Wake Forest Athletics
Week 11 Open the Gate Honoree: Robert Grant
11/11/2021 1:31:00 PM | Football, General
Wake Forest Hall of Famer and former football player Bob Grant is slated to be the Open the Gate honoree for Wake Forest’s Week 11 matchup with NC State.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Robert Grant, along with Butch Henry and Willie Smith, were the first Black football student-athletes to enroll at a Division I institution in the South, joining the Wake Forest family in the fall of 1964.
Grant had received more than 40 scholarship offers to attend numerous institutions around the country. Originally, Grant had committed to Michigan State. However, after a lengthy conversation with his high school football coach, in which he explained to Grant that Wake Forest head coach Bill Tate and Wake Forest president Dr. Harold Tribble devised a plan to integrate the football team Grant decided he wanted to be a part of their plan to change the landscape of college athletics.
Grant enrolled at Wake Forest in 1964 and lettered on the football team from 1965-67. Grant was named first team All-ACC defensive lineman in 1966.
During his time at Wake Forest, Grant became close with then-President Tribble. The two would go on weekly walks through the historic Reynolda Gardens. Tribble wanted to ensure that Grant was being welcomed to campus and integrating well with the other students. Grant's courageous choice to become one of the first African American football players in the south, blazed a trail for many to follow.
Following Grant's outstanding football career at Wake Forest, he chose to enter the 1968 NFL Draft. Grant was selected 50th overall to the Baltimore Colts. Grants would go on to play in two Super Bowls. He was a key figure during Super Bowl III, one of the most iconic games ever played in the NFL. However, the Colts were beaten by the New York Jets. Grant would get his hands on a super bowl ring two years later when the Colts beat the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V.
Grant was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame in 2011. Grant and Butch Henry will be honored with the, aptly named, Robert Grant and Kenneth "Butch" Henry Trailblazer Award during the game after a ceremony that will take place on Saturday afternoon.
Today, Grant serves as the Chairman of the Retired NFL Players Congress. The Retired NFL Players Congress was established in 2013 and serves to assist retired players, families, widows, and other various community causes.
Open the Gate Information & 2021 Honorees
The Open the Gate tradition has been an important and unique aspect of football games since its inception in 2008. This allows Wake Forest to honor individuals that make its University and Winston-Salem community so special. Honorees ride on the back of the motorcycle with the Demon Deacon mascot and lead the football team onto Truist Field. The first ever honoree was Wake Forest and Winston-Salem legend, Chris Paul.
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