John Black played as captain of the UA football team in 1940.
Handout photoRather than accept $165 per game from the New York Giants, Black enlisted in the Navy and was soon aboard the USS Salamaua in the Pacific. “A Japanese kamikaze pilot crashed into the deck of our ship, killing 60 of my friends,” Black told me.
Life after football: Black raised cattle in Missouri, sold insurance in Phoenix, beat lung and colon cancer, coached Phoenix Union to the state football championship and lived to be 85.
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Linebacker Blake Martinez will be 27th Tucsonan to be picked.
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