Arthur Ray Perkins (born May 1, 1940) was an

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 wi ...

fullback who played college football for

North Texas State The University of North Texas (UNT) is a Public university, public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private Normal school, teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 y ...

and professional football for the Los Angeles Rams (1962–1963),

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fie ...

(1964–1966), and Edmonton Eskimos (1967–1969).

Early years

A native of

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

, he attended Dunbar High School in that city. He played football, basketball, baseball, and competed in the shot put at Dunbar High. He then played college football at North Texas State in

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...

. In 1958, Perkins and Billy Christie became the first African-American athletes to integrate North Texas State on four-year athletic scholarships. He was known by the nickname "Pearly".

Professional football

He was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams with the 44th pick in the

1962 NFL Draft The 1962 National Football League draft was held on December 4, 1961 at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. The Washington Redskins used the first overall pick of the draft to select running back Ernie Davis, then subsequently traded him ...

. He played for the Rams during the 1962 and 1963 sesons, appearing in 26 NFL games. In his second year with the Rams, he was used principally as a blocking back. He later played in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1964–1966), and Edmonton Eskimos (1967–1969). He appeared in 74 CFL games, tallying 2,961 yards, 1,386 receiving yards, and scoring 29 touchdowns. He was known as an excellent receiver who rarely missed a pass, catching 18 of 18 one year and 37 of 37 another.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Art 1940 births Living people American football fullbacks Los Angeles Rams players North Texas Mean Green football players Players of American football from Fort Worth, Texas