Joe Perry, 84, one of the first African American stars of professional football, whose superb running for the San Francisco 49ers in the 1950s led him to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, died April 25 in Tempe, Ariz. He had dementia.

Mr. Perry, nicknamed “the Jet” for his power and explosive speed, was among the most dominating and electrifying runners of his time. When he led the National Football League in rushing in 1953 and 1954, he was the first player to gain 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons.

In 1954, he became the first African American to be named the NFL’s most valuable player, and he held the NFL’s career rushing record for five years.

At 6 feet and about 200 pounds, Mr. Perry was small for a fullback, even during his era. When he didn’t elude tacklers with his quickness and balance, he simply bowled them over with sheer strength.

A teammate on the 49ers, receiver R.C. Owens, once called him “the toughest running back you’d ever want to see. He didn’t back off from anybody.”

From 1954 through 1956, Mr. Perry was part of the 49ers’ “Million Dollar Backfield,” with quarterback Y.A. Tittle, halfback Hugh McElhenny and fullback John Henry Johnson. They are the only starting foursome from the same backfield to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“He was the fastest player off the ball in the history of the world,” Tittle told the San Francisco Chronicle. “You’d take the ball from center and turn, and he was already gone through the hole.”

Mr. Perry played only one season of college football, at Compton Junior College in Los Angeles, before enlisting in the Navy during World War II. He played football in the military before joining the 49ers in 1948 as the team’s only black player — one year after Jackie Robinson had integrated major-league baseball.

The 49ers were part of the All-America Football Conference, an upstart rival of the NFL, which had several African American stars, including Cleveland’s Marion Motley and Bill Willis. But black players were still a novelty in professional football in the 1940s.

“It was tough,” Mr. Perry told Football Digest magazine in 2003. “There were a lot of bad things that happened, lots of things that were said to me on the field . . . It was harder for me [than for Robinson] because in football, there’s so much physical contact. I had to be on guard at all times for something.”

In 1950, three teams from the AAFC — the 49ers, Browns and Baltimore Colts — were absorbed into the NFL, and Mr. Perry immediately became a star. He gained 1,018 yards and led the league with 10 touchdowns on the ground in 1953, when the NFL had a 12-game season. (It is now 16 games.)

A year later, when he ran for 1,049 yards and won the MVP award, Mr. Perry gained almost 400 yards more than his nearest competitor, his teammate Johnson.

In 1958, Mr. Perry surpassed Steve Van Buren’s NFL career rushing record, which he held until it was broken by Cleveland’s Jim Brown in 1963.

Mr. Perry spent two years with the Colts before returning to San Francisco for his final season in 1963. He retired having gained 8,378 yards on the ground in the NFL — or 9,723 yards, counting his two years in the AAFC — and averaged an outstanding 5 yards per carry. He remains the 49ers’ all-time leading rusher.

He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969, in his first year of eligibility, and the 49ers retired his No. 34 jersey in 1971.

Fletcher Joe Perry was born Jan. 22, 1927, in Stephens, Ark., and grew up in Los Angeles.

He admired several African American athletes at the University of California at Los Angeles, including Robinson, who was a football, basketball and track star before breaking baseball’s color barrier.

A multi-sport athlete himself, Mr. Perry ran the 100-yard dash in 9.5 seconds at a time when the world record was 9.3.

He took his bowling ball with him on road trips with the 49ers and, after his football career, competed on the professional bowling circuit. He later became a scout and assistant coach for the 49ers and an executive with Gallo wines before retiring to Chandler, Ariz.

Survivors include his wife, Donna Perry; four children; a stepdaughter; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mr. Perry’s highest salary as a player was $37,500, and no running back in NFL history played longer than his 16 years. He prided himself on his resilience and grit and had little patience for what he considered the softening of his rough-and-tumble sport.

“Look at today’s football — I don’t watch it,” he said in 2003. “When I played, there were a lot of tough guys. We would play with broken bones and things like that that you don’t see nowadays.”

According to published reports, Mr. Perry’s family and his doctor believed his dementia was caused by repeated concussions while playing football. His brain will be donated to a study at Boston University analyzing head trauma among football players.