Elijah Pitts

No. 22

Position:

Personal information

Date of birth:

February 3, 1938

Place of birth:

Date of death:

July 10, 1998 (aged 60)

Place of death:

Height:

6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)

Weight:

204 lb (93 kg)

Career information

High school:

Conway (AR) Pine Street

College:

NFL Draft:

1961 / Round: 13 / Pick: 180

Career history

As player:

As coach:

Los Angeles Rams (1974–1977)
Buffalo Bills (1978–1980)
Houston Oilers (1981–1983)
Hamilton Tiger-Cats (CFL) (1984)
Buffalo Bills (1985–1997)

Career highlights and awards

Career NFL statistics

Elijah Eugene Pitts (February 3, 1938 – July 10, 1998) was an American football player, a halfback in the National Football League for eleven seasons, ten with the Green Bay Packers. Late in his career, he briefly played for the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints. Pitts was an assistant coach in the league for over two decades, most notably as the assistant head coach of the Buffalo Bills.

Born in Mayflower, Arkansas, Pitts' father was a sharecropper. He played high school football at segregated Pine Street High School in Conway, and also in the marching band at halftime. Pitts had offers from Big Ten programs and notable black colleges, but chose to stay close to home and played college football at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, where his older brother and former coach were. His cousin, Eugene Pitt, is the leader of The Jive Five

Pitts was selected by the Packers in the thirteenth round of the 1961 NFL draft, 180th overall. He turned down a higher offer from the Boston Patriots of the AFL to play for a better team in the more established league. A reserve for much of his early career behind hall of famer Paul Hornung, he saw his most action for the Packers in 1966, and scored two touchdowns in the first Super Bowl.