The fire that drove Wally Triplett, the first drafted black player in the NFL

Former Detroit Lion broke barriers at college and in the pros but less is known of his life than other pioneering athletes

Just so you know, I am a negro."

That was the Wally Triplett's reply after he received a scholarship offer from the University of Miami's football program in 1945. Excited but wary, Triplett harbored no illusions as to what would happen when they inevitably discovered that he was in fact, a black man.