David A. Webster Jr. (July 23, 1937 – June 23, 2006) in

Atlanta, Texas Atlanta is a city in Cass County, northeastern Texas, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. census, the city had a population of 5,675, which decreased to 5,433 in 2020. History Atlanta was established in 1872 with the building of the Texas ...

, was a 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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

who played two seasons for that

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

Dallas Texans Dallas Texans may refer to: American football *Dallas Texans (NFL), 1952 team in the National Football League *Dallas Texans (AFL), 1960–1962 team that is now the Kansas City Chiefs * Dallas Texans (arena), 1990–1993 Arena Football League team ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

–

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

. He was an

All-AFL ''The Sporting News'' published an American Football League All-League Team, often referred to as All-AFL, for each season played by the American Football League (AFL), 1960 through 1969. From 1960 through 1966, the All-League team was selected by ...

selection in 1961.

Early years

Webster was the son of David A. Webster Sr. and Eunice (Harper) Webster. He lived in

, until he was 13 years old, when he moved to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

with his mother. He was educated in the

Atlanta Public Schools Atlanta Public Schools (APS) is a school district based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is run by the Atlanta Board of Education with superintendent Dr. Lisa Herring. The system has an active enrollment of 54,956 students, attending a t ...

, Holy Cross Lutheran schools and

Jack Yates High School Jack Yates Senior High School is a public high school located at 3650 Alabama Street, very near Texas Southern University, in the historic Third Ward in Houston, Texas, United States. Yates High School handles grades nine through twelve and is par ...

. He attended Yates High School in Houston and graduated as the

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

of his class. He also helped his Yates team to a city championship and a state championship in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

as the starting

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

College career

After Yates, Webster attended

Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a public historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two land-grant universities and the second oldest public institution of higher learnin ...

on an academic

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

, where he played tennis and

for

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

coach

Billy Nicks William James Nicks (August 2, 1905 – November 2, 1999) was an American college football player and coach. He coached at Historically Black colleges and universities, historically black colleges in the Southern United States from 1930 to 1965. N ...

. During his tenure at

, Webster led the football team to the 1958

Black college football national championship The black college football national championship is a national championship honor that, since 1920, has been regularly bestowed upon the best football teams among historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) within the United States. Histo ...

and won All-SWAC (

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United States. It participates in t ...

) honors in 1958 and 1959. He was also an All-American quarterback in 1958. In 1959, he was co-champion of the SWAC tennis doubles alongside Clifton Johnson. During this time in college, he was a member of the Prairie View Panthers Club.

AFL career

In 1960, "Can Head", as he came to be known by close friends and teammates, was drafted to play football for the

under

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

owner

Lamar Hunt Lamar Hunt (August 2, 1932 – December 13, 2006) was an American businessman most notable for his promotion of American football, soccer, and tennis in the United States. He was the principal founder of the American Football League (AFL) and ...

and coach

Hank Stram Henry Louis Stram (; January 3, 1923 – July 4, 2005) was an American football coach. He is best known for his 15-year tenure with the Dallas Texans / Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (N ...

. The Dallas Texans later became the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

in 1963 when the franchise moved from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. Even though Webster was an All-American quarterback in college, he played

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

because blacks were not allowed to play the quarterback position in the professional football ranks at that time. He paved the way by overcoming racial injustice and adversity as one of the first blacks to play professional football for the American Football League and he was one of two black players on the Texans/Chiefs (in those days, there was a "two blacks per team" quota in effect). Despite the circumstances, he led the team in interceptions and became an AFL All-Pro defensive back in 1961. His career came to an abrupt end when his leg was broken in a pre-season game in 1962; the Texans went on to win the AFL championship.

After football

After graduating from

's School of Engineering with a BS in Electrical Engineering in 1962, he worked for the

Bendix Corporation Bendix Corporation is an American manufacturing and engineering company which, during various times in its existence, made automotive brake shoes and systems, vacuum tubes, aircraft brakes, aeronautical hydraulics and electric power systems, av ...

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. In 1971, Webster moved to Michigan to work for

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

. While at Ford, he earned a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

in 1975. In 2001, Webster retired from

and in 2004 he moved back home to Texas from Michigan to become a farmer again.

External links

Prairie View A&M University Sports Hall of Fame
*https://web.archive.org/web/20071201130326/http://www.armchairgm.com/Dave_Webster
Most Defensive Touchdowns in a SeasonLongest Interception Return (All TD's)AFL All-Star and Pro Bowl SelectionKansas City Chiefs Encyclopedia by Mark StallardOutside the Lines By Charles K. Ross
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, David 1937 births 2006 deaths People from Atlanta, Texas American football cornerbacks Prairie View A&M Panthers football players Dallas Texans (AFL) players American Football League All-Star players American Football League All-League players Bendix Corporation people

Early years

College career

AFL career

After football

See also

External links