Wilbur Dungy
Legacy Stories
Legacy Stories
Tony Dungy for Wilbur Dungy
Tony Dungy, who didn’t know his father was a Tuskegee Airman, “and I was like what?”
Wilbur Dungy may not have lived in Southern Arizona but his famous son Tony Dungy has family and friends in Tucson and has traveled here often. Tony Dungy is a NBC sports analyst, was a NFL player, and was a NFL Head Coach for 13 years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Indianapolis Colts. In 2006 Tony became the first NFL African American Head Coach to win a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts.
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Video courtesy of All Pro Dad
Edited by the African American Museum of Southern Arizona
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Wilbur Dungy, Tony’s father graduated from Jackson High School in Jackson, Michigan in 1943. After graduation he served in the segregated U.S. Army during World War II. Following the war Wilbur Dungy attended Jackson Community College (JCC) and then went to Ann Arbor, Michigan where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan. In 1952 Wilbur returned to JCC as a teacher. Wilbur Dungy was a biology professor for more than 30 years at Jackson Community College. He was the first Black instructor at this college back in 1953. Dungy earned a doctorate in 1967 but asked people not to call him “doctor.” That would be too showy.
Descendants were aware Dungy served in the U.S. Army; however, his son Tony and his siblings discovered their father was part of the Famed Tuskegee Airmen at his celebration of life.
