Woody Strode

Woodrow Wilson Woolwine Strode (July 25, 1914 – December 31, 1994) was an American actor, football player and author. He was a decathlete and football star who was one of the first Black American players in the National Football League in the postwar era. After football, he went on to become a film actor, where he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Spartacus in 1960. Strode also served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. Early life and athletic career Strode was born in Los Angeles. His parents were from New Orleans; his grandmother was of African-American and self-identified Cherokee descent, his grandfather was an African-American and his grandmother was of self-identified Cree descent. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School in South East Los Angeles and college at UCLA, where he was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. His world-class decathlon capabilities were spearheaded by a plus shot put (when the world record was ) and a high jump (the world record at time was ). "I got a cultural education—majored in history and education," he said in a 1971 interview. "Never used it, but I could walk into the White House with it now."