Needless to add, I could not agree more and as the first Black player on the Forty Niners, he certainly was a ground breaker who represented all the best qualities of an athlete and man. Born in Arkansas but raised in the Compton section of Los Angeles, Fletcher Joseph Perry was an athletic standout at David Starr Jordan High School, starting for the varsity football team as a thirteen year old. Perhaps it could be stated that Perry began a great athletic tradition at what was the relatively small Jordan High School, paving the way for Olympic champions and world record holding track performers Florence Griffith-Joyner and Kevin Young. With his heart set on attending UCLA so that he could follow in the footsteps of his idol Kenny Washington and with the academic and athletic accomplishments to qualify, he was snubbed by his hometown university. As USC did not in Perry’s opinion, seem to be ready for Black football players, he chose local Compton Junior College as his next stop. Future Pro Football Hall Of Fame San Francisco Forty Niner teammate Hugh McElhenny, another Los Angeles product, also played there before embarking on his All American career at Washington. After a fine first season on the field and in the classroom as a math major, Perry enlisted in the Navy in order to serve his country during the Second World War. He later noted that he was not comfortable with the term “African-American” to describe his race. He was clear that he was “an American” who “served America” while in the military. When he returned from overseas he was stationed at the Alameda Naval Air Station where his football exploits attracted both the NFL Los Angeles Rams and the All American Football Conference San Francisco Forty Niners. Though the Rams offered Joe more money, he chose the Niners because of his immediate bond with their owner Tony Morabito, a man he felt was like a second father to him. Despite some racial prejudice shown towards him on the field, Perry always was clear that he was and would be patient with those who spoke badly towards him but would not tolerate any physical punishment because of his race. Though his 49er backfield mate in later years, John Henry Johnson, was known far and wide as perhaps the most intimidating player in the pro ranks, Perry’s reputation as a proud man who would retaliate immediately if he believed his physical well being was being compromised made him very much a highly respected individual among his teammates. Both Perry and other Niners of the team’s early years stressed constantly that they were very much a family and that race relations were quite good. Though the media and NFL folk lore credits Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo as being the first racially mixed NFL teammates, Verl Lillywhite and Perry actually were the ground breakers and the ongoing example Perry set from his entry to pro football in 1948 until his retirement after the ’63 season could have served as a template for others seeking the same type of social success.