Mel Groomes, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Mel Groomes

American football player and baseball coach

Date of Birth: 06-Mar-1927

Place of Birth: Trenton, New Jersey, United States

Date of Death: 11-Sep-1997

Profession: coach, American football player

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Melvin Harold Groomes (March 6, 1927 – September 11, 1997) was an American football player and baseball coach.
He played college football at Indiana University from 1944 to 1947 and helped lead the Indiana Hoosiers football team to the Big Ten Conference championship in 1945.
In April 1948, he signed with the Detroit Lions, becoming the first African-American signed by the team.
He played for the Lions during the 1948 and 1949 seasons and spent the next four years serving in the United States Air Force.
He later spent more than 30 years, as a professor and head baseball coach, at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.