Melvin Harold Groomes (March 6, 1927 – September 11, 1997) was an American football player and baseball coach.

[5] Groomes enrolled at Indiana University in 1944 where he played college football and was also a member of the track and field team, specializing in the high jump.

[8] Groomes and fellow African-American halfback George Taliaferro helped lead the 1945 Indiana team to the school's first-ever Big Ten Conference football championship.

The 1947 team included eight African-American players, giving it "more colored gridmen than any other large squad in the country.

"[12] That year, the Hoosiers upset the Ohio State Buckeyes 7–0, with the key play in the game coming on a pass from Taliaferro to Groomes that gained 63 yards.

[18]) During the 1948 season, Groomes wrote a series of articles, "How It Feels To Be A Rookie In The National Football League", for a Detroit newspaper.

Early in the game, Groomes fumbled a ball inside the Detroit 30-yard line, resulting in a Rams' touchdown.

In 1951, private first class Groomes received the American Spirit Honor Medal for excelling at basic training.

Groomes also served as a professor and was instrumental in developing the North Carolina A&T's Health, Physical Education, and Recreation department.