A real piece of the action; in 1995, NFL expansion means the rookie year for two black team owners.

Bill Simms and Deron Cherry will begin their rookie seasons in the National Football League next year. But at ages 49 and 34, respectively, they aren't among the hottest first-round draft picks. They'll be going in to play an even more valuable position--as team owners.

When the NFL accepted the Carolina Panthers (N.C.) and the Jacksonville jaguars (Fla.) as the 29th and 30th franchises last fall, it made Simms and Cherry the first African-Americans with ownership stakes in an NFL franchise in more than a quarter century. Both teams will begin play in the fall of 1995.

Simms, president of the reinsurance division of Transamerica Life Companies in Charlotte, N.C., is one of 15 owners of the Panthers, who were awarded their franchise last October. Cherry, a Kansas City, Mo.-based Anheuser-Busch beverage distributor, is one of eight owners of the jaguars, who were awarded their franchise the following month.

The last time African-Americans gained an ownership interest in an NFL franchise was in 1967. That year, Norman Francis, president of Xavier University in New Orleans, and C.J. (Connie) Dejouie, former editor of Louisiana Weekly, became two of the original partners of the New Orleans Saints.

In recent years, officials of professional basketball, baseball and football have been under pressure to diversify their almost exclusively white-male ownership ranks. The NAACP'S Fair Share Agreement with Flagstar Companies Inc., which owns Denny's and several other restaurant chains, helped Simms cross the color barrier. As part of that agreement, says Flagstar CEO and Panther managing general partner Jerry Richardson, "We promised to have an African-American investor. We've kept our promise."

Former Chicago Bear and Hall-of-Fame running back Walter Payton has always been a favorite to break the color barrier in sports. However, the city his investment group represented, St. Louis, lost out on their bid for expansion.

Unlike Simms, Cherry is a former athlete. A six-time All-Pro safety, Cherry retired in 1991 after 10 years with the Kansas City Chiefs. He has always aspired to own an NFL franchise. Three years after revealing his aspirations to Jacksonville principal owner J. Wayne Weaver, Cherry's dream came true.

Simms agrees that NFL ownership is a dream opportunity, but asserts that he was attracted by the "great investment opportunity" as well. "Our goal is to win a Super Bowl within the next 10 years."