Colin Kaepernick

Colin Rand Kaepernick (born November 3, 1987) is an American civil rights activist and former football quarterback.

He played six seasons for the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League (NFL).

Kaepernick was born in 1987 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to 19-year-old Heidi Russo, who is a white American.

His birth father, who is a black American (of Ghanaian, Nigerian, and Ivorian ancestry) and whose identity is unknown, separated from Russo before Kaepernick was born.

Russo placed Kaepernick up for adoption and at 5 weeks old he was placed with a white couple named Rick and Teresa Kaepernick.

The couple had two biological children: son Kyle and daughter Devon.

The Kaepernicks decided to adopt a boy after losing two other sons to heart defects.

Kaepernick lived in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, until age four, when his family moved to California.

When he was eight years old, Kaepernick began playing youth football as a defensive end and punter.

At age nine, he was the starting quarterback on his youth team, and he completed his first pass for a long touchdown.

A 4.0 GPA student at John H. Pitman High School in Turlock, California, Kaepernick played football, basketball and baseball and was nominated for all-state selection in all three sports his senior year.

In his senior year, he was the most valuable player (MVP) of the Central California Conference in football.

He then remained the team's starting quarterback for the rest of the season, leading the team to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1994.

The University of Nevada, Reno was the only college to offer him a football scholarship, and Kaepernick signed with Nevada in February 2006.

Kaepernick started his college career in 2007 with the Wolf Pack as a back-up quarterback, playing in 11 of the team's 13 games.

He finished the season with 19 passing touchdowns, three interceptions and 2,175 passing yards, garnering a 53.8% completion percentage.

Kaepernick also added 593 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns as Nevada finished 6–7.

As a sophomore, Kaepernick recorded 2,849 passing yards, 22 passing touchdowns, seven interceptions, 1,130 rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns.

He became just the sixth player in NCAA history to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 or more yards in a single season.

At the Humanitarian Bowl, he had 370 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, two interceptions, 15 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown, earning the game's MVP award despite his team losing the game.

At the conclusion of the game, Kaepernick was designated the WAC Offensive Player of the Year.

After graduating, he was selected by the 49ers in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft.

Kaepernick began his professional football career as a backup quarterback to Alex Smith, and became the 49ers' starter in the middle of the 2012 season after Smith suffered a concussion.

During the 2013 season, his first full season as a starter, Kaepernick helped the 49ers reach the NFC Championship Game.

Over the next three seasons, Kaepernick lost and won back his starting quarterback job, with the 49ers missing the playoffs for three seasons.

In 2016, he knelt during the national anthem at the start of NFL games in protest of police brutality and racial inequality in the United States.

Kaepernick played college football for the Nevada Wolf Pack, where he was named the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Offensive Player of the Year twice and became the only player in NCAA Division I history to amass 10,000 passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards in a career.

In the 49ers' third preseason game in 2016, Kaepernick sat during the playing of the U.S. national anthem prior to the game, rather than stand as is customary, as a protest against racial injustice, police brutality and oppression in the country.

The following week, and throughout the regular season, Kaepernick kneeled during the anthem.

The protests received highly polarized reactions, with some praising his protests and others denouncing the protests.

In basketball, he was a first-team All-CCC selection at forward and led his 16th-ranked team to a near upset of No. 1-ranked Oak Ridge High School in the opening round of the playoffs.

In that game, Kaepernick scored 34 points, but future NBA player Ryan Anderson of Oak Ridge scored 50 points to lead his team to a victory.

Kaepernick received most of his high school accolades as a baseball pitcher.

He received several scholarship offers in that sport, but he wanted to play college football.

The actions resulted in a wider protest movement, which intensified in September 2017 after President Donald Trump said that NFL owners should "fire" players who protest during the national anthem.

Kaepernick became a free agent after the season and remained unsigned, which numerous analysts and observers have attributed to political reasons.

In November 2017, he filed a grievance against the NFL and its owners, accusing them of collusion in keeping him out of the league.

In August 2018, arbitrator Stephen B. Burbank rejected the NFL's request to dismiss the case.

Kaepernick withdrew the grievance in February 2019 after reaching a confidential settlement with the NFL.

His protests received renewed attention in 2020 amid the George Floyd protests against police brutality and racism, but he remains unsigned by any professional football team.