Given the prestige of Stanford’s program, I don’t think that it’s much of a surprise that Kailee decided to go along with that limitation. He left the Minnesota Vikings and signed onto the Houston Texans as a free agent in 2002. Hines Ward is half Korean and Half African American and born in Korean. He seriously began his football career as a walk-on to San Diego State University, where he was named an All-Mountain West first-team selection twice. Because there is no world championships of football like olympic or world cup, the opportunities to find out great players from other countries are very limited. Get NFL player stats, Fantasy football news and analysis, game log, breaking news and more at CBSSports.com. To start his NFL career, Rapp has played in all of the Los Angeles Rams’ games with 16 tackles thus far. document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "ae40b95a564562f0de0840b8da0ceff5" );document.getElementById("c471df3e44").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. When he retired from the NFL in 2000, however, Chung didn’t just walk away from the game altogether. John Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea. By the end of his career, he had recorded 1,000 receptions, 12,083 receiving yards, 12.1 yards per reception, and 85 touchdowns. © Copyright 2020 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. Speaking of successful linebackers, the next Asian football player on this list is none other than Dat Nguyen. That particular team has been home to plenty of talented offensive players, and Morton is still the third ranked player to ever play for Detroit in terms of receptions and receiving yards. Secondly, football is not popular outside of the US especially in Asian. In high school, Ben originally doubled as a running back, where he proved to be seriously talented. NFL players can be searched for by team or position. In this article, I’m going to be talking about some of the greatest Asian football players to ever play the game. Leber entered the NFL draft as a promising prospect, and he was eventually drafted by the San Diego Chargers during the third round. De NFL bestaat uit twee competities, namelijk de American Football Conference (AFC) en de National Football Conference (NFC). Do you have a sports website? Also football is getting more international. It’s a good start to a career that is a fine example for other Asian American youths. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Do you have a blog? Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. He broke many records held by the school and the conference, related to both receptions and receiving yards. Min Long Lee is probably more commonly known as John Lee. Why aren’t there many Asian football players in the NFL? Discover NFL players past & present. Rapp’s struggle to combat racism does spark some questions. Or write about sports? All rights reserved. Demps had a pretty impressive career at the college level, recording 229 tackles and five interceptions over the course of just two years as a starter. Demps played a little bit with the Giants and the Texans as well, and he ultimately retired from the NFL in 2009. All rights reserved. @mvp86hinesward delivers an inspiring message to fellow Asian-American football player and draft prospect @trapp07. Since 2015, the Nunn-Wooten Scouting Fellowship Program has served to expose former NFL players, as well as college recruiting and personnel staff, to careers in pro football scouting. A post shared by NFL (@nfl) on Apr 23, 2019 at 2:43pm PDT. By the time he graduated, Ben was considered skilled and responsible enough to be a team captain. In his career, he recorded 1,110 tackles, 30.5 sacks, 12 interceptions, and 11 forced fumbles. Lee was so talented as a placekicker that he was actually drafted in the second round of the NFL draft in 1986 by the St. Louis Cardinals. Change ). Tournament Director of the Asian Basketball Championships of North America, Mike Mon, explained what many Asian Americans hear growing up: “Where’s basketball going to get you?  (College Stats), Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 2 (11994th overall since 1960), Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Sunday, October 25, 6:41AM. He seriously began his football career as a walk-on to San Diego State University, where he was named an All-Mountain West first-team selection twice. NFL footage © NFL Productions LLC. Roman Gabriel is the player who was drafted back then in 1962. Latest on WR Koren Robinson including news, stats, videos, highlights and more on NFL.com As you can see, Asians make up a minuscule percentage of the league’s overall makeup. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. He also broke a conference record for single game field goals, with him making six field goals in a game against the San Diego State Aztecs. He played high school football with North Eugene High School, where he was seriously dominant as a fullback. Demps had a pretty impressive career at the college level, recording 22… It is highly recommended that you use the latest versions of a supported browser in order to receive an optimal viewing experience. Without further ado, let’s dive right into this list. The player who reached out to Rapp prior to the draft, Ward told him: I know you’ve heard it before: ‘Asians can’t play football.’ I still remember the first time I heard it. The browser you are using is no longer supported on this site. Don’t Miss: Are There Any White Cornerbacks in the NFL? Also the Asian population is only about 5 percent of the US population now. Join our linker program. Ward was born in Seoul, South Korea, and he played college football with the University of Georgia. the official stats partner of the NFL. Min Long Lee, better known by his American name, John Lee, was a kicker for the Arizona Cardinals in the ’80s. You can feed off that energy. Get the comprehensive player rosters for every NFL pro football team. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Copyright © 2000-2020 Sports Reference LLC. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. But I learned something too. Although the rankings are subjective, I don’t think that the accomplishments of these men can be denied. Known for being an important cog on many of the New England Patriots’ defenses of the 2000s, Tedy Bruschi’s mother is Filipino. Eugene played with many teams during his career in the NFL, including the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Indianapolis Colts, and the Kansas City Chiefs. The first player that we’re going to be talking about is Will Demps, a safety. Younghoe Koo: Pos: K, Career: 17 G, Falcons/Chargers 2017-2020, born South. He was born to an Irish mother and a Filipino father, and despite health problems when he was young, Gabriel grew up to be an incredible quarterback. He’s still considered somewhat of a hero by the program due to the phenomenal play that he had while he was with the team. Are you a Stathead, too? The safety, whose mother is Korean, played for some of the great Baltimore Ravens’ defenses of the early 2000s. I’d say we’re pretty darn good. People have to escape from North Korea. He works in broadcasting now, but I don’t think anyone will ever forget what he was able to contribute to this team. However, in college he began to play for Kansas State and officially switched to the linebacker position. Placekicker John Lee was the first Asian drafted in the NFL. Johnnie played primarily as a slot receiver, and he became a central cogs to Detroit’s offense, alongside Barry Sanders. Among those NFL players who were on active duty during World War II, fourteen are known to have returned to military service during the Korean War. Data Provided By Where’s football going to get you? He was drafted in the first round of the 1994 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions, and he played with the team between 1994 and 2001. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Johnnie Morton is a wide receiver who played college football for the University of Southern California between 1990 and 1993. John Lee . He remained with the Texans until 2006, when he decided to retire. The Cards chose him in the second round of the 1986 NFL Draft. https://www.sportscasting.com/the-most-famous-asian-nfl-players-of-all-time All of the Asian football players that I’ve mentioned thus far are completely detached from football today, but that isn’t really the case with Eugene Chung. Pro-Football-Reference utilizes Official NFL data for current NFL seasons. In 2017, he was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He had a pretty decent career with Georgia, which allowed him to be drafted in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He would play college football for the UCLA Bruins as a placekicker, where he did exceedingly well. Hines Ward is half Korean and Half African American and born in Korean. He ended up spending the remainder of his career as a linebacker, wher he was successful. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Hines played with the Steelers for a total of 14 seasons, and he has set a ton of different records with the team that still stand to this day. Please type in a player’s name or click on one of the links above. Turn that hate into wins. So it is not surprised to see quite few Asian football players in the NFL compared to the other races. Demps was born to an African American father and a Korean mother, and he grew up with the both of them for most of his life in California. All other NFL-related trademarks are trademarks of the National Football League. Although he went undrafted, he was signed as a free agent by the Baltimore Ravens. NFL teams had to cut their active rosters down to the league-mandated 53 players Saturday. I will rank these players based on what their renown in the sport. I believe that in the near future, we will see more Asian football players in the NFL. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Leading up to the 2019 NFL Draft, one prospect, Taylor Rapp, challenged people’s unfair misconceptions. Next is Kailee Wong, who was born in Eugune, Oregon to a Chinese father and a Hawaiian mother. Here is a short story about him. ( Log Out /  For instance, he holds the highest percentage of PAT and field goals made in a career, with 93.3%. August 3, 1994 Find out more. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Data Provided By Jake is passionate about everything tech, film, and gaming related. He was one of the most successful Asian American football players. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Sunday, October 25, 6:41AM. He was originally born in Seoul, North Korea.