From the cotton fields surrounding Clarksdale, Mississippi, to football sidelines on Chicago’s South Side, Roy Curry left an impression. First as one of the top college quarterbacks during his day and then as coach at Robeson High School.
Summing up his career and life well-lived would be – Nice Guys Finish First.
A record of 240-104 from 1969 to 2000, put him in the Illinois Coaches Hall of Fame. Generous with his time and wealth of knowledge, Curry still receives calls from coaches, who have sought counsel on game strategy and handling teenage problems for over five decades.
The spry 80-year old former coach, dissecting the game from his living room couch is ritual Saturday, Sunday afternoons and evenings where he digests two-three games. Conversation is a distraction so viewing alone is preferred.
Officially retired in 2000, his stride remains steady and he’s still a few plays ahead. Today he lives with Carolyn, his wife of 53 years, in the Calumet Heights neighborhood on the South Side. An endearing smile and engaging amiable southern demeanor radiate warmth to friends and strangers. Dapperly dressed and a chiseled 195 pounds, Curry looks like he could still get behind center or model menswear.
Known among his peers as a master of the craft, there’s still a chapter in his story that’s incomplete.
Could Curry have been the National Football League’s first black quarterback?
Navigating his way from the wrong side of winding dirt roads is a testament to relentless will and resilient makeup.
Early in the evening of Nov. 9, 1939, the midwife who delivered Roy Curry stepped out from the house and announced, ‘He’s here! He’s here!’ to his family and dozens of others working the fields, on the Moorhead Plantation.
The youngest of four sisters and one brother, Curry was born to Lawrence and River Lee, who had a house in the hamlet of 500-plus people in Lula, MS. Lawrence was a sharecropper and his wife taught first through eighth grades, at a one-room school in Clarksdale.
“We lived a mile away from everyone,” said Curry. “The landowner was a mean guy and there was no future there. We had to go!”
Just before he started kindergarten, the family piled their belongings into a truck, left in the middle of the night and drove 20 miles south on Highway 61 to Clarksdale.
“Compared to Lula, it was like going to a big city,” said Curry.
The segregated South presented the burden of unequal opportunities.
“It was very rough growing up then,” he said. “There were a lot of places you couldn’t go unless you were cooking, cleaning or cutting the yard at their home. There was a curfew at 11 p.m. It was difficult to see the way people were treated. You had to act a certain way and know your place.”
However, the extended black community fostered a nurturing environment for children.
“All my friends lived on the 500 block of Grant Street or two minutes away,” he said. “There was Ben Bradley, Joe Hawkins and a lot of kids. We’d all go to Myrtle Hall Elementary School and play basketball, football, baseball and pitch horseshoes. I have a lot of great memories.”
A benevolent family, work ethic and love of people instilled a sense of character and direction.
“I had fantastic parents and siblings,” said Curry. “I was a good kid and stayed involved in sports. My mom always stressed the importance of education.”
“My dad was a sharecropper, but in the winter and spring he was a gardener for black families all over Clarksdale,” said Curry. “It was a big help for us financially.
“We had tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, spinach, cabbage, squash, watermelon and about ten to fifteen chickens. Those chickens were great for dinner!
“A few families had hogs; in the winter they would have a slaughter and share it with everyone. Sometimes we’d go out to Lula and help with a hog slaughter.”
Beginning at age five to fifteen, Curry worked the area fields, which included the 4,000-acre Hopson Plantation, Stovall Plantation and the 17,000-acre King & Anderson spread.
Arriving on the corner of Fourth Street at 5:30 a.m., Curry and scores of other African Americans hopped onto one of the ten trucks that drove out to plantations via Highway 61, Highway 49 and on unpaved roads surrounding Clarksdale. Stifling humidity and heat often caused people to pass out periodically from a workday that ended at 5 p.m.
Production of cotton was the economic engine which drove the Mississippi Delta and the Clarksdale region.
Chopping cotton paid 30 cents an hour and began in mid-May when school got out. Picking cotton was four dollars for 100 pounds and began in August and concluded mid-October.
“I was smaller and the cotton came up to my chest,” said Curry. “It was hot and hard to get any air. From age ten-fifteen, we didn’t start school until mid-October. When I started football, we’d work from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then hitch a ride to practice. Most guys on the team had the same schedule.”
Sunday mornings were spent at Methodist Friendship AME Church. Afterward, Curry would get a quarter for a movie at the Savoy Theatre, which cost a dime, leaving enough for popcorn and candy. Sunday afternoons were designated for a duel of cowboys from adjacent blocks battling each other in a replica of the movies.
As a youth, he entertained thoughts of becoming a doctor.
“Dr. Gibson lived two houses down from us on the corner,” he said. “I played a lot with his son and they always had a lot of toys. When we’d go to the store, he always had money. I had a great time over there.”
Boarding the train with his mother and nephew, they visited his sister in Chicago when he was nine.
“I didn’t want to go back home, I loved it so much,” he said. “I went to the movies and we went swimming at 31st Street Beach. In Clarksdale, we swam in ponds and mud holes. You’d go in the water and you’d have snakes and God knows what else on you.
“To see a beach and a body of water with that many people was unbelievable. It seemed like there were more people at the beach than in all of Clarksdale.”
Early in the summer after his freshman year, a plague of mosquitoes propelled Curry to head north.
“I was in the fields chopping cotton. Suddenly, there was a buzz all around me,” he said. “I had mosquitoes all over me; I couldn’t get away from them. I threw down the hoe, ran out of there and hitchhiked home. I told my mom, ‘That’s it! I am not going back to the fields.’”
A few days later, he boarded the Greyhound bus bound for Chicago where he spent the next three summers.
Like so many in the Mississippi Delta during the Great Migration, Curry’s siblings, unable to afford college, moved to Chicago for employment opportunities. Curry’s sister Geraldine left in 1945; Pandora came in 1951; brother Lawrence in 1953; Earline in 1956 and River Lee in 1958.
Working as a bus boy in downtown Chicago and then Rogers Park; on the North Side was a significant increase in pay from three dollars a day he was getting chopping cotton. The city opened up a new world.
“Chicago was fantastic,” said Curry. “We’d work from 5 p.m. until 3 a.m. and then I’d catch the El home to my sister’s place. I was making $15 a night, plus a salary so I was getting over $100 a week.
“I stayed with my sister Earline on 26th and State Street. I went to the movies and had buttered popcorn. There was a place to get Polish sausage on 47th Street next to the El tracks. Beginning in 1954, I spent every summer there. On the weekends, I’d go to the Regal Theatre and sit there all day [from 1 p.m. until 8 p.m.]. There’d be four or five acts and then a movie or stage show. There was nothing like that in Clarksdale.”
Serving as the football team’s water boy for a few years, Curry’s career began one game into his sophomore season when the starter was injured.
Shooting baskets after school on a Tuesday, Higgins High School coach, Isaac Watts, came into the gym, fit Curry with his gear and brought him to practice.
A prodigious right arm, astute mind and leadership were evident from the first game and throughout his playing and coaching careers.
Traveling 32 miles to West Helena, Arkansas and taking a 10-minute ride across the Mississippi River, they came away with a win. Higgins, a school with 150 boys and 30-plus kids on the squad, won three conference titles and lost two games over his three years. Clarksdale, like all the towns across the state, was replete with football fever. Friday nights the town and county mobilized with roughly 2,000 people viewing the action at Higgins and up to 4,000 at Clarksdale High School.
“All the boys in Clarksdale grew up playing football,” said Bobby Franklin, a quarterback in a senior class of 96 students at Clarksdale High School. Attending the University of Mississippi, he played quarterback and defensive back for three years which included their national championship teams in 1959 and 1960. Franklin was MVP of the Rebels’ 21-0 win over LSU in the Orange Bowl. After a career with the Cleveland Browns [1960-1966], he was an assistant with the Dallas Cowboys [1968-1972], Baltimore Colts [1973] and then head coach at Mississippi Northwest Community College in Senatobia from 1981-2005.
“You could say every kid wanted to be like [New York Giants quarterback and Clarksdale native] Charlie Conerly.
“To watch a guy like that on television who was from your hometown was quite a thrill.”
A convoy of 200-plus Higgins’ fans followed the team bus on the road. Operating with free-reign of the offense, Curry put the ball in the air 20-plus times a game against Tupelo, Corinth, Amory, Oxford, Columbus, Starkville and Aberdeen, in the Little Six Conference.
“Coach Watts was the kind of guy you played your heart out for,” said Joseph Gorden, a guard and middle linebacker. “Roy was a great leader and we did everything on offense. Roy was a great scrambler and his passes were always right on the money.
“We earned the reputation as the best team so every game was the game of the year for our opponent.”
The Thig Pen restaurant on Highway 61 near the school offered a respite after games.
“Friday night we’d go to the Thig Pen and eat spaghetti and sweet potatoes and hang out,” said James Allen, who played receiver and defensive end. “After that, we’d go to someone’s house.”
“The games were competitive,” said Curry, who lettered in basketball, track and baseball. “You had teams with guys who had served in Korea and then came back and were playing at age 18 and 19. There were a lot of very talented and tough kids. Every game was a battle.”
Principal Higgins ruled the school like a general. The education environment fostered achievement for the students.
“Mr. Higgins lived behind me,” said Troy Catchings, who graduated in 1960. “He was over six feet, 230 pounds and walked down the hall with a leather strap or paddle. He was intimidating. You better not get caught in the hall or you got disciplined. If you did anything wrong at school, your parents would find out about and it and you got it when you got home. Our teachers were the best and they didn’t take any mess. It seemed like we took first in whatever activity there was. The band was great, the glee club, home economics; we were strong in everything.”
One of the places Curry and his teammates would frequent was Aaron Henry’s drugstore in downtown Clarksdale, on Fourth Street. Henry, who worked for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and became its president in 1959, was actively involved in civil rights for over three decades.
“Some of the guys on the team and I would stop in there,” said Curry. “Mr. Henry had great milk shakes and he enjoyed talking sports. He was a mentor to a lot of people.”
For Curry and his classmates, there were plenty of good times to be had in Clarksdale, which included some of the best music acts in the country.
“We’d have Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Ike Turner and Tina Turner, Bobby Bland and a number of great musicians playing at the high school,” said Curry. “There’d be 500-600 people.”
Saturday night, the action was on Issaquena Avenue and Fourth Street in downtown Clarksdale.
“There were a lot of Jewish stores and other merchants there all the way to the railroad tracks,” said Catchings. “There were juke joints and people rolling dice. People were should-to-shoulder from 4 p.m. until late at night.”
It was quite evident, Curry had the ‘it’ factor on and off the field.
“Roy was a leader,” said John Outlaw, his cousin who is six-years younger and went on to Jackson State and then a 10-year career as cornerback with the New England Patriots [1969-1972] and Philadelphia Eagles [1973-1978].
“Every summer he’d come back from Chicago and he’d have the sharpest clothes in the school. He had style and handled everything with class.
“They ran a pro-style offense and he was a prototype pocket passer. Roy was basically unstoppable; there wasn’t a throw he couldn’t make. He was really way ahead of his time.”
Wilburn Curry, Roy’s nephew, lived in Clarksdale until the eighth grade while his mother, Pandora, worked in Chicago. Roy was a surrogate older brother. “Roy was my hero,” said Wilburn. “He treated me like a brother and I wanted to follow him. He was highly respected in Clarksdale and really throughout Mississippi. I still look up to him to this day.
“When I applied for a job [at age 12] in Mack’s Clothing Store on Issaquena Avenue, the owner asked, ‘Are you related to Roy Curry?’
I said, ‘Yes.’
“He said, ‘You’re hired!’”
By his junior year, Curry’s burgeoning athletic career was taking shape. He was a starting guard on a basketball team that lost in the state finals to Lanier High School in Jackson.
Former teammate Albert Jackson, a running back at Jackson State, gave Curry a tour of the campus and insisted, ‘He’d love it at JSU.’
Following his senior season, Jackson State coach John Merritt stopped at the school and met with Curry and two tackles, James Carson [who later became the head coach] and Ed Holmes. Alcorn State and Mississippi Industrial College recruited Curry, but the decision was easy.
Signing the letter of intent marked a new beginning.
“We knew I was going to college, but when it finally happened my mom went crazy, she just loved it,” said Curry, the only one of his siblings to attend college.
“She always stressed education so it was a dream come true for both of us.
“Coach Merritt was very articulate and a great salesman. [ Curry who was also recruited by basketball coach Harrison Wilson. He and Willie Richardson played a year of junior varsity basketball]. “It was really a no-brainer. We were three country boys from Clarksdale who loved the city; there was always a lot going on in Jackson.”
Richardson, a resident of Greenville, Miss., who was the quarterback at Coleman High School, visited Michigan State and Tennessee State. When Merritt came to his home, he told Mrs. Richardson, “The other brothers [Gloster, Thomas, Ernest and Charles] can come to Jackson State, too.”
Gloster teamed with quarterback George Scott in 1961 as Coleman lost to Rowan for the conference title. Scott, a three-sport star who graduated in 1962, went on to play with the Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers. Davis Weathersby coached Coleman High School from 1956-1969. Wilbert Montgomery played his freshman year at Coleman in 1970 before integration when it was converted into a junior high. His younger brothers Cleo, Tyrone and Fred Montgomery also played in the NFL.
The Mississippi state capital offered opportunities and options for Curry and his teammates; the majority of whom were first generation college students and had grown up doing manual labor in cotton fields across the state.
“A lot of us had come from similar backgrounds,” said Curry, a physical education major who went up to Chicago during the summers to work as a busboy. Living with his sister at Cermak and State Street, he stayed in shape playing pickup basketball at the Harold Ickes Housing Projects with guys from Dunbar and Phillips High School.
“It was a nurturing environment. The students all worked hard to achieve. The athletes stayed in two army barracks and we were all very close. All the coaches were great role models and mentors. I was closest with coach Merritt.
“They always stressed education and getting your degree and being a good person. We had to attend the church on campus every Sunday. I’d say over 90 percent of the guys on the team graduated; many of them went into the teaching field.
“We had a lot of fun in Jackson. The College Park Auditorium had incredible music. James Brown, Bobby Bland, Smokey Robinson, B.B. King, Nat King Cole and Little Milton were some of the shows that came through.”
For almost a half century, Jackson State football was a non-factor. From 1911-1946, they were independent, 1947-1950 in the South Central Athletic Conference and Midwest Athletic Association 1952-1957. JSU joined the Southwestern Athletic Conference in 1958, the proverbial ‘Big Leagues,’ at the right time.
When basketball coach Harrison Wilson Jr. was hired in 1951, his innovations translated well with football and across the athletic department. Quite successful on the hardwood going 340-72 in 16 years at the helm, he also chaired the Department of Health and Physical Education from 1960-1967. Wilson was president of Norfolk State University from 1975-1997 raising the annual budget from $14 million to $86 million dollars.
A visionary with astute eye for coaching talent and administration, Wilson knew the right man for the job – his first cousin and teammate at Kentucky State, John Merritt, who took over in 1953 at age 26.
Moonlighting as the receivers coach [1951-1962], Wilson was instrumental in giving Merritt the layout to procure talent scattered across Mississippi.
Despite going 1-7-1 in 1954, the Tigers got on the winning road. After six wins a season from 1956-1960, the machine was in place as they went 19-3 in 1961-1962 with two trips to the Orange Blossom Classic.
“There was a substantial change in attitude of fans toward the team,” said Rod Paige, who played in 1951 and 1952 for Merritt as an offensive end, was head coach from 1964-1968 and became the first black United States Secretary of Education for President George Bush [2001-2005]. “The football team put the school on the map; they were now known throughout the state. Joining the Southwestern Athletic Conference was huge. Before then, the option of going to the Orange Blossom Classic didn’t exist.
“Merritt was the type of person everyone wanted to be around; everyone knew his name.”
The marriage between Jackson State and the black community of almost 25,000 in West Jackson was palpable.
Alumni Field, built in 1948, held a maximum of 6,000 fans. Prior to 1958, football crowds were between 1,500 and 4,000, depending on the game. After ’58, they would draw 6,000 to 10,000.
“The team was hooked into the Jackson community more so than today,” said Walter Reed. “The campus was the cultural center. About 40 percent of the children born then were delivered at the Herbert Health Center which was on campus. Coach Wilson was able to transfer his basketball success to the football team. Coach Merritt was the type of guy, once you met him, you never forgot him. All the black players in the state wanted to come to JSU.”
Success translates to filling seats.
“People like to support a winner,” said Reed, who played one year of football in 1951, ran track for four years at JSU and was athletic director from 1977-1988. “The more you win, word gets out. There was no radio coverage and we were lucky if we got a couple lines written in the Clarion Ledger. There was interest from alums in Memphis to the Gulf Coast. Most of the fans came from a 40-mile radius of Jackson, but we had people who would drive three or four hours for the game. Everyone wore a suit and tie or a dress. It was a social event, like going to church.”
It was a seamless transition engineering the offense in college.
“You’ve got to be able to feel the game,” said Curry, who split time at quarterback his sophomore year with Cornelius Addison before starting as a junior and senior. “That’s something I had since high school. Offensive coordinator Alvin Coleman was very helpful. I was running the scout team; by the middle of the season, we were beating the first string. Coach Coleman stopped the practice and said, ‘The reason they’re beating the first-string defense is the quarterback.’
In 1960, they went 6-4 as all parts of the machine began to click.
His chemistry with Richardson was innate, on and off the field, and remained until Richardson passed away Feb. 8, 2016.
“Willie and I were very close and we always talked football,” said Curry. “He would come into the huddle and say, ‘I can beat him on a down and out, a square in or comeback route.’ He was always on point.”
A four-time All-American who also started at free safety, Richardson caught 171 passes and 36 touchdowns at JSU and was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Gloster joined the Tigers in 1961. A seventh-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs in 1965 and was on the practice squad for two years before rotating in as a receiver from 1967-70, the Dallas Cowboys [‘71] and Cleveland Browns 1972-74. Richardson was the receiver’s coach at Mississippi Valley State in 1983, ’84 during Jerry Rice’s junior and senior seasons. He passed away Feb. 27, 2020.
Joe Gilliam Sr. came to JSU in 1961 and took over the defense.
“Coach Gilliam was a great disciplinarian; he took nothing from nobody and worked us so hard,” said Curry, who was 6’1”, 195 pounds. “He was way ahead of his time.
We ran a split T and pro style; our offense was balanced. Coach Merritt gave me the option to run whenever I wanted and I called the plays. We really put on a show. We usually went with a 50 defense with five linemen.”
There were ample weapons.
Throwing 60 percent of the time, Curry had 2,053 yards of total offense with 15 touchdowns. Several members from the squad had careers in the NFL: receivers Willie Richardson (1963-1971, Colts), Jake Greer started opposite Willie; Gloster Richardson rotated in, tight end Al Greer (Detroit 1963), cornerback-return specialist Speedy Duncan (Chargers 1964-1971, Redskins 1971-1974) and offensive tackle Pappa Hayes (1965-1966). Louis McRae was the fullback.
A stifling defense was anchored by ends Verlon Biggs (1965-1974, Jets three-time pro bowler, Redskins), Coy Bacon (Rams 1968-1972, Chargers 1973-1975, Bengals 1976-1977, Redskins 1978-81; three-time pro bowler), tackle Ben McGee (1964-1972, Steelers), linebacker Roy Hilton (Colts 1965-1973, Giants 1974, Falcons 1975), tackle Frank Molden (Rams 1965, Eagles 1968, Giants 1969) and defensive back Taft Reed (Eagles 1967).
The University of Mississippi and USC went undefeated and were voted national champions in 1962. It’s hard to figure how Jackson State would have stacked up against them.
“I think it would’ve been a great game,” said Richardson. “We were really deep on both lines that year and had the speed to match up. Win or lose it would’ve been close.”
Duncan saw it differently.
“I don’t think there was a team out there that could’ve beat us,” said Duncan, a four-time pro bowler (1965-1967, 1971) as a corner back and punt-kick returner with San Diego (1963-70) and the Washington Redskins (1971-1974). He’s in the Chargers Hall of Fame and a member of their 50th anniversary team. “Those three yards and a cloud of dust teams wouldn’t have been able to stay on the field with our offense. What [offensive coordinator] Joe Gilliam Sr. taught was so far ahead of what everyone was doing; other teams couldn’t match up with us. We had the whole package. Other teams didn’t have the type of people we had at the skill positions.
“Everyone has their opinion, but that’s something I’ll take to my grave. I would’ve loved to play any of the SEC schools, but it wasn’t meant to happen [at that time].”
Gilliam Sr. was instrumental in Curry’s development. Installing a series of plays that were a precursor to the west coast offense.
“I really enjoyed coaching at Jackson State,” said Gilliam Sr., who passed away in January, 2013 at 89. A pay increase for Merritt and his staff prompted a move to Tennessee State the following season as he went 172-33-2 from 1963-1982. Gilliam orchestrated the defense as they were undefeated in 1965, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1973 and 1982 and national champions in 1979 and 1981. He was head coach from 1989-1992.
“The kids had a thirst for knowledge and were a joy to work with,” said Gilliam.
“We used the option, drop back, play-action and rollout. Our plays looked the same when they started, but ended up having a number of options. Our offense was all over the field. Richardson was as good an athlete as you’ll find and could go up and get it. Speedy Duncan was a great player; we moved him around as a flanker in passing situations and used him at running back.
“Curry was a great runner and very tough. He was never hurt. We used him with naked bootlegs, power sweeps and a series of rollouts. He was very accurate and knew where to go with the ball. He had the leadership qualities you wanted in a quarterback.
“At that time, the NFL was not ready for a black quarterback, period! He should’ve been given the opportunity to fail or succeed. Coaches wanted a pocket quarterback. If he had gone to Canada, he would’ve had a long career.”
Gilliam was quite familiar with pro football’s position regarding black signal callers. A star quarterback from Big Red High School in Steubenville, Ohio, he started as a freshman at free safety and punt returner while George Taliaferro [the first black to be drafted in the NFL by the Chicago Bears in 1949 in the 13th round] powered the offense at running back for Indiana University. It was the Hoosiers only undefeated season [9-0-1] in 1945. Taliaferro, was a three-time All-American and three-time pro bowler [1951-1953] in the NFL playing with the Los Angeles Dons, New York Yanks, Dallas Texans, Baltimore Colts and Philadelphia Eagles. They won their only outright Big Ten title and finished at No. 4. Army, behind Heisman Trophy winner Doc Blanchard, was the national champion.
Married with a child on the way as a college freshman, Gilliam received a monthly stipend from a Steubenville businessman-bookie, who America came to know as Jimmy The Greek.
“Jimmy looked out for me,” he said. “He bought me the first suit I ever owned [before I left for college]. It was white cashmere with a top hat and shoes. He worked at the Rex Cigar Store on Market Street in the back [where they had gambling]. Dean Martin worked there too.”
[Dino Cellini and his three brothers did a variety of jobs in the casinos at the Rex Cigar Store during the 1930s and 1940s. Meyer Lansky brought Cellini to Havana in the 1950s to run several casinos].
After a year in the army, Gilliam finished his career as a two-time All-American quarterback-free safety [1948-1949] at West Virginia State College in Institute, West Virginia. In 1950, he received a contract offer from Green Bay Packers owner, Curly Lambeau. Convinced he was a quarterback, Gilliam called Lambeau.
“I said, ‘I’d like a chance to play quarterback,” said Gilliam. “He said, ‘There are no colored quarterbacks in the NFL!’
“I was sure I could play. We threw the ball a lot in college and I said I’d like an opportunity to play quarterback. He said the contract is for free safety and then added, ‘I’ll tell you again, there are no colored boys playing quarterback in the league.’
“I talked it over with my wife and decided if I can’t play quarterback, I didn’t want to play.”
By the early 1970s, the possibility of a black signal caller in the NFL wasn’t a complete misnomer.
For years, star college quarterbacks changed positions for an opportunity at professional football. The Buffalo Bills’ James Harris broke the barrier becoming the first black quarterback to start a game in 1969. Harris’ greatest success came when he led the Rams to the NFC championship and a MVP in the 1974 pro bowl and into the playoffs in 1975. Joe Gilliam Jr. had a brief run with the Steelers [1972-75] and Doug Williams had a nine-year tenure beginning in 1978, including a Super Bowl MVP in 1987 with the Washington Redskins. Warren Moon was not drafted out of the University of Washington and played with the Edmonton Eskimos in Canada for five years before embarking on a 17-year career. Commencing in 1984, Moon was in nine Pro Bowls and the only black quarterback inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
New York Times writer, William Rhoden and researcher, Lloyd Vance, chronicled the definitive book on the subject, “Third and a Mile”, (2007) which was made into a documentary and shown on ESPN in 2008. Curry, however, was not mentioned. Several notable quarterbacks preceded Harris. A strong case can be made that Curry was the best of the group.
Drafted by the New York Jets in the third round and the Baltimore Colts in the eighth, Richardson elected to signed with Baltimore. A roommate of the Colts tight end John Mackey on the College All-Stars team, their friendship quickly blossomed. The All-Stars beat the Green Bay Packers in 1963, 20-17, in front of 65,000 at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois.
A nine-year career in the NFL, which included Pro Bowls in 1967 and 1968, with Colts’ legend Johnny Unitas [the 1970 season with Bob Griese in Miami], Richardson had an intimate understanding of the position.
“Roy was better than a lot of quarterbacks in the league,” said Richardson, who married Outlaw’s sister Earlene. “He could throw, throw on the run and had a great feel for the game. He was an accurate passer up to 50 yards and had great touch. When the pocket broke down, he was a dangerous.”
Oakland Raiders’ Hall of Fame cornerback, the late Willie Brown, was a linebacker at Grambling and remembers their difficulty matching up against Jackson State losing in 1961 and 1962.
“Curry had exceptional athletic skills: a great arm, size, speed and the intelligence to run a team,” said Brown, who had a 16-year career in the NFL and spent 17 seasons in player development for the Raiders. “Coach [Eddie] Robinson told us the key to the game is to contain number 19. They used a number of different options with their offense that kept us off balance.
“We double-teamed Richardson and we still couldn’t stop them. Their timing and feel for each other was at another level. I think we had more talent than they did, but they beat us and those two were the main reason. Of all the guys [black quarterbacks in the latter 1950s and early ‘60s] I saw before Harris, Curry was the best.
“Do I think Curry could’ve started in the NFL and performed well? Absolutely!”
Grambling had 12 players who went on to professional football from the 1962 team.
“Their offense was like the [San Diego] Chargers Air Coryell,” said Al Dotson, who was a freshman defensive end in 1961 and played defensive line with the
Kansas City Chiefs (1965), Miami Dolphins (1966) and Oakland Raiders (1967-70).
“Curry’s timing with Willie and the other receivers was like clockwork,” said Dotson.
“They had great sideline patterns. They would get the defense to commit and set up a post pattern or go route. Even with top cornerbacks you had a tough time covering. Curry’s deep ball was always on the money.”
The Tigers scored 419 points and allowed 95 in the 1962 season. The only bump in the road was at Southern where they lost 19-14 in the sixth game. They rebounded with convincing wins of 45-31 at Grambling and 26-13 against Texas Southern [the game was played in Mobile, Al. Texas Southern was second in the conference with a record of 5-2 and Grambling was third at 3-2.
Rich ‘Tombstone ‘Jackson was a freshman at Southern University when he faced JSU.
“Willie Richardson was phenomenal,” said Jackson, who was a three-time Pro Bowler at defensive end [1968-70] during his career with the Denver Broncos 1967-72. “We had the best of best in the SWAC then. These guys play anywhere, anytime. I remember Curry threw a ball I was sure it was out of bounds. But Richardson reached over and grabbed it. Curry could put the ball any place.”
Garland Boyette played defensive line for Grambling from 1958-1961 before becoming the first black middle linebacker in NFL history for the Houston Oilers in 1966.
“This period [late 1950s through the 1960s] was the golden era for black college football,” said Boyette, who was with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1962, 1963, the Montreal Alouettes 1964, 1965 and Houston Oilers 1966-1972.
“There were a number of great quarterbacks when I played. John Thomas of Southern was one. [Texas Southern’s four-year starter] Charles Greene was a tremendous athlete and highly intelligent. He definitely had the ability to do well at the pro level.
“We had so much talent at Grambling. Coach [Eddie] Robinson had a lot of NFL players come back and work with us. Willie Davis of the Green Bay Packers, the Giants Emlen Tunnel and [Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator] Dub Jones [who lived in Ruston, Louisiana.] would come over and help us.”
Among those who attended the Jackson State home games was Dr. Rod Paige, former United States Secretary of Education under President George W. Bush. He played football at JSU from 1951-1955, was the head coach for the Tigers from 1964-1968 and at Texas Southern 1971-1975.
“Roy Curry was the total package,” said Paige. “I’d say he was similar to Steve McNair, but more athletic than McNair. He was much more mobile, with the ability to escape the rush and more accurate as a passer. The world missed out of seeing a spectacular quarterback.
“I think Gilliam brought an academic approach to the game not many had seen. There’s no question in my mind Curry could have been a superstar player in the NFL. Because of his arm strength, speed and intelligence, I think he could have revolutionized the position. There really wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.
“Unfortunately, it’s a matter of timing. Like the great players from the Negro Leagues who were before Jackie Robinson. Curry was ahead of his time. There was a stereotypical view that blacks didn’t have the cerebral dexterity to handle the position.”
James Harris was in high school in Monroe, Louisiana when he caught the aerial show Jackson State ran against Grambling.
“You could see they were running NFL routes and that Richardson was a pro prospect,” said Harris, a senior personal executive with the Detroit Lions. “The kind of throws Curry made, you knew he was a special talent and student of the game. From what I saw, he had everything you needed to play in the league.
“You felt bad that you couldn’t find out how good he could be, but Curry was one of many. There was a guy from my hometown, [Grambling quarterback] Mike Howell, who had to play defensive back for the Cleveland Browns [1965-1972 and named No. 89 on the Browns top 100 player list]. I think there were several guys who were denied an opportunity by the time and the system. I think there was a progression before and after me. Things really had to be perfect. There was an expression that you needed to have an ‘ooh-wee’ arm to make it.
“You had Matthew Reed [of Grambling drafted by the Bills in 1973, played a year in the WFL and three years in Canada], Jim Kearney [Prairie View, who played 12 seasons at safety], David Mays [Texas Southern, made the Cleveland Browns as a free agent and played in 1976 and 1977 and a season with the Bills], Jimmy Jones [1972 USC graduate who played seven years in Canada], that might not have been stars, but could’ve backed up.”
Detroit Lions’ Hall of Fame cornerback Lem Barney has clear memories of Curry’s tools.
Coming out of Gulfport, Mississippi, Barney was recruited by Gilliam and saw the Tigers play twice.
“Their offense was way ahead of its time and Curry was a phenomenal player,” said Barney. “It’s a shame; Curry definitely should’ve been the first black quarterback to play in the NFL.”
Originally recruited as a quarterback, Barney found the Tigers were set with Bennie Crenshaw. The new offensive coordinator, Bob Hill, who came from Hattiesburg, brought in Bobby Thompson, who started as Barney moved to defensive back and return specialist.
Before heading to training camp with the Lions in 1966, he stopped in Chicago and worked out with Gloster Richardson and Curry for four days.
“Curry had a great football mind and love for the game,” said Barney. “He told me what I was doing right and gave me some pointers on my footwork and other technical tips which were helpful. I covered Gloster and Curry quarterbacked. Whatever throw needed to be made, he could do it: the deep post, the out and touch when it was required.”
According to Duncan, Gilliam’s teaching, coupled with Curry’s ability to absorb and implement the offense, made it run with precision and efficiency.
“Roy was really a born leader,” said Duncan. “He was a diligent student of the sport and knew how to approach each game as a student and teacher. He was able to read any defense, was very organized and knew how to treat people.
“Roy had a superb arm and was able to deliver it on the money wherever you were on the field; he was the total package.”
Growing up in Laurel, Mississippi, Archie Cooley learned the pride of excelling on the field. His Oak Park High School teams won the Big Eight Conference and went undefeated for four years. Eleven guys from his senior class played college football. Ralph Boston, who ran track at Tennessee State and won a gold medal in the long jump at the 1960 Olympics, was the starting quarterback for two years. Chico Jordan was the running back and lineman Charles Gavin went to Tennessee State and played with the Denver Broncos [1960-1963].
“If you had any size, coach Russell Fry would come to your house and make you play football,” said Cooley, who lettered in basketball and baseball. At 6’1”, 195, Grambling’s coach Robinson told him he was, ‘too little’ to play there.
“I desperately wanted to play football in college,” said Cooley. “I had to get out of Laurel.”
When the 6’0”, 250-pound Merritt pulled up to the housing project and stepped out of his red and white four-door Buick, Cooley’s future shifted into gear.
Dining on greens, pork chops, rice, gravy and lemonade, Merritt told the Cooley’s, “If you let this boy go to Jackson State, he will graduate and be somebody!”
“He had great personality and made an impression on my parents,” said Cooley, who drove with Merritt back to Jackson State for his visit.
Eating three meals a day, hitting the stadium stairs and weights, he filled out to 6’2”, 225 pounds while starting at center and middle linebacker for four years.
Moving into the dorm, he met Curry, who would be his roommate sophomore season. The JSU coaching staff had two film projectors and Cooley made it a habit to borrow one, breaking down tape, making sure he was fully prepared.
“I knew I wanted to coach after college,” said Cooley, who coached at historically black colleges for 27 years, 21 as head coach, which included Mississippi Valley State with Jerry Rice. “Roy and I watched a lot of tape and we exchanged ideas on what would work best.”
Cooley understood Curry possessed a rare makeup.
“Roy threw a beautiful, tight spiral,” he said. “Coach Merritt let him call his own plays and his decision-making was always spot on. He had exceptional football instincts.
“Roy was God’s gift to people. He carried a spirit that made people follow him. He was always in a good mood.
Roy brought an incredible positive energy wherever he was. He would do anything for anybody.”
Curry’s class extended off the field.
“I’d have to say Roy was the best dressed guy on campus,” said Cooley, who brought four pairs of khaki pants, one suit and jacket to school. “It seemed like he came back from Chicago with a whole new wardrobe of shirts, shoes, slacks and suits. I wanted to wear his clothes, but he was a size too small.”
Graduating Jackson State in 1955, Bob Hill was the first Tiger to get drafted and play professional football with the Colts in 1956. After a few years in Canadian football, he came back to coach high school going 40-1 for two years each at Magee and Rowan.
On Saturday’s, Hill loaded his car along with 50 other fans from Hattiesburg and made the drive to Jackson. Monday at practice, he would regale the team with highlights from the Tigers. One of his regular passengers was Taft Reed who joined JSU in 1962.
Reed made a recruiting trip to the University of Indiana with his cousin, Willie Townes. Their host was cornerback Nate Ramsey, who was the Philadelphia Eagles starting cornerback from 1963-1972. Ramsey received $500 to assist the recruits’ decision to sign. Reed and Townes received $100 and Ramsey kept the rest.
Townes spent a year at Indiana, transferred to Tulsa and played defensive tackle with the Cowboys from 1966-1970.
The familiarity with the Tigers was too enticing.
“Our high school games were huge,” said Reed, who played a year with the Eagles [1967] before a career coaching football and track at West Side High School in New Jersey. “The Jackson State games were like the NBA championship. There were people who drove from Chicago, St. Louis and all parts of Mississippi to watch. Sunday everyone in Hattiesburg went to church. You never heard of someone who didn’t go to church.”
A slender, fleet-footed youth in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Harold Jackson’s mother bought him a trumpet to play in the Rowan High School band with the hope of keeping him away from football. Coach Hill intervened. Jackson played receiver-defensive back and returned kicks as his squad went undefeated for two years; before home crowds of over 5,000.
Hill, who was a fullback in 1955 for Jackson State, would drive up to the Tigers games along with a group of 50 others on Saturday. Monday at school, he would regale his players with stories of JSU.
“There might be a couple of paragraphs written about JSU in the local paper, but that was it for media coverage,” said Jackson, who ran a 9.3 in the 100-yard dash to win the state title as a senior. “Coach Hill would tell us all about the games and who did what. A lot of alums in town also talked about it. Then we’d hear about what Willie Richardson was doing with the Colts and Verlon Biggs with the Jets. It was exciting to learn about the team near you doing that well.”
Taking the job as running back coach in 1963, Hill assisted until 1970 when he became head coach at Jackson State [1971-1976]. He recruited Jackson, who was a shade under 150 pounds.
Gloster, who was a senior, mentored Jackson, who became a starter the third game of his freshman year. He and some of the other NFL receivers came back to campus occasionally to work out during the mid-1960s. A few times when Curry was in Jackson, he would step in to throw passes.
“Wow, Roy had as good an arm as I’d seen,” said Jackson, who was a roommate of Outlaw. A 12th round pick by the Rams in 1968, he was a five-time Pro Bowler, playing with the Eagles 1969-72, Rams 1968 and 1973-77, Patriots 1978-1981, Vikings 1982 and Seahawks 1983 and coached in the NFL and college from 1985 through 2015. “Roy had a beautiful, easy delivery and was very accurate. Whenever I came out of my break, he would hit me dead on the run.”
Jackson lives in Los Angeles, but comes back to Hattiesburg four times a year to look after his parents’ home and six-acre family farm.
“The guys who played at Jackson State in the 1960s, we really share an incredible comradery still this day,” he said. “We talk to each other frequently. Whenever I go back to Jackson, there’s about 25 us who get together. Our high school has a reunion every two years.”
Following the 1962 season, a scout from the Canadian Football League told Curry, ‘You should come to Canada, you can play your natural position. You’ll never play quarterback in the NFL.’ I wish I would’ve listened to him; I would’ve been there a long time,” he said.
Pittsburgh Steelers receiver coach Will Walls had been on the Jackson State campus and said they were looking to draft Curry in the eighth round.
The 1962 draft was held Dec. 3 at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago and the Steelers took Curry in the 12th round. Among the other Steeler picks were USC quarterback Bill Nelsen in round ten and Andy Russell in the 16th round and University of Pittsburgh quarterback Jim Traficant who was selected in the final [20th round]. Traficant didn’t make the team, but he went on to a career as a Democratic congressman for Ohio’s 17th district [1981-2002, Independent 2002-2014].
Coach Merritt was a skilled negotiator and Curry came away with a $4,000 signing bonus and $12,000 salary. Always setting the fashion pace, he bought a blue Chevy Impala convertible when he got to Pittsburgh.
Running back John Henry Johnson [who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987], Bob Ferguson, Brady Keys and John Baker were the other blacks on the team. Curry ended up rooming with acclaimed photographer Charles ‘Teenie’ Harris.
Finding the right position wasn’t easy.
“Coach Buddy Parker interviewed all the rookies,” said Curry, who was running a 4.4-40-yard dash. “He said they wanted to use me like Paul Hornung and use the option pass.
“They tried me at running back, but I was too small. They had John Henry Johnson and Dick Hoak; I had trouble with the blocking schemes and there wasn’t room there.”
Following a brief shot at defensive back, he was on the verge of being cut when Pittsburgh Courier writer Bill Nunn [a Steelers scout from 1969-1987] added a few words that saved Curry’s career.
“He wrote, ‘How can you bring in a guy who played quarterback his whole life and expect him to be a running back?’ After that, they moved me to receiver.”
As a long-strider, he began to find a comfort zone at the position.
During the season, Curry lived with the Houston’s, a retired couple who owned a beautiful home in the Homewood neighborhood. Many delicious meals were enjoyed at the Crawford Grill and saw many of jazz legends perform the storied – Hurricane Club in the Hill District on Center Avenue.
Andy Russell, a Missouri graduate, was a rookie in 1963 and went on to be a seven-time Pro Bowler, playing on the Steelers 1974 and 1975 Super Bowls and a member of the Steelers Hall of Fame, remembered Curry.
“Roy was a gifted athlete who was very fast with great hands and could catch anything,” said Russell, who served in the United States Army for the 1964 and 1965 seasons. “It seemed like Curry had a good future in the league. I had no idea he was a quarterback in college. It wasn’t easy [then]. There were very few blacks [Brady Keyes, John Baker, Bob Ferguson, Joe Womack and John Henry Johnson] and coach Parker hated rookies.”
Ed Brown was the starting quarterback and Bill Nelsen was the backup.
“Brown had a big arm, he could throw the ball through a wall,” said Curry. “I thought I had a better arm than Nelsen.”
In the fourth game, Curry began to see action on special teams where he returned a kickoff 27-yards against the Cleveland Browns. He also started getting more time in practice as a receiver.
The Green Bay Packers were beginning their dynasty of the 1960s with championships in 1961, 1962, 1965 and Super Bowls I and II.
The Chicago Bears opened the season nipping Green Bay 10-3. In week ten, they beat the Packers handily, 26-7, at Wrigley Field. The Bears finished the season 11-1-2; Green Bay was 11-2-1.
“Our main goal before the season was to beat the Packers twice,” said running back Ronnie Bull, a first-round pick in 1962 and played for the Bears from 1962-1970. “As the season went along, we felt we had a chance to be in the championship.”
When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated Friday, Nov. 22, the game became secondary.
“We’d come in from practice [at Wrigley Field] and word got out,” said Bull. “Nobody could believe it happened. We thought the game would be canceled. Nobody felt like playing, but when you get on the field, you have a job to do; you have to protect yourself. We knew the Steelers would be a tough game. I think we went through the motions; our thoughts were somewhere else. We had a day off Monday and Tuesday and that helped.”
The Steelers realized they were playing when they got to the hotel.
“We heard about the assassination on the car ride home from practice,” said Curry. “We saw the Bears were staying at the same hotel so we knew the NFL was going ahead with the game.”
“I was getting comfortable with the receiver position [at that time],” said Curry. “I was getting more balls thrown to me in practice and getting more playing time [on Sunday].”
Against the Bears, Curry was matched up against All-Pro safety Rosey Taylor, who led the NFL with nine interceptions in 1963.
“They were using me in certain spots,” he said. “They found a way to isolate me against the cornerback.”
Down 14-7, the Steelers were on the Bears’ 31-yard line when Brown took the snap from center in shotgun formation and connected with Curry on a perfectly timed corner route at the 13-yard line.
“I went down and gave a head and shoulder fake like I was going to a post route and cut back to a corner,” said Curry. A diving Taylor was a few inches away from getting a hand on the ball. Securing the catch, he turned upfield. Cornerback Bennie McRae made a leaping attempt for the Steelers’ receiver at the six yard-line nearly forcing him out of bounds. Adroitly tightroping the right sideline, Curry’s crossed the goal line with 31 seconds left in the first half, tying the game at 14.
“I knew after I caught it, I was going in for six; I wasn’t going to be denied,” he said.
In the Englewood neighborhood, the apartment on 59th and Wabash Avenue was ready to explode.
“I was outside and I heard a lot of hollering and screaming,” said Roy’s nephew, Wilburn. “My uncle Lawrence yelled out the window, ‘Roy just caught a touchdown.’”
The highlight many became familiar with and made famous by NFL films was Bears’ Hall of Fame tight end Mike Ditka, who caught a pass from Bill Wade, ran through the Steelers’ defense, breaking five tackles before being caught from behind and then rolling over and lying on his back in exhaustion. The game ended tied at 17.
“After the Bears game, I was starting to get my break; they put me in the offense,” he said.
Against Philadelphia the next week, with a sub 32-degree temperature, Curry was summoned from the bench midway through the first quarter.
“I accelerated on a post route and I felt something in my leg pop,” he said. “I was just getting my break so I decided I wasn’t going off the field. I stayed out for the series and went to the sideline. The next series I went down on another route and I felt something go ‘boop!’ That meant the hamstring snapped and had come apart.”
The Steelers tied the Eagles 17-17 and Curry was placed on the injured reserve. After beating the Cowboys, 24-9, Pittsburgh had a chance to play for the championship if they beat the host New York Giants in the season finale.
A win by the Steelers [7-3-3] over the Giants 10-3 would have given them a higher percentage in the Eastern Division. At that time, ties didn’t figure into the team’s won-lost percentage, so a win would’ve given the Steelers the conference .727 – .714, despite having fewer victories than the Giants. The method for determining won-lost percentage was changed in 1972 so a tie counts as half of a win and half of a loss.
The Steelers crushed the Giants, 31-0, in the second game of the season.
There was plenty of excitement as the two-time defending Eastern Division champion Giants took the field before 63,240 at Yankee Stadium. The wind and brutal cold stifled quarterback Brown, who completed 13 of 33 passes for 217 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions as the Giants won 33-17 and the Steelers finished fourth in the division.
In the 1960s, NFL home games were blacked out within a 75-mile radius. Sunday, December 29, Curry went to the Coliseum Theatre on 16th & Wabash Avenue and watched the Bears beat the Giants, 14-10, for the NFL Championship at Wrigley Field.
“I was thinking, ‘That should’ve been us.’”
The following season, with the hamstring still on the mend, he was released at the end of training camp.
The Steelers’ Walls called Bears’ owner and coach George Halas and put a word in. Curry met with Halas and defensive coordinator George Allen and was signed.
During the 1964 season, the Bears sent Curry to stay in shape playing semipro with the Joliet Explorers.
One of the teammates he befriended was fullback John Amos, who went on to become famous as an actor in the sitcom Good Times during the mid-1970s. The two stayed in touch and Curry joined Amos for the 1977 Super Bowl when the Oakland Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings in the Rose Bowl.
“Roy had a great arm and the offensive players loved him,” said Amos. “He stayed in the pocket no matter how tough the pressure was. His never quit attitude had a positive effect on us. He had the respect and admiration of all the guys on the team.
“We had a lot of fun off the field. Roy had a great personality and sense of humor.
“The Super Bowl had special significance because we knew guys playing on both teams.”
In the 1965 training camp, Curry got acquainted with rookie middle linebacker Dick Butkus.
“It was an underpass,” he said. “The tight end comes across the middle and the back out of the backfield. I shot underneath, but they knew the route. Butkus hit me right here [pointing to his leg], broke my thigh pad and knocked me straight back. It hurt for a couple weeks.”
Doing well through the first four exhibition games, the hamstring pulled again. Halas wanted to put Curry on the taxi squad. Instead, Curry opted to retire, a decision he still regrets.
“Biggest mistake of my life,” he said. “Halas was doing me a favor; I just wasn’t thinking right.
“I thought I was deserving to make the team. Halas said, “OK, my boy.” I stayed a couple weeks and ran a little with Brian Piccolo on the track. Two weeks later, he put me on waivers. I just couldn’t run. I probably had 35 percent use of my leg.”
A few weeks later, receiver Jim Jones broke his collarbone during warmups and Jim Hill was activated. Curry came back in 1966, but his hamstring wouldn’t hold up and he moved into coaching.
“We had Johnny Morris, Dick Gordon and myself at receiver,” said Jones, who joined Curry as a defensive coordinator in the late 1970s and early 1980s at Robeson High School. Jones and his wife, Willa, own the popular nightclub; 50 Yard Line, on the South Side in the Chatham neighborhood. “You could see Roy had the talent [at receiver] to play in the league. But coming in as a free agent you had to be extraordinary and be in the perfect situation because there were a limited number of spots. I don’t think it was any knock against Curry; there were just some great players ahead of him.”
Through the late 1960s and early 1970s, Curry worked out in the summers at the University of Chicago’s Stagg Field with the Bears’ Jones, Gordon, Andy Livingston, Gloster Richardson [who was with the Chiefs] and a few other pro players. He was the quarterback as the group kept their timing sharp for the ensuing NFL training camps.
An assistant for two years at Dunbar Vocational High School, Curry was head coach at Robeson High School from 1969-2000. A highlight was the 1982 squad that went to the state championship with only 25 players.
“Roy is a beautiful person; that’s why I went over to Robeson to work with him,” said Jones. “He had a great feel for the kids and the community. He was a no-nonsense guy who brought a lot of new ideas onto the field and that’s why we were so successful.”
There is a special bond among the group who played in the black colleges from the 1960s. Held in high regard as a player and person, Curry often socialized with friends in Chicago and Jackson, Mississippi.
Carolyn Curry moved to Prosperity Street in the Georgetown neighborhood in Jackson; their backyard serving as the unofficial white-black dividing line. Leroy Jamison, her father, was one of 14 kids. He enlisted in the army at age 16 and fought in World War II. All four of his brothers served in the army.
Skipping second grade, she attended Lanier High School before enrolling at JSU in 1962.
“The strength and sense of the community was incredible; it was a wonderful upbringing,” said Carolyn, who taught science at Warren Joseph Elementary School [two blocks from her home] for 34 years. An engaging personality, she became involved in a number of community organizations, block clubs and protests.
“At Lanier, you felt all the kids were striving to be something. We felt education was our way out.”
Initially, her father was against Carolyn dating Curry, but he quickly broke the ice. They married in 1966 after Carolyn graduated JSU.
Coming back to Jackson frequently for family events and holidays, Carolyn says, she often hears people whisper, “Is that Roy Curry?”
One of their trips was in 1971 when he and Carolyn hopped into his new Cadillac Eldorado and drove to Las Vegas. Stopping in Kansas City for four days, they visited with Gloster Richardson and Otis Taylor, who were enjoying their Super Bowl IV victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
While in Las Vegas, they went to see Ike and Tina Tuner at the International Hotel. Curry’s sister, Earline, had dated Ike Turner in high school. Asking the waiter if he could see Turner, they were escorted backstage.
“My wife has a great personality and she got along with the girls,” he said. “We had a real nice time reminiscing with Ike; he introduced us to everyone. Colonel Parker walked in and when he heard we were from Clarksdale, he invited us to see Elvis Presley, who was playing next door. We ended up staying for the second Ike and Tina show. My wife still kids me she missed out on seeing Elvis.”
For the folks in Clarksdale, Curry’s name and memories still carry weight.
Taking her son Roy Jr. to Jackson State in the fall of 1989, Carolyn ran into Aaron Henry.
“I said, ‘You are a legend and I am honored to make your acquaintance.’ He said, ‘Your husband is my hero, he is our legend in this town!’”
A passionate teacher whose affection for the game is palpable, he left an indelible mark on his athletes and numerous coaches he mentored.
Working the chain crew at Stagg Stadium while in junior high, Elton Harris liked Curry’s sideline demeanor and decided to attend Robeson instead of the neighborhood school.
“We would go into the locker room of each team and see the coaches talking to their team at halftime and after the game,” said Harris, a 1978 graduate who assisted Curry from 1987-1994 and has been the coach at Hubbard since 1995.
“You could see there was something different about Curry and the way he spoke to the team. He was a teacher of the game. That’s the reason I went to Robeson. Everyone on my block [73rd and Green Street] went to a different school. My freshman year we didn’t have enough equipment for everyone. The first couple weeks he ran us so hard, but nobody ever got tired during the games because we were always in great shape. I never had to write plays down because he would teach it to you. He’d take us in the film room and show us what we did right or wrong. You were always learning.
“Coach always called you by your first name. He always asked how things were at home, how your family was doing. Coach held you accountable for everything. Everyone in the neighborhood knew Coach and knew he had your best interests at heart. Almost all of us were from single-parent homes. He was a father-figure to so many kids.
“I never even thought about college before going to Robeson. My senior year, he had me baby sit his son, Roy Jr. and clean up his house. It made me feel special. We had ten seniors attend college. Coach told us, ‘Don’t came back without your degree.’
“We all graduated!
“Everything we run now [at Hubbard] is what I learned from coach [Curry].”
Mickey Pruitt was a running back-free safety on the 1980 Robeson squad that lost to Mt. Carmel in the Chicago Prep Bowl and the miraculous 1982 team that had 14 of the 25 players who went both ways and finished second in State. Pruitt played three seasons with the Bears and two with the Dallas Cowboys including the 1992 Super Bowl.
“In practice we went over play after play so the game was more like a dress rehearsal,” said Pruitt, deputy executive director of sports administration for the Chicago Public Schools. “We always felt prepared; we knew everything coach Curry put together would work well. Coach loved to teach and he was always willing to help a lot of other coaches. Going from what he taught made it easier for me in college [at Colorado] and at the pro level to pick things up.”
Pruitt put his parents and the Curry’s up at a hotel in Los Angeles for the Super Bowl and invited them to the Cowboys’ post-game party.
Glenn Johnson, a graduate of DuSable High School, who spent the majority of his career as the head football and track coach at Dunbar Vocational High School, often deferred to Curry with football questions.
“Roy would always level with you; other coaches wouldn’t share information,” said Johnson, 72, who passed away July 9, 2019. He coached Dunbar from 1989 to 2015. He assisted with the running backs coach at Phillips Academy in 2017. “One of the biggest things I learned from him was where to place personnel; putting people in the right spots.
“Nobody could match him when it came to offensive X and O’s; he’s very detailed. He knew how to adapt and tweak to make things work. If I had a problem with my quarterback, Roy would come by and work with him. By the end of practice, everything was fixed.”
Veteran NFL assistant and two-time head coach Jim Caldwell, who recruited the Chicago area for 16 years, became acquainted with Curry in his first year as an assistant at Southern Illinois University. He recruited Robeson linebacker Fabray Collins and Julian running back Derrick Taylor in 1980. The two helped the Salukis to the 1983 DI-AA National Championship.
“I met Roy when I started working at Southern Illinois University [in 1978],” said Caldwell, who has been in the NFL since 2001 and assisted with the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl wins. Caldwell was head coach of the Colts [2009-2011] and Detroit Lions [2014-2017].
“The Chicago Public League had some great teams then and there were a number of great coaches: Simeon’s Al Scott, Lonnie Williams at King, Terry Lewis at Harper, Glenn Johnson at Dunbar and J.W. Smith at Julian.
“The city had all their game films in a downtown office. I spent a lot of nights watching tape on the 15-millimeter camera.
“The thing the jumps out at you is Roy loved teaching the game. You could feel the impact he was having on the players and kids at the school when you met him.
“Roy had a great feel for teaching the fundamentals and coaching the quarterback position. He is a man of strong integrity, honest and straight-forward. Roy has an infectious personality which carried over to his kids.
“To see the success Robeson had with only 20-plus players each year was incredible.”
When Paul Vallas became CEO of the Chicago Public Schools in 1995-2001, he saw the benefit of Curry’s wisdom and foresight. Since then, the two have remained close friends.
“Roy broke the ice introducing me to the rest of the Chicago Public League coaches,” said Vallas. “We made a number of changes that were beneficial to the public schools and Roy was the force behind them.
“He always brought people together behind the scenes. I wanted to make him head of sports administration, but he said [former Julian coach] J.W. Smith was a better administrator so that’s who we chose.
“What Roy and his wife, Carolyn, have done for so many kids in education is nothing short of extraordinary. He’s one of the most unique, self-effacing individuals I’ve ever met.”
In July of 2017, Curry was inducted into the Clarksdale Sports Hall of Fame at Coahoma Community College. For Curry’s classmates, their devotion to each other has continued to evolve and endure over the past five decades.
“It was very special,” he said. “That’s where everything began for me. I had two tables of people who were kind enough to come out and share the honor. Some of them I hadn’t seen in 50 years, but they’d remembered some of the things I’d done. There’s been major changes in the town. It was nice to see a mix of people honored together. Coahoma Community College did everything first class.”
The evening was savored by his friends as well.
“Roy represented all of us, that’s the way we looked at it,” said Gooden. “We were all grateful. He’s the kind of guy that always went out of his way to help others. There’s no way the award would’ve happened in the 1960s or ‘70s.”
Allen and several teammates have maintained contact since high school.
“I have family in Chicago so I’d see Roy when we went up there,” said James Allen. “When Roy called and told me about the Hall of Fame; it meant a whole lot to us. It was a grand thing to see him inducted that we all appreciated.”
…
– Seth Schwartz