The LEGACY
“UMES - Professional Football Players”
1957 Baltimore Colts John B. “Red Ball” Sample
1956 Cleveland Browns Sherman “The Gentle Giant or Tank” Plunkett
1960 Winnepeg Rough Riders (CFL) Vernon Vaughn
1960 Detroit Lions Roger “Nyack” Brown
1960 New York Jets Harold “House” Gray
1961 Denver Broncos John Hobbs
1961 Saskatchewan Rough Riders (CFL) William “Shorty” Gray
1962 Baltimore Colts Charles Julius “Crunch & Ramrod” Holmes
1963 New York Giants Robert “Bob” Taylor
1965 Green Bay Packers Doug Goodwin
“College Hall of Fame”
“Art Shell NFL Hall of Fame”
Art Shell, a third-round draft pick of the Oakland Raiders in 1968, excelled on the special teams for two seasons before winning the starting offensive left tackle job in his third campaign. Within a short time, he became widely recognized as one of the premier offensive linemen in the National Football League.
Through much of his career, Shell teamed with left guard Gene Upshaw, a 1987 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinee, to provide the Raiders with an exceptional nucleus to a forward unit that powered the perennially strong Oakland offense of the 1970s.
Many observers rate Shell, who was equally adept as a pass protector and a blocker on running plays, as the finest of many excellent Raiders offensive linemen of the 1970s. Shell was a first- or second-team All-Pro choice six straight years from 1973 through 1978.
He also played in eight Pro Bowl games and 23 post-season contests, including eight AFL/AFC championships and the Raiders' victories in Super Bowls XI and XV. Shell was credited with a nearly perfect performance against Jim Marshall, the Minnesota Vikings’ sterling defensive end, in Super Bowl XI.
Art played in his first 156 pro games before a pre-season injury in 1979 forced him out of the lineup for five games. He then launched another streak of 51 games that ended with an injury midway into his final 1982 campaign.
Born in Charleston, South Carolina Shell was All-State in both football and basketball at Bonds-Wilson High School in North Charleston. In college with the Maryland State-Eastern Shore grid team, he starred on both offense and defense. Art was named All-Conference three years, All-America two years by the Pittsburgh Courier and Ebony Magazine, and little All-America as a senior in 1967.
“The legendary Skip McCain and his Coaches”
Vernon “Skip” McCain: A Lost Legacy of Excellence
For more than a quarter of a century, UMES was recognized as a football powerhouse among Historically Black Colleges and Universities. From 1946 to 1970, UMES had a combined win-loss record of 142 wins, 38 losses, and 6 ties or an astounding 77.6 winning percentage. In addition, UMES produced seven (7) undefeated seasons during the period from 1947 to 1960.
No one person was more instrumental in UMES’s success than Vernon “Skip” McCain. The history of UMES’s football program is inextricably linked to Coach McCain’s tenure. During his tenure Coach McCain had a phenomenal success record of 103 wins, 16 losses and 4 ties.
Those who knew him say Coach McCain was the embodiment of the teacher-coach. From 1948 to 1953, he was the most successful
coach in the country. Coach McCain, himself a student of the game, did not miss many coaching clinics during his tenure.
“Our Team’s Won and Lost Record”
