Dave Mann (gridiron football)

Dave Carl Mann

No. 16
Date of birth	(1932-06-02)June 2, 1932
Place of birth	Berkeley, California, U.S.
Date of death	May 22, 2012(2012-05-22) (aged 79)
Place of death	Toronto, Canada
Career information
Status	Retired
CFL status	National
Position(s)	P/RB
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight	190 lb (86 kg)
US college	Oregon State
High school	Oakland (CA) Castlemont
NFL draft	1954 / Round: 7 / Pick: 74
Career history
As coach
	Offence Coach – St. Michael's College intramural football (University of Toronto)
As player
1955–1957	Chicago Cardinals
1958, 1960–1970	Toronto Argonauts
CFL East All-Star	1960, 1961
Honors	All-Time Argo (2005)
Career stats
Playing stats at NFL.com Playing stats at DatabaseFootball.com

David Carl Mann (June 2, 1932 – May 22, 2012) was an American professional gridiron football punter in the NFL and CFL. Mann was one of the first two black players to play college football for Oregon State College (OSC), helping to break the color barrier there in 1951.

Career

Born in Berkeley, California, Mann played at Oregon State College from 1951 to 1954.<--!He was definitely on the 1951 team as a sophomore but I am not seeing him on the 1952 roster. He would not have played in 1954 unless he received a red shirt.--> Mann was one of two black players on the 1951 Oregon State roster — the first in the history of the school.

He was drafted in the 7th round of the 1954 NFL Draft by the Chicago Cardinals in the National Football League. He played for the Cardinals for three seasons as a punter, running back, and a special teams member.

Then he went to the Canadian Football League where he played for the Toronto Argonauts. On the eve of the 1959 season, Mann was arrested after a raid on his apartment discovered about $100 worth of marijuana. Although he was acquitted at trial in February 1960, the Argonauts elected not to play him pending the outcome of the trial, forcing Mann to sit out the whole 1959 season. When released in the start of the 1969 season, he played for the Bramalea Satellites, being called back to the Argos as if the Bramalea team was a taxi squad.

In 1951 Mann was one of two players to break the color barrier on the football team at Oregon State College.

Dave Mann volunteered as Offence Coach with St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto, under head coach Lex Byrd. During Mann's tenure, the team won four Mulock Cups as intra-collegiate football champions; including the final playing of intra-faculty tackle football at U of T in the fall of 1993.

Personal life and death

Mann became a Canadian citizen and moved to Mississauga, Ontario, where he instructed techniques in golf, played drums in a jazz trio and became friends with comedian Bill Cosby. He also became a partner with Archie Alleyne, John Henry Jackson and Howard Matthews in The Underground Railroad, a soul food restaurant in Toronto.

Mann died on May 22, 2012, in a Toronto nursing home due to complications from dementia.

External links

• NFL.com player page
• Dave Mann listed as All-time Argo