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Rosey Grier
Position(s): Defensive Tackle	Jersey #(s): 76
Born: July 14, 1932 (1932-07-14) (age 75) Brooklyn, New York
Career Information
Year(s): 1955-1966
NFL Draft: 1955 / Round: 3 / Pick: 31
College: Penn State
Professional Teams
New York Giants (1955-1964) L.A. Rams (1964-1967)
Career Stats
Sacks	44.5
Games	141
Safeties	2
Stats at NFL.com
Career Highlights and Awards
Pro Bowl (x3) (1953, 1956, 1960)

Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier (born July 14, 1932 in Brooklyn, New York) is an African-American football player, actor, and Christian minister. One of twelve children, Grier was named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was governor of New York at the time and was elected president later that year. He is also a cousin of actress Pam Grier. Rosey Grier was well known in the 1970s for his hobbies of needlepoint and macrame, practices not normally associated with "macho" sports figures.

After attending Pennsylvania State University and playing in the defensive line of the football team there, Grier began his professional football career in 1955. He wore number 76 and was one of the National Football League defensive linemen with the New York Giants from 1955 to 1962 where he was named an All-Pro defensive tackle in 1957.

Grier then moved to the Los Angeles Rams and played there from 1963 to 1966. He was part of the "Fearsome Foursome", along with Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, and Lamar Lundy, often considered one of the best defensive lines in football history, along with the Purple People Eaters of the Minnesota Vikings and the Steel Curtain of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

A torn Achilles' tendon ended his football career in 1967.

In 1997, he was inducted into the New Jersey Sports Hall of Fame.

Grier served as a bodyguard for his friend, U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy, but was guarding Ethel Kennedy, the Senator's wife, then expecting a child, the night that Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles in 1968. Grier and Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson heard shots fired ahead of them. Grier grabbed the gun of the assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, and jammed his finger behind the trigger, breaking Sirhan Sirhan's arm.

Grier has appeared in a number of films and television shows. One of the first football stars to successfully transition to acting, he made about 70 television guest appearances, including a role as one of the security contingent in The Brain Killer Affair episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. He became a regular cast member on the series Daniel Boone, Make Room for Granddaddy, and The White Shadow. [1] Grier also sang the song "It's All Right to Cry" for the children's album and TV program Free to Be… You and Me. Grier appeared on the television game show Match Game 74 as a panelist. Grier starred in a handful low-budget features, including The Thing with Two Heads (1972).

• Rosey Grier's Needlepoint for Men (1973)
• Rosey, an Autobiography: The Gentle Giant (1986)
• Winning (1990)
• Shooting Star: Sometimes You Find What You Didn't Even Know You Were Looking For... : A Novel (1993)

Grier has also written a number of books, and now travels the United States as an inspirational speaker, and is cofounder of American Neighborhood Enterprises, an organization that works to help disadvantaged city dwellers buy homes and receive vocational training.

Grier was ordained a Christian minister in 1983, and the next year he founded his nonprofit resource center for inner-city teens, developing spiritual and educational programs for disadvantaged youths.

Grier is a prominent member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.

He is also on the Milken Family Foundation board of trustees and serves as its program administrator of community affairs

He has been honored by Penn State as recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1974, and the Alumni Fellow Award in 1991. He was named to the NCAA's "List of the 100 Most Influential Student-Athletes” published to commemorate the NCAA's 100th anniversary.

• Rosey Grier filmography
• Rosey Grier football statistics
• Needlepoint for Men by Rosey Grier (1973)
• Rosey Grier at the Internet Movie Database
• NCCA Centennial "List of 100 Most Influential Student-Athletes" (PDF)