Gregory Donald Pruitt (born August 18, 1951) is a former

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 ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

in the

National Football League 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 ...

(NFL) from 1973 through 1984. He was selected to five

Pro Bowls 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 ...

, four as a member of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

and one as a member of the

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

, the last one as a

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

. He was also part of the Raiders'

Super Bowl XVIII Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion and defending Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference ( ...

winning team, beating the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

College career

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

offensive line coach Bill Michael liked to recruit players from B.C. Elmore High School, where he recruited Pruitt. Pruitt was an All-American at the University of Oklahoma in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

and

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, and was also named All-Big 8 in 1971 and 1972. He ranks third among Sooners in career all-purpose yards. Pruitt gained 3,122 rushing yards, 491 receiving yards, 139 yards on punt returns and 679 yards returning kickoffs. In total, he scored 41 career touchdowns as a Sooner. He came in second in

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

voting in 1972, and third in 1971.2072 Heisman Trophy Voting
, Sports Reference LLC, accessed May 10, 2013.
, Sports Reference LLC, accessed May 10, 2013. An African-American, Pruitt was one of the first Black Sooners players to achieve All-American status. He established himself as Oklahoma’s best player during a time when other Southern Universities had not fully desegregated their Football teams. However, the Big Eight conference (which Oklahoma was a part of) established itself as the best collegiate football conference in the country by the start of the 1970s: each teamwas fully integrated, and much of their success owed largely to their Black Players. Pruitt’s performance against

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

schools

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

and

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

in the

and 1972 Sugar Bowls, respectively, helped accelerate each team’s integration expanding their recruitment of Black players.

NFL career

Despite his stellar college career, concerns about his lack of size (he entered the draft at just 177 pounds) led to him not being drafted until Cleveland selected him with the 30th pick of the second round. Pruitt played his first nine seasons in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns, leading the team in rushing five times and recording three 1,000 yard seasons. Shortly before the 1982 season, Pruitt was traded to the Los Angeles Raiders for an 11th round draft pick. He played his final three NFL seasons with the Raiders, used mainly as a

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

. In 1983, he led the league in punt returns (58), punt return yards (666, an NFL record), punt return touchdowns (1), and longest punt return (97 yards) as the team went on to win an NFL championship in

. Pruitt finished his career with 5,672 rushing yards, 3,069 receiving yards, 47 total touchdowns, and 13,262 all-purpose yards. In 1979, Pruitt won

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's Superstars, an all-around sports competition that pits elite athletes from different sports against one another in a series of athletic events resembling a

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

Legacy

In 1999, he was inducted to the

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 ...

. The "Greg Pruitt rule" established tear-away jerseys as illegal.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pruitt, Greg Living people 1951 births All-American college football players American Conference Pro Bowl players American football running backs Cleveland Browns players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Los Angeles Raiders players Oklahoma Sooners football players Players of American football from Houston Sportspeople from Shaker Heights, Ohio