{"id":181796,"date":"2026-02-26T20:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/181796\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T20:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:44:19","slug":"mean-joe-greene-among-texas-pvil-stars-who-made-nfl-impacts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/181796\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Mean’ Joe Greene among Texas PVIL stars who made NFL impacts"},"content":{"rendered":"

For decades, the UIL was segregated, meaning Black high school athletes in Texas played in the Prairie View Interscholastic League<\/a>. Several players went on to star in college and professional football. As Black History Month nears its end, the American-Statesman lists 10 of the best who made a big impact after leaving the\u00a0PVIL.<\/p>\n

Cliff Branch, Houston Worthing: A three-time Super Bowl champion with the Oakland Raiders, he led the NFL in TD receptions twice (1974, 1976).<\/p>\n

Mel Farr, Beaumont Hebert: Earned NFL rookie of the year honors as a safety in 1967 with the Detroit Lions and was a two-time Pro Bowler.<\/p>\n

Joe Greene, Temple\u00a0Dunbar: A 10-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle with the Pittsburgh Steelers, “Mean Joe” was the defensive catalyst for the team that won four Super Bowls.<\/p>\n

Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, L.C. Anderson: Best known as the flamboyant linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, he helped the team win Super Bowl XII and played in the 1978 Pro Bowl.<\/p>\n

Dick “Night Train” Lane, L.C. Anderson:\u00a0The seven-time NFL All-Pro and Hall of Fame cornerback<\/a> still holds the league record for most interceptions in a season (14).<\/p>\n

Harvey Martin, Dallas South Oak Cliff: The NFL defensive player of the year in 1977 made the 1970s’ all-decade team as a defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n

Charles\u00a0“Bubba”\u00a0Smith, Beaumont Charlton-Pollard: The 10-year veteran was voted the UPI’s NFL defensive lineman of the year in 1966 and was instrumental in the Baltimore Colts’ victory in Super Bowl V.<\/p>\n

Charley Taylor, Grand Prairie Dalworth: A 14-year receiver with the Washington Redskins, he played in the Pro Bowl eight times.<\/p>\n

Gene Upshaw, Robstown: A six-time Pro Bowler, the offensive guard was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987.<\/p>\n

Warren Wells, Beaumont Hebert: Drafted by Detroit in 1964, he was a first-team All-AFL player with the Raiders in 1968 and a Pro Bowler in 1970.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For decades, the UIL was segregated, meaning Black high school athletes in Texas played in the Prairie View…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,586,80,54481,72838],"class_list":["post-181796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-high-school-football","tag-nfl","tag-prairie-view-interscholastic-league","tag-pvil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}