Sidney Blanks (April 29, 1941 – December 12, 2021) was an American football player and the first-ever African American football player to play in the Lone Star Conference.

College career

A halfback, Blanks played college football at

Texas A&I University Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

. Blanks was an All-American member of the Texas A&I Javelinas from 1960 to 1963. He was inducted into the Texas A&I Hall of Fame in 1981. In 2002 he was inducted into the

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the southwestern United States, with schools in T ...

Hall of Fame. Recruited by College Football Hall of Fame coach

Gil Steinke Gilbert Erwin Steinke (May 3, 1919 – May 10, 1995) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach of at Texas A&I University—now known as Texas A&M University–Kingsville—from 1954 to 1976 after having pla ...

in 1960, Blanks was the first African American to play in the Lone Star Conference. He was also the first African American to receive a football scholarship at an integrated school in the state of Texas.

Professional career

He played professionally in the American Football League for the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

from

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

through

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

. He also played for the Boston Patriots of the AFL in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, and the Patriots of the NFL in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

. Blanks was an AFL All-Star in

Personal life and death

To honor a “hero, legend and trailblazer,” the city of Del Rio named a park after Blanks near San Felipe Creek in 2015. Blanks' son,

Lance A lance is a spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier (lancer). In ancient and medieval warfare, it evolved into the leading weapon in cavalry charges, and was unsuited for throwing or for repeated thrusting, unlike s ...

, is an analyst for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

, former NBA Executive and retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 1990 NBA draft. His granddaughter, Riley Blanks was a “four-star recruit” for the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

tennis team and is the Founder of Woke Beauty. He died in

Webster, Texas Webster is a city in the U.S. state of Texas located in Harris County, within the Houston–The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan area. Its population was 12,499 at the 2020 U.S. census History The community was founded in 1879 by James W. ...

, on December 12, 2021, at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanks, Sid 1941 births 2021 deaths People from Del Rio, Texas Texas A&M–Kingsville Javelinas football players Boston Patriots players Houston Oilers players American Football League All-Star players American Football League players

College career

Professional career

Personal life and death

See also

References