University of Pittsburgh football trailblazer Jimmy Joe Robinson, the first black varsity football player in the team’s history, died on July 14 at the age of 97.
Robinson joined the football team in the 1940s at the height of racial segregation in sports. He played for the Panthers in 1945, 1947, and 1948. Over those three years, Robinson led the team in rushing and receiving yards and scoring, emerging as one of the group’s best players.
After Robinson left Pitt, the football team became fully integrated. Pitt football head coach Pat Narduzzi says Robinson was a history-maker, changing the Pitt football program.
“Jimmy Joe didn’t just wear the uniform—he wore the weight of history, and he carried it with strength and grace,” Narduzzi said in a university statement. “He helped change this program forever.”
Around the same time Robinson broke racial barriers on the football field, future Olympic bronze medalist Herb Douglas did it on the track at Pitt.
Robinson was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 1950 NFL Draft. He left football in the 1950s to serve in the Korean War. After returning home from the war, Robinson inked a deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers and played with the team briefly in 1953. In 1954, he would try his hand with the Montreal Alouettes before leaving football.
After football, Robinson helped fight for civil rights in the 1960s. He founded the Manchester Youth Development Center in Pittsburgh’s Manchester neighborhood, which helped support children’s education.
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