The forgotten first Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Marion Motley, Bill Willis, and the breaking of the NFL color barrier

It took a despicably cruel racial prejudice for the NFL to embrace Black players when the league was formed in 1920--Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall being the first--only to ban them from 1934 to 1946, when Kenny Washington and his UCLA teammate Woody Strode were finally signed by the L.A. Rams. Former NFL wide receiver, now ESPN football analyst, Johnson and Newsday football columnist Glauber profile in depth the lives and football careers of Washington and Strode Change to: (Toy Story's Sheriff Woody is named after him), along with those of the Cleveland Browns' fullback and linebacker Marion Motley and defensive lineman Bill Willis ("quick as a snake's fang," as one coach described Willis). The authors also focus on those who opened up the NFL to Black players, like Cleveland coach Paul Brown, and those who kept the doors closed as long as possible, like Washington franchise owner George Preston Marshall. If readers find inspiration in the narratives of these four athletes, they'll find pain in how much the sports world lost over the years in keeping them and other great Black players from reaching their full potential. \

A year before Jackie Robinson made his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, his former UCLA football and baseball teammate Kenny Washington signed a contract with the NFL's Los Angeles Rams. Washington's signing broke the color barrier in professional football and ended a shameful chapter in NFL history. He was joined a few months later by another UCLA teammate, Woody Strode, a wide receiver who would go on to have a successful film acting career. Robinson is universally recognized for his fearless trailblazing, but Washington and Strode have received no such acknowledgment--not by the NFL, nor by the general public. In this book, TV analyst and former NFL player Johnson teams up with football writer Glauber to bring attention to the lives and contributions of Washington and Strode, as well as those of Bill Willis and Marion Motley of the All-American Football Conference's Cleveland Browns. This powerful history of the NFL's integration is important, but the book's strength is in connecting that history to the present, and the racism that Black NFL players still face. VERDICT This account brings much-needed attention to the pioneers who integrated football; a must-read for any football fan interested in digging into the sport's past.--Colin Chappell, Anne Arundel Cty. P.L., MD