Eddie Macon #41

Eddie Macon was a pioneer in football as the first African American player at Pacific and the first to play in the Sun Bowl. He helped the Tigers achieve an undefeated season and a No. 10 national ranking in 1949, led Pacific in total points for three straight seasons, returned a punt 100 yards for a touchdown against Boston University in 1950, and averaged 18.9 yards per punt return in college, one of the best marks in NCAA history. While playing for Pacific, he endured the racism prevalent in the country at the time with dignity and grace. When Pacific traveled to play LSU in 1950, he was first told he could play, but upon arrival in Louisiana he learned otherwise. Pacific’s coaches removed him from the team hotel and took him to a black church, and he spent the night at the home of a black funeral director. The next day in New Orleans, three restaurants refused to seat Pacific’s traveling party because of his presence until one establishment allowed the group to eat in a banquet room if Macon used the back entrance and took the freight elevator. Macon was selected in the second round of the 1952 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. After two seasons, he left the Bears in 1954 to play for his old college coach Larry Siemering and alongside Eddie LeBaron with the Calgary Stampeders, a move that so angered George Halas that he sued Macon and blackballed him from the league. As a result, the Bears did nothing for decades to honor him as their first African American player. After spending two years out of football working as a longshoreman, he joined the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1957 for three seasons. In 1960, during the inaugural season of the Oakland Raiders in the American Football League, he was converted to defensive back and earned All-AFL honors while tying for second in the league with nine interceptions. Number 41 was officially retired by Pacific in April 2008.

Stockton, California · United States