Julius Franks
Julius Franks, c. 1942
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| No. 63 | |
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| Position: | Guard |
| Personal information | |
| Date of birth: | September 5, 1922 |
| Place of birth: | Macon, Georgia |
| Date of death: | November 26, 2008 (aged 86) |
| Place of death: | Grand Rapids, Michigan |
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Weight: | 187 lb (85 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Hamtramck (MI) |
| College: | Michigan |
| Undrafted: | 1944 |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Julius Franks, Jr. (September 5, 1922 – November 26, 2008) was a civil rights leader and an All-American guard who played football at the University of Michigan from 1941 to 1942. Franks wore #62 as a varsity letterman in 1941 and #63 in 1942. Franks was the first (or second depending on the source) African-American University of Michigan player to become an All-American in football. Illness cut short his collegiate athletic career.
After Michigan, Franks pursued a career in dentistry. He also became an active community leader who contributed his time to public service and who helped to integrate Grand Rapids, Michigan by financing home construction in a majority Caucasian neighborhood.
Franks, who was born in Macon, Georgia and raised in Hamtramck, Michigan, was named to the Detroit, Michigan, all-city team after the 1939 high school football season. He is the son of Julius Franks, Sr. and Nellie Mae Solomon and father of Daryl, Cheryl, Bobby, Beverly A Grant, Fredrick. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Michigan, where he became the third African-American to play for the Michigan Wolverines football team. In 1942, he became the first African-American at Michigan to earn All-American honors. He is described as the second to be All-American by some accounts. Head coach Fritz Crisler said Franks was one of the hardest-working players he ever coached. The 1942 Wolverines' offensive line, which included Franks, Al Wistert, Robert Kolesar, Merv Pregulman, and Elmer Madar, was known as the "Seven Oak Posts". Franks credited the group's success to scrimmaging as rookies against the 1940 offense that included Tom Harmon, Forest Evashevski, and Bob Westfall. Franks was played all 60 minute in his games as a junior in 1942 and was named a first-team All American by the International News Service (Hearst newspapers), Central Press, and Collier's Weekly, and a second-team All-American by the Associated Press and New York Sun.
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