James C. Caroline (January 17, 1933 – November 17, 2017) was an American professional football player 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) and

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

(CFL). He played college football at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Unive ...

where he was a consensus All-American in 1953. After a year in the CFL with the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

and

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

, Caroline played for ten seasons in the NFL with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

. He is a member of the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were v ...

Playing career

Caroline played college football at the Illinois,

lettering Lettering is an umbrella term that covers the art of drawing letters, instead of simply writing them. Lettering is considered an art form, where each letter in a phrase or quote acts as an illustration. Each letter is created with attention to d ...

in 1953 and 1954. A halfback, Caroline led the nation in rushing with 1256 yards in 1953 as a sophomore, and was named All-American. The next year, he was ruled ineligible to play due to academic reasons, so instead of returning to college his senior year, Caroline chose to play

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

. He initially signed with the

for $15,000 and played with them through September. They then stunned the league when he was placed on waivers; head coach

Bill Swiacki William Adam Swiacki (October 2, 1922 – July 7, 1976) was an American football player and coach. He played college football as an end for Columbia University in 1946 and 1947 and was a consensus first-team All-American in 1947. He played prof ...

, claimed he wasn’t good enough as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

. The only team that could afford him was the division champion

. Caroline rushed for 575 yards on the season. He played in the 1955

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

game. Following that year, Caroline earned a physical education degree from

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the U ...

and was drafted by the

with the 82nd overall pick in the 1956 NFL Draft . Beginning in 1956, Caroline had a ten-year career with the Bears. Playing primarily

, Caroline finished his career with 24

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

s and six total

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

s—two rushing, one receiving, one

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful h ...

recovery, and two on interceptions. Caroline intercepted

Johnny Unitas John Constantine Unitas (; May 7, 1933 – September 11, 2002) was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Baltimore Colts. Following a career that spanned from 1956 ...

's first NFL career pass attempt and returned it for a touchdown. He was a two-way player for the Bears' 1956 Western Conference champions and a DB on the 1963 NFL Championship team.

Honors and later life

After his professional football career, Caroline moved to

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the 38th-most populous municipality in Illinois. It ...

coached the Urbana High School football team in 1982 and taught physical education at Urbana Middle School. Caroline was inducted into the

in 1980. He was portrayed by actor

Bernie Casey Bernard Terry Casey (June 8, 1939 – September 19, 2017) was an American actor, poet and professional American football player. Early life Casey was born in Wyco, West Virginia, the son of Flossie (Coleman) and Frank Leslie Casey. He graduated ...

in the 1971

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudr ...

Brian's Song ''Brian's Song'' is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the life of Brian Piccolo (James Caan), a Chicago Bears football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro in 1965, told through his friendship with teammate Gale Sayers ...

''. His grandson

Jordan Caroline Jordan Caroline (born January 15, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for Baxi Manresa of the Liga ACB. He played college basketball for the Southern Illinois Salukis and the Nevada Wolf Pack. Early life and high school career ...

is a basketball player at

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

. J.C. Caroline died in 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caroline, J. C. 1933 births 2017 deaths American football defensive backs American football halfbacks Chicago Bears players Illinois Fighting Illini football players Montreal Alouettes players Toronto Argonauts players High school football coaches in Illinois All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Western Conference Pro Bowl players Florida A&M University alumni People from Warrenton, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people

Playing career

Honors and later life

See also

References

External links