FOOTBALL • 1955-57 | TRACK & FIELD • 1957-58

Bobby Mitchell earned his Fighting Illini stripes as a two-sport star in football and as a sprinter in track. He earned All-Big Ten honors for Ray Eliot on the gridiron in 1955 and 1957 while battling injuries as a junior in 1956. On the track, he set an indoor world record (one that lasted just six days) with a 7.7 mark in the 70-yard low hurdles in helping the Illini win the 1958 Big Ten Indoor Championship. Later that year, Mitchell won Big Ten sprint championships in the 100 yards (9.6 sec.) and 220 yards (21.3 sec.) in leading the Illini to the Big Ten Outdoor title as well. Mitchell was selected in the seventh round of the 1958 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, where he teamed with Jim Brown to form one of history’s truly great running back combinations from 1958 through 1961. Prior to the 1962 season, he was traded to the Washington Redskins where Mitchell became the first African-American to play and star for the Redskins. When he retired at the end of his 11-year pro career, his 14,078 combined net yards was the second highest total in NFL history and led to his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. After retiring from football in 1968, Mitchell remained with the Redskins as a pro scout, gradually moving up the ranks to assistant general manager before retiring in 2003. As a player and front office executive, Mitchell spent 40 years with the Redskins. Mitchell passed away in 2020.