Welcome to David Lyons’ website, author of The Great Unknown Giant: Emlen Tunnell, slated to be released in the spring of 2023 by Temple University Press.
If you want to learn more about Emlen Tunnell – you have arrived at the perfect place! If you want to share a story, a picture, or an interesting fact about Emlen then please share it with us. Just click the Emlen’s Gremlin’s tab!
Emlen “Em” Tunnell was an inspirational and adventurous figure who became a war hero and a professional football player—helping improve race relations in America in the process.
Emlen was a “Jackie Robinson-type leader” in the NFL, one of the first black players to be confronted with, and overcome, the indignity and injustice of racism in our country, on a national stage. Emlen was also the most successful black football star of his era, the first African American to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
