The Forgotten First: Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Marion Motley, Bill Willis and the Breaking of the NFL Color Barrier
New York: GCP, 2021. First edition. Hardcover. Fine, fresh copy in equally fine dust jacket. First printing. Hardcover. xvi+ 317 pp. Illustrated with photographs. The largely unknown story of the Black pioneers who collectively changed the face of the National Football League in 1946. More than a year before Jackie Robinson took the field for baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers, on March 21, 1946, former UCLA star running back , a college teammate of Robinson's, signed a contract with the Los Angeles Rams. Just months afterward, the team signed Woody Strode, also a UCLA teammate of Washington and Robinson. The same year, a then little known coach named Paul Brown of the fledgling Cleveland Browns, signed running back Marion Motley and defensive lineman Bill Willis, thus integrating a startup league that would merge with the NFL. Fine / fine. Item #E32367
ISBN: 9781538705483
Price: $16.95