Irvin "Bo" Roberson (July 23, 1935 – April 15, 2001) was an American track and field athlete and

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 ...

player. At

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

he excelled in basketball, football, and track and field. At the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

in Rome, Italy he won the silver medal in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, a centimeter short of the

Olympic record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games, including: * Archery (list) * Alpine skiing (records recognized only by FIS) * Athletics (list) ...

8.12 m gold medal jump by

Ralph Boston Ralph Harold Boston (born May 9, 1939) is a retired American track athlete who received three Olympic medals and became the first person to break the barrier in the long jump. Early years and education Boston was born in Laurel, Mississippi. ...

. After the Olympics, Roberson had a seven-year Pro Football career as a wide receiver in the

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. ...

with the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

, and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

. He caught three passes for eighty-eight yards in the Bills' 23–0 defeat of the Chargers in the 1965

American Football League Championship Game For its first nine seasons, 1960 through 1968, the American Football League determined its champion via a single playoff game between the winners of its two divisions (although ties in the standings in 1963 (Eastern) and 1968 (Western) necessitat ...

. Roberson led the league in all purpose yards in 1964, and was named to the AFL All-Star Game in 1965. After his NFL career was over, Roberson became the first track and field coach at

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

and later coached track at

Rolling Hills High School Palos Verdes Peninsula High School is a public high school in Rolling Hills Estates, California, United States. History The school was formed in 1991 when Miraleste High School, Palos Verdes High School, and Rolling Hills High School were merge ...

. Roberson is the only person to have an Ivy League degree, a Ph.D., an Olympic medal and a career in the NFL. At the time of his death, he was retired from a position as psychologist with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

References

1935 births 2001 deaths American male long jumpers American football wide receivers Oakland Raiders players Buffalo Bills players Cornell Big Red men's basketball players Cornell Big Red football players Cornell Big Red men's track and field athletes Miami Dolphins players San Diego Chargers players American Football League All-Star players Athletes (track and field) at the 1959 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Sportspeople from Philadelphia Players of American football from Philadelphia African-American players of American football African-American male track and field athletes Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) American Football League players UC Irvine Anteaters track and field coaches American men's basketball players Track and field athletes in the National Football League Track and field athletes from Philadelphia Medalists at the 1959 Pan American Games 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{Widereceiver-1930s-stub

See also

References