Roy Shivers was born on July 5,1941 and is a former professional American football running back and Canadian football personnel administrator, most notably as the first black general manager in professional football.
31 Facts About Roy Shivers
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Roy Shivers was a general manager for eight seasons with the Birmingham Barracudas and Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.
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Roy Shivers is a four-time Grey Cup champion as a director of player personnel and assistant general manager with the BC Lions and Calgary Stampeders and he is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
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Roy Shivers played for seven years in the National Football League with the St Louis Cardinals.
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Roy Shivers's father moved the family to the US west coast to get away from the segregated south.
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Roy Shivers went to school with Bill Russell, Frank Robinson, Curt Flood, Joe Morgan and Vada Pinson.
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Roy Shivers grew up with the founding members of the Black Panthers, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale and David Hilliard.
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Roy Shivers graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1959, and left Oakland in 1960 to serve in the US Army.
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In 1964, after serving four years in the army, Roy Shivers went to Utah State where he became a star running back and then in 1966 was drafted first round in the supplemental draft to the St Louis Cardinals.
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Roy Shivers led the Cardinals in kickoff return yards with 27 for 762 yards with one returned for a touchdown.
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Roy Shivers played for seven years in the NFL before he began coaching at Merritt Junior College in Oakland.
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Roy Shivers coached at the University of Nevada, University of Hawaii and University of Nevada, Las Vegas after which he accepted a job as an assistant coach for the BC Lions in the CFL.
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Roy Shivers stayed with the Lions for six seasons and rose through the ranks of the Lions' front office.
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In 1989, Roy Shivers left for the Calgary Stampeders to become the team's US scout.
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In 1995, Roy Shivers left to become the General Manager of the expansion Birmingham Barracudas, but the team folded after one season, as did the rest of the American expansion teams.
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Roy Shivers returned to Calgary in 1996, again as assistant GM.
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Roy Shivers became General Manager of the Saskatchewan Roughriders on December 24,1999, with his first two years at the Riders' helm being a struggle on the field.
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Roy Shivers had publicly proclaimed it would take 3 years to restore the Saskatchewan Roughriders to being an elite CFL team, so fans remained patient.
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In 2002, Roy Shivers made an important trade as the Roughriders' acquired Edmonton Eskimos starting quarterback Nealon Greene.
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Nevertheless, rising attendance played a significant part as Roy Shivers had restored respectability to the Riders which excited the fans to come out in greater numbers.
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Many blamed the coaching, while others pointed their fingers back to when Roy Shivers failed to re-sign Henry Burris, who moved onto success with the rival Calgary Stampeders.
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The naysayers and blamers felt Roy Shivers should have more control over his team's behaviour.
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Roy Shivers defended himself by saying what happened with Smith was a societal problem, not a football one.
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Again, fans and citizens were upset with the Riders and Roy Shivers, and viewed the team as becoming out of control in the community.
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One situation which some fans view as controversial in Roy Shivers' tenure is his failed negotiations with quarterback Henry Burris.
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Roy Shivers wanted a commitment to be named the clear starting quarterback for the Riders.
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Burris maintained that the Riders offered him less money than Roy Shivers had publicly stated.
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Roy Shivers was fired by the Saskatchewan Roughriders' board of directors as there was a concern that the Riders had regressed, a lack of progress was being made in signing players who would be free agents in 2007 to extensions, plus Roy Shivers was not comfortable with the new power structure of the Riders to be implemented in 2007.
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Roy Shivers went on record in April 2006 as saying that he would not work for Hopson as he did not trust or like him.
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On January 28,2008, Roy Shivers was hired as the director of player personnel for the BC Lions.
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On June 21,2022, it was announced that Roy Shivers would be enshrined in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in the Class of 2022 as a builder.