Lester McClain (born September 17, 1949) is a former American football wide receiver and the first African American to play at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

. He joined the Volunteers in 1967, and played for them between 1968 and 1970 (freshmen were ineligible to play varsity prior to the 1970s). He was drafted by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

in the 9th round (220th overall) of the

1971 NFL Draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

, but was cut prior to the season. He attended

Antioch High School Antioch High School is a public high school located in Antioch, California, United States. It is located at 700 West 18th Street between G and L streets. It is a comprehensive high school for grades 9-12. There are about 120 teachers, and 20 mai ...

Antioch, Tennessee Antioch is a neighborhood of Nashville located approximately 12 miles southeast of Downtown Nashville. It is served by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. History The community known as Antioch began at the converge ...

. During his three seasons at Tennessee, he caught 70 passes for 1,003 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also rushed 30 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns, and returned eight kickoffs for 168 yards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McClain, Lester 1949 births Living people Players of American football from Nashville, Tennessee Tennessee Volunteers football players African-American players of American football American football wide receivers 21st-century African-American people

See also

References