Jack Richard Leftridge (April 14, 1944 – February 27, 2004) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

player. He played fullback for a single season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(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 club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

. Leftridge was born in

Hinton, West Virginia Hinton is a city in Summers County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,266 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Summers County. Hinton was established in 1873 and chartered in 1897. Hinton was named after John "Jack" Hin ...

and played college football at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

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

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

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 National Football League draft was held at the Summit Hotel in New York City on Saturday, November 27, 1965. The expansion Atlanta Falcons were awarded the first pick in each round as well as the final pick in each of the first five r ...

. 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 African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people