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Art Shell is named the head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders.
1989 (Oct 3)
Art Shell, former lineman for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) and a member of the Professional Football's Hall of Fame was named head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders. The appointment made Shell, age forty-two, the first Black head coach in the NFL since Fritz Pollard was a player-coach for the Hammond (Indiana) Pros in 1923-25. Shell's selection came just one day before the fifteenth anniversary of the appointment of Frank Robinson as the first Black manager in major league baseball. Robinson was first hired by the Cleveland Indians. The first Black head coach in professional basketball, which has had more Blacks in this position than any other professional sport, was Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics, who served in 1966-67. Shell called his appointment "an historic event," but did not believe that "the color of my skin entered into the decision."
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.