Walter Tin Kit "Sneeze" Achiu (
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
: 徐天杰) (August 3, 1902March 21, 1989) was an American football player of Chinese descent. He was a graduate of The Kamehameha Schools and Saint Louis College (now
Saint Louis School) in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Achiu is most well known for being the first person of
East Asian
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea a ...
descent to play in the
National Football League.
[ He was one of the first people of a minority to play in any major American professional sports league, preceding Jackie Robinson's entry to Major League Baseball by twenty years.
He was elected into the University of Dayton Athletic Hall of Fame in 1974.][
]
College career
Achiu was a standout three-sport athlete (football, baseball, and track) at the University of Dayton from 1922–1927.
Professional career
Achiu played for the now-defunct Dayton Triangles
The Dayton Triangles were an original franchise of the American Professional Football Association (now the National Football League (NFL)) in 1920. The Triangles were based in Dayton, Ohio, and took their nickname from their home field, Triangl ...
of the NFL in 1927 and 1928.defensive back
In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...
. He played in eleven games with the Triangles, starting five.
Achiu later became a well-known professional wrestler.
References
External links
*
University of Dayton Athletic Hall of Fame Members
{{DEFAULTSORT:Achiu, Sneeze
Dayton Flyers football players
Dayton Triangles players
1902 births
1989 deaths
Players of American football from Honolulu
American sportspeople of Chinese descent
Hawaii people of Chinese descent