Sunday, February 11, 2018

Langston Lions ‘Hollywood’ Henderson says his Black College Football Hall induction is his proudest achievement

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Black College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2018 Inductee Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson.

Hollywood Henderson was a linebacker at 
Langston University (1971-1974) where he started his collegiate career as a walk-on. During that time, he led Langston to 11-2 record and NAIA playoff berth in 1973. After college, he was selected by the Dallas Cowboys with 18th overall pick in the 1975 NFL Draft. He played seven seasons in the NFL for the Cowboys (1975-1979), San Francisco 49ers, Houston Oilers, and the Miami Dolphins. During his career, he was named to the 1978 Pro Bowl, and was a member of the 1977 Super Bowl winning Cowboys.
www.blackcollegefootballhof.org
He wants players to know football shouldn’t be the most important thing in their lives

ATLANTA, Georgia -- Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson came to the Black College Football Hall of Fame event last year to meet his friend, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, and while he was standing in the lobby, someone approached and told Henderson that Jones had nominated him for the Hall. In the middle of a room full of people, Henderson started crying. He walked to the restroom, went into a stall, sat down and cried some more.

Henderson had been confused as to why Jones was so adamant that he come to the event, and now he knew.

“One of the board members comes over and says, ‘They were talking about you,’ and they were saying basically that I went to Langston U
niversity in Langston, Oklahoma, and I was a No. 1 draft choice,” he said, “And they go, ‘Now, wait a minute, wait a minute, [how] is it the Black Hall of Fame can’t put a No. 1 draft choice in this Hall?’

“This is huge. My kids are coming, my friends. I’m buying my coaches tickets and rooms. … It’s huge. I’m 64 going on 30, and I might drop dead tomorrow, but I’m good.”

After walking on at Langston University, a historically black university in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, Henderson was a first-round draft pick by the Dallas Cowboys in 1975. Three years later, he helped the Cowboys win their second Super Bowl and was selected to his first Pro Bowl. At the turn of the century, Henderson won $28 million in the Texas Lotto, which he used to start a foundation.


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