Pervis R. Atkins Jr. (November 24, 1935 – December 22, 2017) was an

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 wi ...

player.

Early years

Atkins was born in Ruston, Louisiana, and raised in Oakland, California. He graduated from

Oakland Technical High School Oakland Technical High School, known locally as Oakland Tech or simply "Tech", is a public high school in Oakland, California, United States, and is operated under the jurisdiction of the Oakland Unified School District. It is one of six compre ...

in 1953.

College football

After attending Santa Ana Junior College, he played college football at

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...

, where he was a halfback, flanker, and placekicker. In 1959, he became the first of four straight

players to lead the nation in rushing yardage with 130 carries for 971 yards. He was the first New Mexico State University football player to be named to the Associated Press All-America first team. In 1959, Atkins led the nation in yards per carry (7.5), total points (107), and yards per punt return (17.7). As of December 2017, he still held New Mexico State University's records for yards per carry for a career (8.1), punt return average for a career (15.1), and punt return average for a season (21. 8).

Professional football

He played professionally in the American Football League for the Oakland Raiders in 1965 and 1966. He had previously played for the Los Angeles Rams and

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 ...

. On April 30, 2009, Atkins was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Show business

Also an actor and producer, Atkins appeared in the 1974 feature film '' The Longest Yard'', the made-for-TV movie ''The Desperate Miles'', and the 1976 pilot for the TV series '' Delvecchio'', as well as a guest-starring role in an episode of ''

The Six Million Dollar Man ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is re ...

''. He resided in Los Angeles until his death.

Death

On December 22, 2017, Atkins died in the Los Angeles area. He had been in an assisted-living facility and had suffered from dementia. He was 82 years old.

References