Md. State trenches gave Shell his start

Even though Art Shell didn’t play one of football’s glamour positions, he has an unmistakable appreciation for the game that helped him establish a Hall of Fame career.

Already a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame thanks to his lengthy career as a paving blocker and later a pioneering head coach for the Oakland/ Los Angeles Raiders, Shell will take his place in the College Football Hall of Fame today in Atlanta.

“It’s still the greatest game there is. I don’t care what anybody says,” Shell said. “No matter when you get the call, it’s an honor. I’m really, really proud of going into the College Hall of Fame. It’s definitely right up there with the pro.”

Shell played at what then was Maryland State in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. During his career from 1964 to 1967, the Hawks posted a 20- 8- 1 overall record and Shell earned Little All- America honors as a two- way lineman. A halfback who ran behind many of Shell’s blocks was Emerson Boozer, who entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

“It’s special for me, and it’s special for the university,” said Shell, 66. “When you play at a historically black school like I did, you want to give back for those who didn’t have the opportunity to play football.”

Although he played at a small school, Shell had opportunities to play in front of knowledgeable and forward- thinking scouts.

“Back then the historically black schools were pretty well stocked,” Shell said. “Those players weren’t being recruited by the big schools. So we had pro scouts on campus. I guess I had good size and speed and quickness, so I got a chance.”

What the coaches and players at schools such as Maryland State — now Maryland Eastern Shore — lacked in terms of big- stage and bigbudget advantages, even in the 1960s, they made up in creativity. Shell recalled reminiscing with his coach, Roosevelt Gilliam, at one of Shell’s annual golf tournaments he sponsors to raise funds for his alma mater.

“I remember saying to him, ‘ Coach, you remember how we had to make weights?’ We took these gallon cans and filled them with cement, then we stuck poles in them so we’d have weights to lift,” he said.

Shell’s work in the trenches and his contributions to the Hawks’ basketball team as a three- year starter impressed a fellow named John Madden. The Raiders made Shell a third- round draft pick in 1968, and he went on to play on three Super Bowl- winning teams and in eight Pro Bowls. In 1989, at 42, he became the first African- American head coach of a modern NFL franchise.

UMES dropped football after the 1979 season, so Shell’s visits to campus now are for basketball games. But he maintains close ties to the school as well as to the NFL. Until this month, he served as a joint league and NFL Players Association representative, reviewing disciplinary decisions.