Dennis Franklin
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Dennis E. Franklin (born August 24, 1953) is an American former professional
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player who was a
wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...
for the
Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...
of the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
(NFL). He was selected by the Lions in the
1975 NFL draft The 1975 NFL draft was held January 28–29, 1975, at the New York Hilton at Rockefeller Center in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Steve Bartkowski. Player selectio ...
. Prior to playing in the NFL, he played
college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
as a
quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...
for the
Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...
from 1971 to 1974. He was their starter from 1972 to 1974. He was recruited by Michigan after starring for the Massillon High School football team in
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
. Franklin is known as Michigan's first
black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
quarterback.


High school

Before attending the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
, Franklin drew attention as the talented quarterback of the 1970 Massillon High School Tigers football team. With Franklin at quarterback, the Massillon Tigers outscored opponents, 412–29, and rushed for nearly 3,000 yards (including 363 yards by Franklin) in one season. Franklin also passed for 699 yards, 21.2 yards per completion and 13
touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...
s. The team had major college football talent. He ran an offense that played eight future
NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...
players, including Steve Luke (
Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...
), Larry Harper ( Miami Redskins, now RedHawks), Mike Mauger (
Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...
,
Kent State Golden Flashes The Kent State Golden Flashes are the athletic teams that represent Kent State University. The university fields 19 varsity athletic teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division I, Division I level with footba ...
) and Willie Spencer (
World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 in sports, 1974 and most of its second in 1975 in sports, 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a w ...
). Franklin's older brothers, Walter and Ed, had won state championships with Massillon. In July 2007, he was inducted into the Stark County High School Football Hall of Fame.


College

After graduating from Massillon, Franklin wore #9 for the
Michigan Wolverines football The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the List of NCAA football teams by wins, most all-time wins in college football ...
program from 1972 to 1974, and he became known as "Michigan's first black quarterback" in
mass media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...
: "Every time I'd do an interview, they'd throw that tag on me. It became annoying," Franklin said. "Eventually, it went away. That's all I ever strived for." Franklin was a member of the Michigan teams coached by
Bo Schembechler Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American college football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the Univers ...
from 1971 to 1974 and was the starting quarterback from 1972 to 1974. Under Franklin’s leadership at quarterback, Michigan tied with Ohio State for three consecutive
Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...
titles from 1972 to 1974 and finished with 30 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie. Franklin was a First-team All Big Ten quarterback in 1974 and led the team in passing and total offense every year from 1972 to 1974, becoming the second player at Michigan since
Tom Harmon Thomas Dudley Harmon (September 28, 1919 – March 15, 1990), nicknamed "Old 98", was an American football player, military pilot, actor, and sports broadcaster. Harmon played college football as a halfback for the Michigan Wolverines from ...
to accomplish that feat for three consecutive years. Franklin was voted team
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
in 1974, was an Honorable Mention All American and finished sixth in the 1974
Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...
balloting. Franklin also won the 1974 Meyer Morton award, given by the M Club of Chicago for the football player show shows the greatest development and most promise as a result of spring practice and the 1972 John Maulbetsch Award, which is given to the freshman football candidate after spring practice on the basis of desire, character, capacity for leadership and future success both on and off the gridiron. Franklin is remembered for his role in the classic 1973 Michigan vs. Ohio State football game. When the teams met, both teams were unbeaten with
Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...
ranked No. 1, and Michigan No. 4. Michigan had outscored its opponents 320–58, Ohio State by a margin of 361–33. After an epic struggle, the game ended in a 10–10 tie. Ohio State had gone to the Rose Bowl the year before, which normally would have given Michigan the tie-breaker edge. After some deliberation, the Big Ten athletic directors picked the Buckeyes. There were several explanations including that Franklin broke his collarbone in the game, that the Wolverines failed to win on their home field, and that Ohio State had entered the game as the higher ranked team.


Career passing statistics


Career rushing statistics


Professional career

Drafted by the
Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...
in the sixth round of the
1975 NFL draft The 1975 NFL draft was held January 28–29, 1975, at the New York Hilton at Rockefeller Center in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Steve Bartkowski. Player selectio ...
, Franklin converted to
wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...
for the
1975 NFL season The 1975 NFL season was the 56th regular season of the National Football League. Instead of a traditional Thanksgiving Day game hosted by the Dallas Cowboys, the league scheduled a Buffalo Bills at St. Louis Cardinals contest. This was the f ...
. While Franklin was with Detroit, Greg Landry and Bill Munson were the Lions' quarterbacks. Franklin had a brief NFL career that lasted nine games and that totaled six catches over two years. After retiring from football, Franklin rose to vice president at
King World Productions King World Productions, Inc. (also known as King World Entertainment, King World Enterprises, or simply King World) was a production company and syndicator of television programming in the United States founded by Charles King (1912–72) that ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, a television distributor that produced '' Wheel of Fortune'', ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...
'', and ''
Oprah Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', broadcast from Chic ...
''. He now lives in
Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
, and sells real estate. Franklin's son Kenny followed his father to Michigan and has aspired toward acting with appearances in ''
Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...
'' and '' S.W.A.T.''.


See also

* Michigan Wolverines football statistical leaders


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Dennis 1953 births Living people American football quarterbacks American football wide receivers College football announcers Detroit Lions players Michigan Wolverines football players Players of American football from Massillon, Ohio 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen