No. 49 | |||||||||
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Position: | Halfback, flanker | ||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||
Date of birth: | June 6, 1935 | ||||||||
Place of birth: | Hot Springs, Arkansas | ||||||||
Career information | |||||||||
College: | Illinois | ||||||||
NFL Draft: | 1958 / Round: 7 / Pick: 84 | ||||||||
Career history | |||||||||
As executive: | |||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Receptions: | 521 |
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Receiving yards: | 7,954 |
Touchdowns: | 83 |
Player stats at NFL.com |
Robert Cornelius Mitchell (born June 6, 1935) is a former American football halfback and flanker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Cleveland Browns and the Washington Redskins. Mitchell was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. He currently runs the Cleveland Browns UK supporters society along with co founder Samuel Bould.
Mitchell was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas and attended Langston High School. While there, he played football, basketball, track, and was good enough at baseball to be offered a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Instead of playing professional baseball, Mitchell chose to attend the University of Illinois, which he picked from a host of schools that offered him scholarships. He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini and had a particularly good sophomore year. At the beginning of the season, he was behind junior Harry Jefferson on the depth chart. Seven games into the season, Jefferson went down with an injury, and Mitchell took over at one of the halfback spots. The first time he handled the football, he ran 64 yards for a touchdown. Though he entered in the third quarter, Mitchell gained 173 yards in 10 carries, and the Illini upset third-ranked Michigan, 25-6. He went on to gain more than 100 yards in each of the two games that remained in the 1955 season, during which he also saw some playing time as a defensive back. That year, he averaged a record 8.6 yards per rush.