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 ...

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

Indiana Hoosiers football The Indiana Hoosiers football program represents Indiana University Bloomington in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football and in the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers have played their home games at Memorial Stadium since 1960 ...

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Caro ...

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.atabase on-line Groomes played halfback on the Trenton Central High School football team. He was also a competitor in track and field and set the New Jersey high school records in the high jump and the broad jump. In 1954, Groomes' younger brother, Ronald Groomes, was the first African-American to enroll in the New Jersey State Police Academy.

Indiana University

Groomes enrolled at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

in 1944 where he played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

and was also a member of the track and field team, specializing in the high jump. He set an Indiana freshman record in the high jump at 6 feet, 4 inches, which record stood until 1959. Groomes was also a member of the

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 ...

team from 1944 to 1947. He was a third-stringer in 1944, but established himself as the team's starting wingback during the 1945 season. Groomes and fellow African-American halfback

George Taliaferro George Taliaferro (January 8, 1927 – October 8, 2018) was a professional American football player who was the first African American drafted by a National Football League (NFL) team. Beginning his football career at Indiana University for the ...

helped lead the 1945 Indiana team to the school's first-ever

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

football championship. In the first game of the 1945 Big Ten Conference schedule, Groomes had a 54-yard touchdown reception in a 13–7 upset over

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Indiana became a leader in integrating college football in the 1940s. The 1947 team included eight African-American players, giving it "more colored gridmen than any other large squad in the country." That year, the Hoosiers upset the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...

7–0, with the key play in the game coming on a pass from Taliaferro to Groomes that gained 63 yards. Groomes also played defensive back, and Indiana coach

Bo McMillin Alvin Nugent "Bo" McMillin (January 12, 1895 – March 31, 1952) was an American football player and coach at the collegiate and professional level. He played college football at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he was a three-tim ...

in 1947 called Groomes "the finest defensive back" in the Big Nine Conference.

Detroit Lions

In 1948, Bo McMillin left Indiana to take over as the head coach and general manager of the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. One of McMillin's first personnel moves was signing Groomes to a contract with the Lions on April 17, 1948. At the time, only one other NFL team, the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

, had an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

player, and Groomes was the first African-American to sign a contract with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. ( Bob Mann signed with the Lions one week later.) During the 1948 season, Groomes wrote a series of articles, "How It Feels To Be A Rookie In The National Football League", for a Detroit newspaper. Groomes made his debut for the Lions on September 22, 1948, in the first game of the 1948 season against the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

in the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a mem ...

. Bob Mann and Groomes both played in the game, becoming the first African-Americans to appear in a game for the Lions. Early in the game, Groomes fumbled a ball inside the Detroit 30-yard line, resulting in a Rams' touchdown. The Rams won the game, 44–7. Groomes suffered a broken wrist during the 1948 season, limiting him to six games. Groomes appeared in three more games for the Lions during the 1949 season. In his career with the Lions, Groomes caught five passes for 51 yards and one touchdown.

Military service

In 1950, Groomes entered the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

. In 1951, private first class Groomes received the American Spirit Honor Medal for excelling at basic training. He played football for the football team from

Bolling Field The origins of the surname Bolling: English: from a nickname for someone with close-cropped hair or a large head, Middle English bolling "pollard", or for a heavy drinker, from Middle English bolling "excessive drinking". German (Bölling): from a ...

in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, for three years from 1951 to 1953.

Coaching career

After being discharged from the military, Groomes was hired in August 1954 as the backfield coach for the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

,

historically black university Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

located in Washington, D.C. In 1955 Groomes was hired as an assistant

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 ...

coach at

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Caro ...

, a

historically black college Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

. In 1955, he also became the head baseball coach at North Carolina A&T. Groomes remained at the school until he retired in 1987. In 31 years as the school's head baseball coach, he compiled a record of 471–224. Groomes also served as a professor and was instrumental in developing the North Carolina A&T's Health, Physical Education, and Recreation department.

Family and death

Groomes and his wife, Juanita Bradley, had three daughters. Melita Rene was born in Philadelphia in May 1952, Deborah Lynn was born March 1955, and Glenna Marie was born February 1959. In September 1997, Groomes died at age 70 at the Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro. The causes of death were listed as renal failure and cardiac arrest.Death Record for Melvin Harold Groomes, born March 6, 1927, in New Jersey, died September 11, 2009, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Death Collection, 1908-2004 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Groomes, Mel 1927 births 1997 deaths American football halfbacks Deaths from kidney failure Detroit Lions players Indiana Hoosiers football players Howard Bison football coaches North Carolina A&T Aggies baseball coaches North Carolina A&T Aggies football coaches Trenton Central High School alumni Players of American football from Trenton, New Jersey Players of American football from Greensboro, North Carolina African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football Indiana Hoosiers track and field United States Air Force airmen American military sports players 20th-century African-American sportspeople

Early years and family

Indiana University

Detroit Lions

Military service

Coaching career

Family and death

References

External links