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Julius Franks, Jr. (September 5, 1922 – November 26, 2008〔 〕) was a civil rights leader and an All-American guard who played football at the University of Michigan from 1941 to 1942. Franks wore #62 as a varsity letterman in 1941 and #63 in 1942. Franks was the first (or second depending on the source) African-American University of Michigan player to become an All-American in football. Illness cut short his collegiate athletic career. After Michigan, Franks pursued a career in dentistry. He also became an active community leader who contributed his time to public service and who helped to integrate Grand Rapids, Michigan by financing home construction in a majority Caucasian neighborhood. ==First African-American All-American football player at Michigan== Franks, who was born in Macon, Georgia and raised in Hamtramck, Michigan, was named to the Detroit, Michigan, all-city team after the 1939 high school football season.〔 He is the son of Julius Franks, Sr. and Nellie Mae Solomon and father of Daryl, Cheryl, Bobby, Beverly A Grant, Fredrick.〔 After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Michigan, where he became the third African-American to play for the Michigan Wolverines football team. In 1942, he became the first African-American at Michigan to earn All-American honors.〔 He is described as the second to be All-American by some accounts.〔〔 Head coach Fritz Crisler said Franks was one of the hardest-working players he ever coached.〔 The 1942 Wolverines' offensive line, which included Franks, Al Wistert, Robert Kolesar, Merv Pregulman, and Elmer Madar, was known as the "Seven Oak Posts". Franks credited the group's success to scrimmaging as rookies against the 1940 offense that included Tom Harmon, Forest Evashevski, and Bob Westfall. Franks was played all 60 minute in his games as a junior in 1942 and was named a first-team All American by the International News Service (Hearst newspapers), Central Press, and ''Collier's Weekly'', and a second-team All-American by the Associated Press and ''New York Sun''.〔 In 1943, Franks and teammate Tom Kuzma came down with tuberculosis and were hospitalized at University Hospital for 25 months as they recuperated. Franks recalled that head coach Fritz Crisler was a regular visitor to his hospital room, and team star Tom Harmon also stopped to visit while on leave from military service. As a result of the hospitalization, Franks missed his senior year as a football player.〔 He obtained his bachelor of science degree in 1947.〔 In 1982, Franks was named to the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in the fifth class of inductees that was inducted in 1983. He was the twelfth Michigan football player to earn this honor.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Hall of Honor )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Julius Franks」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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