They claim to be of noble ancestry. a person of unknown ancestry. She claims to be able to trace her ancestry all the way back to the earliest settlers.
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN. Joe Gilliam, who was one of the first blacks to be a starting pro quarterback when he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers' 1974 Super Bowl champions but who later slid into drug addiction and homelessness, died Monday in Nashville. He was 49.
Fritz Pollard is the first black football player to be named All-American as well as the first black player to appear in a Rose Bowl. He goes on to become the first African-American head coach in the NFL when he heads the Akron Pros in 1921 and is later inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1954.