Emerson E. Cole, retired as Ohio Civil Rights Commission chief of compliance who was a University of Toledo football star and played on the 1950 championship Cleveland Browns, died Tuesday in ProMedica Ebeid Hospice Residence in Toledo. He was 91.
He had prostate and kidney cancer, his sister Brenda Caroll Cole said. Before he began to feel ill a month ago, “he was still cooking and mopping his kitchen. He took care of himself, period,” she said.
In 2012, Mr. Cole was honored by the African American Legacy Project of Northwest Ohio. He wore his UT Hall of Fame Ring and his NFL championship ring. He spoke of the brutal cold during that Christmas Eve, 1950, championship game — 5 below zero.
“I didn’t feel anything below the belt,” Mr. Cole said in 2012. The Browns defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 30-28. That year, Mr. Cole had been the first African-American drafted by the Browns, although he had black teammates who came aboard through trades.
Coach Paul Brown told white players if they couldn’t play with black teammates, they could get a ticket home, Mr. Cole recalled. Still there was discrimination, not least that black players often couldn’t stay in the same hotels as the white players.
“I asked him, ‘Why don’t you tell the real story? You’re in your 90s,’” his sister said. “He would say he’d rather not. He didn’t want to cast clouds.”
Mr. Cole closed his brief pro career with the Chicago Bears, becoming a Lucas County sheriff’s deputy in 1953.
He’d been a star on the Swanton High School team. At UT, he was first-team All-Ohio his senior year and received an honorable mention as an All-American. He set a record for rushing in a season, with 1,162 yards. Indeed, in 1949 he became UT’s first 1,000-yard rusher.
For nearly two decades, Mr. Cole had executive roles with the state civil rights commission — first as director of the northwest Ohio regional office in Toledo, and then in Columbus as compliance chief. Duties included coordinating the functions of field offices statewide, supervising regional directors, and monitoring cases. He retired in 1986.
“He was the one standing tall,” his sister said, when investigations found that layoffs in Toledo and Erie County disproportionately affected black workers.
Mr. Cole had been a detective sergeant in the sheriff’s office; was a caseworker for the county welfare department, and led anti-poverty efforts in a Toledo neighborhood and for Erie and Huron counties. He completed his studies, receiving a bachelor’s degree from UT in 1964.
He was born Dec. 10, 1927, in Carrier Mills, Ill., to Amy McClure Cole and James Cole. The family settled in Toledo, then western Lucas County.
While in Columbus Mr. Cole was a member of Franklin Lodge, Order of Elks, and served as exalted ruler.
His marriage to the late Ruth Moore Cole ended in divorce. Their son Dennis died in 1999.
Surviving are his son, Charles; daughter, Denise; brothers Isaac Stanley Cole and Donald Steve Cole; sisters Gloria J. Brown and Brenda Caroll Cole; four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 3-6 p.m. Sunday at the C. Brown Funeral Home. Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Warren AME Church, with a family hour and wake at 10 a.m.
First Published June 7, 2019, 4:00 a.m.
