BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " CHARLIE SMITH " WAS A FOOTBALL PLAYER WHO WAS A TACKLE AND WAS ONE OF THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICANS TO PLAY PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK HEROES "

 BLACK         SOCIAL         HISTORY                                                                                                                            Charlie Smith (tackle)

Charlie Smith

Place of birth:	Lansing, Michigan, United States
Date of death:	Unknown
Career information
Position(s):	Tackle
College:	Michigan Agricultural
Organizations
As player:
1915	Canton Bulldogs
Career highlights and awards
Ohio League champion (1915)

Gideon "Charlie" Smith was an American football player. He was a tackle, who played just one game for the Canton Bulldogs of the Ohio League, becoming one of the first African-Americans to play professional football. He played for the Bulldogs as a late fourth-quarter substitute on November 28, 1915 against their rivials, the Massillon Tigers. During that game he made a game-saving fumble recovery that preserved a 6-0 Canton victory over the Tigers for the "state championship." Smith was the last African-American to play professional football exclusively prior to the formation of the National Football League.^[1]

Prior to playing pro football, Smith played college football for Michigan Agricultural College (now called Michigan State University). In 1913, Spartans coach John Macklin allowed Smith to become the school's first black football player. Smith is thought to be the second black to play major-college football (Minnesota's Bobby Marshall was the first, in 1904).