One of a kind: Toby Gerhart succeeds at a position white players don't play at as much anymore

Toby Gerhart is already a Stanford football savior and a Heisman Trophy finalist. If the bruising tailback wins the bronze statue Saturday night, he might add another title to his resume.

Patron saint of white running backs.

Gerhart, if you hadn’t noticed, is white.

Then again, how could you not notice?

Gerhart is part of an almost extinct breed of player in the highest levels of football — white feature backs.

The last white running back that rushed for 1,000 yards in the NFL was Craig James. He did so 24 years ago. That drought pales in comparison to the last time a white running back led the NFL in rushing: Jim Taylor 47 years ago.

John Cappelletti was the last white running back to win the Heisman, a feat the Penn State back accomplished in 1973.

In the NFL, none of the 32 teams currently has a white feature back. In the college ranks, only one team from a BCS conference has one.

His name: Toby Gerhart.

So, why are there so few white running backs in college and professional football?

"Simple, simple, simple reason,” coaching legend Barry Switzer said. "There’s not that many white running backs out there. They’re limited in number.”

There’s validity in that limited-availability theory. Major-college and pro coaches, after all, are primarily interested in one thing — winning — and if they think a player can help them do that, they’ll go after him. His skin could be white or black, blue or green, orange or purple with pink polka dots.

What matters most is his ability.

That was what Switzer told his coaching staff when he first became Oklahoma’s head coach in 1973. He passed along that mandate in the first meeting with his assistants.

"We’re going to recruit the best players at each position,” he told them.

He looked around the room, a stern look etched on his face.

"If anybody has any exception to that, you need to talk to me after the meeting,” he said. "You might need to get a job somewhere else.”

In a not-so-subtle way, Switzer was letting his coaches know that he wanted them to recruit the best players regardless of race. In those days, some coaches were still hesitant to recruit blacks to play certain positions. Switzer wanted no such exceptions.

That’s because he wanted to win.

So does every pro and college coach nowadays. If they are seeking the best players to help them do that, then why aren’t they finding many white running backs?

The answer has its origins in the reintegration of the NFL. The league welcomed back black players in 1946, and over the next several decades, offenses became increasingly specialized.

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