James C. Caroline (January 17, 1933 – November 17, 2017) was an American professional football player 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 ...

(NFL) and

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). He played college football at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

where he was a consensus All-American in 1953. After a year in the CFL with the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

and

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...

, Caroline played for ten seasons in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Playing career

Caroline played college football at the Illinois,

lettering Lettering is an umbrella term that covers the art of drawing letters, instead of simply writing them. Lettering is considered an art form, where each letter in a phrase or quote acts as an illustration. Each letter is created with attention to de ...

in 1953 and 1954. A halfback, Caroline led the nation in rushing with 1256 yards in 1953 as a sophomore, and was named All-American. The next year, he was ruled ineligible to play due to academic reasons, so instead of returning to college his senior year, Caroline chose to play

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

. He initially signed with the

for $15,000 and played with them through September. They then stunned the league when he was placed on waivers; head coach Bill Swiacki, claimed he wasn’t good enough as a defensive back. The only team that could afford him was the division champion

. Caroline rushed for 575 yards on the season. He played in the 1955 Grey Cup game. Following that year, Caroline earned a physical education degree from

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the Un ...

and was drafted by the Chicago Bears with the 82nd overall pick in the 1956 NFL Draft . Beginning in 1956, Caroline had a ten-year career with the Bears. Playing primarily defensive back, Caroline finished his career with 24

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

s and six total

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s—two rushing, one receiving, one fumble recovery, and two on interceptions. Caroline intercepted Johnny Unitas's first NFL career pass attempt and returned it for a touchdown. He was a two-way player for the Bears' 1956 Western Conference champions and a DB on the 1963 NFL Championship team.

Honors and later life

After his professional football career, Caroline moved to

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the 38th-most populous municipality in Illinois. It ...

coached the Urbana High School football team in 1982 and taught physical education at Urbana Middle School. Caroline was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1980. He was portrayed by actor

Bernie Casey Bernard Terry Casey (June 8, 1939 – September 19, 2017) was an American actor, poet and professional American football player. Early life Casey was born in Wyco, West Virginia, the son of Flossie (Coleman) and Frank Leslie Casey. He graduated ...

in the 1971 biopic ''

Brian's Song ''Brian's Song'' is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the life of Brian Piccolo (James Caan), a Chicago Bears football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro in 1965, told through his friendship with teammate Gale Sayer ...

''. His grandson Jordan Caroline is a basketball player at

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

. J.C. Caroline died in 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caroline, J. C. 1933 births 2017 deaths American football defensive backs American football halfbacks Chicago Bears players Illinois Fighting Illini football players Montreal Alouettes players Toronto Argonauts players High school football coaches in Illinois All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Western Conference Pro Bowl players Florida A&M University alumni People from Warrenton, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people

Playing career

Honors and later life

See also

References

External links