James Pierce, Football/Track (1921-23)
James Pierce won varsity letters as a football tackle in 1921, 1922, and 1923. Although he played in an era when individual statistics were not kept and played a position for which statistics are hard to come by in any era, newspaper clippings of his day referred to him with these superlatives: "a whale of a tackle, a good-natured giant...you would scarcely believe the size of the hole he fills in the Toledo line...a real bear who time and time again would break through to stop plays, blocks punts, and then recover them...one of the most outstanding players on one of the country's better college teams." (One newspaper listed Toledo as 172nd out of 270 college football teams competing at a major level at the time.) Evidence also exists showing names of varsity lettermen during the years in which he competed. Following graduation, he enjoyed a long career as chairman of the political science department at Alabama State College in Montgomery, Alabama and as president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in that community.
