Remembering Abner Haynes’ impact on pro football, America in the 1960s

For a short time after leading an AFL boycott over racist treatment of Black players, Abner Haynes was picked up by the Broncos. Haynes died in July 2024 and his son King David has written a new book about his dad. I interviewed King David last month to talk about the book and his dad.

In a few weeks, the Denver Broncos are going to select a rookie running back as it is one of the biggest needs of the offense. Whether it’s the first round or last round is anyone’s guess, so we’ll leave it at that.

But we are going to talk about one of history’s best pro running backs, who was briefly a Bronco.

Abner Haynes.

A native of North Texas, Haynes came out of the high school football mecca that is Texas football. Playing for an all-Black Lincoln High School, Haynes and Leon King broke the color barrier at what was then North Texas State University (now University of North Texas at Denton).

As a starting running back in 1958 and 1959, Haynes led North Texas to a 16-4-1 record while rushing for 1,864 career yards and 25 touchdowns. Drafted to the AFL’s Dallas Texans in 1960, Haynes easily earned Rookie of the Year honors as he led league in rushing with 875 yards and averaged 15.4 yards in punt returns.

Haynes would go on to set AFL records for TDs in a game (5), TDs in a season (19) and career TDs (46). He played pro football for eight years — three with the Texans and another one with the Chiefs (when Lamar Hunt moved the team to Kansas City), two with the Broncos and another shared season between the Dolphins and Jets.

Haynes accumulated 4,630 career rushing yards and 12,065 combined total yards in his career — a career that is memorialized in the North Texas Athletic Hall of Fame (1986) and the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame (1991).

But it was his role in an African American player boycott of the AFL All Star Game in 1965 in New Orleans that Haynes earned his reputation as a real leader among men at the time.

In 2020, Jess Place and I spoke to Haynes about his efforts, and he explained why he made that bold move:

“When it was my time to get my [hotel] room, the woman said to me, ‘Where are you monkeys from?’ I said, ‘What did you say? She said, ‘Where you monkeys from?’ I was through with it. I just walked away because I wasn’t going to get caught up in that kind of bull,” Haynes told us. “I stepped out of line and she called the next guy a monkey. We decided then and there we needed to have a meeting because I’m not going to put up with this all week.”

Within an hour, Haynes and others had organized a meeting of more than 20 players – both Black and white and from different teams. With the support of white AFL stars such as Buffalo quarterback Jack Kemp and San Diego offensive tackle Ron Mix, Haynes and the players told AFL commissioner Joe Foss that they would not play in New Orleans, and the game was moved to Houston.

“I was never so proud of my teammates who stood up for us and made it known ‘if they aren’t going to treat Abner better than that, we’re not going to play,’” Haynes said.

Now Haynes’ son, King David, has written a book about his father’s life — from humble beginnings as a preacher’s son in segregated Texas to a football star who inadvertently helped the country address its racism as Haynes made his way through high school, college and professional ranks in football.

Abner Haynes died last July, and his son has memorialized many of his stories — both football and family — in a new book, “Abner Haynes: An American Hero.”

I spoke to King David about the book, some more early stories of his father’s life and of course more about the 1965 boycott.

One thing that was clear is that Abner Haynes never thought he did any of his accomplishments on his own. Whether it was his own father (known as “Papa Dad”) standing up to the KKK or his aunt feeding him all through college while he wasn’t allowed to eat on campus as a Black man or a coach and athletic director who made sure he could play or teammates at every level who just wanted to win and could not have cared less about his skin color, Abner Haynes was always grateful for his experience.

“My dad was always observant of how far we have come, you know,” King David said, noting that he didn’t during segregation but he certainly experienced the lack of integration Texas and the South were known for throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s. “But my dad was always looking at the positive, you know, because all the way through there were people who were further along in their thinking and they helped my dad.”

When Jess and I first spoke to Abner and his son King David five years ago, we of course compared the 60s to the protesting in 2020. I mentioned in the recent interview that some things still hadn’t changed, and King David noted that change takes time and finding allies in the moment is the key.

“In our lifetimes, it feels slow, but in the grand scheme of things, we’ve changed a lot. We’ve changed so much from the 50s and the 60s,” he said, adding that he’s often proud of the country and certainly proud of all the people he met through his dad’s pro football days that have helped move the country’s thinking to more of an equality mindset. “I’ve known many people through my dad, who were ahead of their peers and and who thought about fairness and giving everyone an equal shot at life, you know people who didn’t think that giving me a fair chance would somehow lessen their life, you know?”

I hope you take some time to listen to or watch the interview and definitely check out the book. You can get it on Amazon or through Barnes & Noble, and if you really want a treat, get the audio book and listen to King David himself narrate it. He’s got a preacher’s voice so you won’t be disappointed!