Former Raines High receiver Calvin Muhammad, Super Bowl champion, dies at 64
Raines High School graduate Calvin Muhammad, an athlete of diverse talents who became one of Jacksonville's first Super Bowl champions, passed away at age 64 in Jacksonville.
The Las Vegas Raiders announced his death, which occurred during the previous week, over the weekend.
A state track champion at Raines who only took up football full-time in his junior year of high school, he converted his scorching speed to NFL success with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1982 and 1983, winning a Super Bowl ring as a wide receiver on the 1983 squad that defeated Washington 38-9 in Super Bowl XVIII.
He became the third player from a Jacksonville high school to play for the winning team in the Super Bowl, following Bob Hayes (Matthew W. Gilbert High, Cowboys, Super Bowl V) and Sam Davis (Northwestern High, Steelers, Super Bowls IX, X, XIII and XIV).
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He also played three more seasons in the league with Washington and San Diego through 1987, and spent stints in the Canadian Football League both before and after his NFL years. As late as 1991, the Sacramento Surge of the fledgling World League of American Football selected him in its inaugural draft, although he did not see game-day action during the regular season.
Born Calvin Vincent Raley in Jacksonville, he changed his name to Calvin Saleem Muhammad upon converting to Islam while in college at Texas Southern University.
A gifted musician who played the trombone in high school, he continued to perform musically during his athletic career, including with the Northern Virginia Symphony. A 1985 Associated Press profile described him playing every part — "fluegelhorn, trombone, soprano sax, bass and lead guitars, drums, keyboard and synthesizer" on his own jazz recordings in his Virginia basement studio.
Even at Raines, he began in the band before swapping his band uniform for a football helmet entering his junior year. While adapting to football at the Northwest Jacksonville school, he particularly excelled on the track team under the late James Day, winning the Class 4A 100-yard dash in 9.4 seconds in 1976.
At the time, his mark was the third-fastest ever recorded in a Florida High School Athletic Association championship meet and ranked him among the top 10 high school sprinters in the nation — a performance within qualifying standards for the U.S. Olympic Trials ahead of the 1976 Games in Montreal, although he did not compete at the event in order to focus on football.
He signed to play college football at Texas Southern of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, his only football scholarship offer, ultimately earning a 12th-round selection in the 1980 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders.
In five NFL seasons, Muhammad caught 69 passes for 1,276 yards and eight touchdowns. His most successful season came with Washington in 1984, where he caught 42 passes for 729 yards and four touchdowns while starting eight games opposite Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Art Monk.
Muhammad remained active in music after his NFL career, continuing to record both in Virginia and in Florida.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Calvin Muhammad dies: Raines graduate won Super Bowl with Raiders
