Funeral Services Thursday For Jim Niblack
June 13, 2007 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Orlando Predators News Release
Orlando, Fla. (June 13, 2007) - Funeral services for JIM NIBLACK are slated for Thursday in Gainesville, Fla. for former Orlando Predators assistant coach and high school coaching legend. Niblack, 76, passed away at his Gainesville home on Sunday following a lengthy illness.
One of the early pioneers of the Arena Football League, Niblack coached with the Chicago Bruisers (1988-89) and for the Detroit Drive in 1990. When Orlando joined the Arena Football League in 1991, Niblack served as line coach under Perry Moss for the Predators inaugural season. He returned to the Predators coaching staff for the 1996-97 seasons.
Niblack began his coaching career at Gainesville High School, where he served as head coach from 1955-72. He returned to the school in 1980 and won the school's only state championship.
Niblack gained notoriety in civil rights issues, becoming one of the first head coaches in the South to openly welcome black players to his teams. He did this despite receiving death threats that were considered serious enough to warrant FBI protection.
One the many legendary stories about Niblack came about the same time as the death threats. Coach Niblack had scheduled a road game at Greenwood High School in South Carolina. Upon Gainesville High's arrival in Greenwood, Niblack was told his black players would not be permitted to check into the hotel. Niblack immediately ordered his team back on the bus and headed back to Gainesville. "About 30 miles down the road a state trooper pulled the bus over," Niblack recalled many years later. "Greenwood coach Pinky Babb was in the front seat with the troopers and told us the hotel âmisunderstanding' was cleared up and all of our players were welcome. We ended up losing the game, but we won the big one."
His career high school record was an impressive 162-38-7.
In addition to his experience in the Arena Football League, his extensive coaching resume included stops in the World Football League (Jacksonville Sharks, 1973-74), college football (Florida-1975; Kentucky-1976-78; and back to Florida, 1979, 1981-82), the NFL (Buffalo 1983-84), the United States Football League (Orlando Renegades, 1985), the World League of American Football (Sacramento, 1993-94), the Canadian Football League (Sacramento, 1993-94 and San Antonio, 1995), and the arenafootball2 league (Jacksonville, 1998).
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