NFL "Wildcats" From Wiley College: Extinct or What? (Part Five)

Did anyone tell you that Melvin Tolson also coached football at Wiley College, in Marshall, Texas? In the movie "The Great Debaters"  Denzel Washington played the role of Melvin Tolson. 

The research shows that same great Tolson also coached the football team at Wiley College which later in history won five championships.  Yet, there is no football team at Wiley College.

Let's move on...

Here is the list of NFL players from Wiley College:

Iglehart, Floyd (1958 - 1958) 
Kinney, George (1965 - 1965) 
Lewis, Mike (1971 - 1980) 
Thomas, Lee (1971 - 1973) 
Winston, Kelton (1967 - 1968) 

Mike Lewis had the longest career.  The details are:

Michael Henry Lewis
Position:DE/DT
Height: 6' 3'' Weight: 255
Born: 7/14/1949, in Houston, TX, USA
High School: Jack Yates (Houston, TX)
College: Wiley College, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

Again, those who have studied football for many years report that integration stunted the growth of football programs in some Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

In fact, in Texas, there are only two surviving teams at HBCUs:  Prairie View University (PV) and Texas Southern University (TSU). 

In other articles in this series, it was discovered that there are definitely negative slopes for these two schools, PV and TSU.  In other words, there is a dramatic decrease in the talent pool available to these colleges. 

There is a decrease in the number of Wiley College players in the NFL.  Oh well, let's not beat around the bush:  It looks like there are no Wiley College players entering the NFL because there is no football program there!

Isn't it ironic that a great man named Tolson coached a historical and winning debate team.  He also, no doubt, put as much in his football coaching. Years later there seems to be no trace of football lineage.

Integration may have interrupted the potential and quality of the Wiley debate team.  Clearly, it did not ameliorate, but deteriorated the team.

Wiley College is the same school that won five football championships at one time in history. Now we see a total of five Wiley College "Wildcats" who were in the NFL.

Unless this B/R scribe has overlooked some data, it seems that for more than 29 years, something is amiss.

Well, the movie drew attention Wiley College's way, and Denzel Washington donated about 1 million dollars to get the debate team started, again.  It looks like someone needs to send a donation to Wiley College for the reinstatement of its football team. 

After all, in earlier days, Tolson put his energy into the development of the football program.  So, if we are going to honor a man's memory by producing a movie about his life, let's honor the complete vision of that man. 

Great schools usually have great football teams.  From that precept, we may,then, get great NFL players who are wildcats.

For about 43 years the HBCUs in Texas were grabbing championships like babies grab candy.

Robert Fink's quote makes it plain:

Evidence of the success of the black Texas schools is the fact that during the period from 1921 to 1964, the state's black colleges won twelve national championships. Texas College and Texas Southern University both won one championship, while Wiley College and Prairie View A&M won five championships each.

 See video