First African-American drafted by the National Football League
Few fans of Indiana University’s football team had heard of George Taliaferro before the 18-year-old debuted in IU’s season-opening 13-7 victory at Michigan in 1945. The ’45 Hoosiers finished 9-0-1 and ranked No. 4-ranked in the nation. It was the only undefeated team and the only outright Big Ten champion in IU history. In 1948, the Chicago Bears made Taliaferro the first African-American ever taken in an NFL draft. The three-time IU All-American had an outstanding pro career, but he never played for the Bears, the team he grew up rooting for in Gary. Instead, Taliaferro played for the Los Angeles Dons of the All-American Football Conference and for NFL franchises in New York, Dallas, Baltimore and Philadelphia. He returned to Bloomington in 1972 to work for Indiana University, where he developed affirmative action plans for all eight IU campuses and taught for 10 years in the School of Social Work. He retired in 1992. Taliaferro was an advocate for youth in Bloomington and was one of three men to found Big Brothers Big Sisters of Monroe County in 1973. He is a member of both the College and Pro Football halls of fame. In 2019, a statute of Taliaferro was unveiled in the renamed George Taliaferro Plaza outside the North End Zone complex at IU’s Memorial Stadium.