J.C. Caroline is seriously stylin’ on this card. But his game was even better than his coiffure–especially after catching Johnny Unitas’s first TD pass…as a Chicago Bear.
J.C. was a South Carolina stud who got the attention of the University of Illinois, and as a sophomore led the nation in rushing, and broke Red Grange’s records in the process. After another strong season as a junior, he was named a team captain…but to prove that ignorance was alive and well in higher education and that racism isn’t a Southern issue, a professor who did not want an African-American to be a team captain for the Fightin’ Illini flunked him. So he was off the team. “I grew up in the South, so I was used to discrimination,” J.C. later noted. “It was no big deal.”
After that massive injustice, he was off to Canada, eh. In 1955 he played for two CFL teams before going to Florida A&M to finish his degree. This made him draft eligible, and the Bears quickly claimed him. Halas insisted on taking J.C. and converting him to defensive back. This was a concern for him because in his junior year he damaged a nerve in his left arm while tackling Jim Brown, and the arm was nearly useless–but he didn’t tell anyone. As a result, he was fearless. He routinely went against the finest receivers–”He thought he could beat anybody,” teammate Rick Casares remembered. With one working arm.
In the Bears’ ‘56 Western Conference title year, J.C. played on both offense and defense before settling into a full time defensive back role, where he was a Bears fixture for ten seasons. In Chicago he’s remembered for nailing Herb Adderley on a punt return that set the tone for the Bears clinching the ‘63 Western Division en route to the NFL title.
But folks best remember him for intercepting Johnny U’s very first career pass attempt in 1956…and returning it fifty-six yards for a touchdown. So J.C. was Unitas’s first receiver, just for the wrong team. But stuff worked out for John, eventually.
J.C. even “appears” in Brian’s Song, but oddly he was one of the few Bears players not to portray himself–he’s portrayed by Bernie Casey. Maybe Billy Dee Williams didn’t want anyone better looking than him on screen…
He was a player-coach for Papa Bear Halas at the end of his career before coaching high school football in Illinois–and he was stylin’ all the while.
Look at these highlights of J.C. Caroline!
