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Friday, May 15, 1998

Former San Angelo football star dead at 64

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) -- Rommie Lee Loudd was a warrior on the football field. But he lost his final battle off the field when he died of complications from diabetes at age 64.

Loudd, who went from stardom at San Angelo's Blackshear High School to become the first black assistant coach in the American Football League, died Saturday.

Loudd served two prison terms for sexual misconduct and drug convictions. But his being remembered for his dedication as an athlete and a minister.

"He was an example of how a person can fall and get up and fall again and get up again and keep moving," said George McRae, pastor at Mount Tabor Baptist Church, where Loudd was associate minister.

In the late 1940s, the Blackshear team had an unprecedented run of football successes leading to the team's state championship in 1950 in a league of black high schools across Texas.

Ben Kelly, who played with Loudd in high school and in the professional ranks, recalled Loudd as a "good dedicated player" Wednesday.

"He had a lot of talent, and he believed in himself," Kelly said. "I'm very sad to hear about his death. It was something I didn't expect. I didn't even know he was sick."

He was a standout end at UCLA and later played for the Chicago Bears, San Diego Charges and Boston Patriots.

"He was part of a glorious time in Blackshear history, and he and (Kelly) were the big stars because they were the first ones to go on to play pro football," said Claude Lacy, a distant relative of Loudd's. "He made good. He left here at an early age, but he kept in touch."

Loudd became the AFL's first black assistant coach when he joined the Patriots' staff in 1966, later moving into the club's front office. He left the Patriots in the early 1970s to head the Florida Blazers of the short-lived World Football League.

Loudd served a six-month jail term in in Los Angeles for sexual misconduct. He was convicted in 1975 of conspiracy to deliver cocaine for arranging the sale of $4,800 worth of the narcotic to an undercover officer in Orlando. He served three years of a 14-year sentence.

He became a black activist in Miami and headed a ministerial group formed after the 1980 riots.

While serving on the Miami-Dade County Corrections Department citizens' advisory board, he hosted a sports show broadcast on county jail TV, where he got the nickname "All-Pro Pastor."

Survivors include a son Rommie Jr., of Indianapolis; daughter, Cheryl Myers, of Orlando; two brothers and two sisters.