards (1,358) and receiving touchdowns (13) in the 1981 season.https://www.ajc.com/sports/football/whatever-happened-alfred-jenkins/rr09H3OGbkkFXLEbEspwVI/

References

1952 births Living people St. Augustine High School (New Orleans) alumni American football wide receivers Morris Brown Wolverines football players Atlanta Falcons players Birmingham Americans players National Conference Pro Bowl players Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Hogansville, Georgia {{Widereceiver-1950s-stub