Eldridge Dickey

CTL-E-6871 · Person · other · 1945–2000

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07743 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6871.

Eldridge Reno Dickey (1945–2000), a Houston, Texas native, was a three-time HBCU All-American quarterback at Tennessee State University who, as Andscape records, threw for 6,523 yards and 67 touchdowns and led the Tigers to an undefeated National Black College championship season in 1966. In the 1968 draft the Oakland Raiders selected him 25th overall — the first Black quarterback selected in the first round of a pro football draft, as both the Raiders' own draft history and the Pro Football Hall of Fame's account of Al Davis confirm. The record's central tension is what happened next: despite reports that Dickey outperformed second-round pick Ken Stabler in training camp, the Raiders moved him to wide receiver before the season, and he never played a regular-season snap at quarterback, appearing in 18 games as a receiver. He was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2012. The draft door he opened was real; the opportunity behind it was withheld.

The record

• Also known as: Eldridge Reno Dickey, The Lord's Prayer

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0409. Firsts disposition: 'First Black quarterback selected in the first round of a pro football draft' (Oakland Raiders, AFL/NFL draft 1968, Tennessee State) ASSERTED — supported by the Oakland Raiders (team official) and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, with Andscape corroborating. The conversion to wide receiver and the fact that he never played quarterback in a regular-season game are sourced on the same record (Raiders; Pro Football Hall of Fame; Andscape). Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Dickey is this packet's sharpest case of a barrier broken on paper and held in practice — drafted as a quarterback, converted before he could play as one. The record states both halves; neither cancels the other. Photo: HELD — no depicting Commons file.

Relationships

• Houston, Texas — from
  Eldridge Dickey was a Houston, Texas native, as the Raiders' draft history records.

Sources

• Oakland Raiders. "Draft Recollections: Eldridge Dickey." Raiders.com. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://www.raiders.com/news/draft-recollections-eldridge-dickey-15188005 (primary source · build store)
• Pro Football Hall of Fame. "Hall of Famer Al Davis went the extra yard for social justice." Pro Football Hall of Fame, August 11, 2020. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://www.profootballhof.com/news/hall-of-famer-al-davis-went-the-extra-yard-for-social-justice (primary source · build store)
• Andscape. "Eldridge Dickey: the first black quarterback drafted in the first round." Andscape (ESPN). Accessed 2026-11-03. https://andscape.com/whhw/eldridge-dickey-first-black-quarterback-drafted-tennessee-state-in-the-first-round-nfl/ (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6871 · Combined Graph record U-07743 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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