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 Saint Louis School, located in the neighborhood of Kaimuki in Honolulu, Hawaii, is a historic Roman Catholic college preparatory school for boys. It was founded in 1846 to serve Catholics in the former Kingdom of Hawaii. Located within the Roman ...

) 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 The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. 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 Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

by twenty years. He was elected into the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

Athletic Hall of Fame in 1974.

College career

Achiu was a standout three-sport athlete (football, baseball, and track) at the

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. He was primarily used as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

and

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