Jack Richard Leftridge (April 14, 1944 – February 27, 2004) was an American 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. He played fullback for a single season in 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) with the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

. Leftridge was born in Hinton, West Virginia and 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 ...

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

(WVU). Along with Roger Alford who entered in the same class, Leftridge was the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

to play football at WVU. *1963: 79 carries for 393 yards and 5 TD. 10 catches for 89 yards and 2 TD. *1964: 125 carries for 534 yards and 5 TD. 3 catches for 23 yards. *1965: 144 carries for 744 yards and 8 TD. 9 catches for 77 yards and one touchdown. Leftridge was selected by the Steelers with the third overall selection of the first round of the

1966 NFL draft The 1966 NFL draft was held at the 569 Lexington Avenue, Summit Hotel in New York City on Saturday, November 27, 1965. The expansion 1966 Atlanta Falcons season, Atlanta Falcons were awarded the first pick in each round as well as the final pick ...

. He appeared in only four games in his professional career and his selection is considered by some as the worst draft pick in Steelers history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leftridge, Dick 1944 births American football running backs Players of American football from West Virginia West Virginia Mountaineers football players Pittsburgh Steelers players People from Hinton, West Virginia 2004 deaths 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen