Kenny Washington
September 29, 1946: The Rams, who played in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945, play their 1st home game in Los Angeles, making them the city's 1st real major league sports team. (Previous pro football teams had "Los Angeles" as their name, but their leagues could hardly be called "major.") The defending NFL Champions lose to the Philadelphia Eagles, 25-14.
This game is even more significant than the city's debut on the major league stage, because it is the NFL debut for halfback Kenny Washington and end Woody Strode, both of whom had played for UCLA at the Rams' new home, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. They became the 1st black players in the NFL in 13 years, ending the color bar.
Woody Strode
Marion Motley and Bill Willis of the Cleveland Browns were doing the same in the All-America Football Conference that Autumn, so pro football had "four Jackie Robinsons," a few months before baseball had one. (Robinson had also played football at UCLA, and ran in the same backfield as Washington in 1939 and '40. In between UCLA and the Rams, Washington had played for the Hollywood Bears of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League.)
Washington played 3 seasons in the NFL before knee injuries forced him to retire at age 30. He worked for the Los Angeles Police Department, and when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, he became a scout for them. His son Kenny Jr. played in their farm system. But Kenny Sr. battled ill health, and died in 1971, only 52 years old. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, UCLA retired his Number 13, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission inducted him into the stadium's Court of Honor.
Strode only played the one season with the Rams, then went to Canada, helping the Calgary Stampeders win their 1st Grey Cup in 1948. He became a professional wrestler and an actor, notable for his role as the Ethiopian gladiator Draba in the 1960 film Spartacus. He seemed to specialize in Westerns, and his last role, filmed just prior to his death in 1994, showed him as an old man watching Sharon Stone walk into town in The Quick and the Dead.
Motley and Willis, both Ohio natives, helped the Browns dominate the AAFC winning its title all 4 years, before coming into the NFL and winning their title in 1950, beating the Rams in a classic NFL Championship Game. (By that point, both Washington and Strode were out of football.) Motley, who had played at the University of Nevada, where his Number 41 was retired, remained with the Browns until 1953, and last played with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1955. With the Browns, he wore 76 and then 36. He was frustrated by his attempts to gain a coaching job, and worked in various capacities.
Marion Motley
Willis had his Number 99 retired by Ohio State, whom he'd helped win the 1942 National Championship. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. He also remained with the Browns through 1953, usually wearing Number 30. He worked with the City of Cleveland Department of Recreation.
Bill Willis
He and Motley were both elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Paul Zimmerman, the Sports Illustrated pro football expert known as Dr. Z, called Motley the greatest player he'd ever seen. Motley died in 1999. Willis, the last survivor of the 4, lived until 2007.
Canadian professional football also integrated in 1946 -- but might have done so earlier. It has been suggested that Robert "Stonewall" Jackson, a player for the Regina Roughriders (now the Saskatchewan Roughriders) in 1930, was black. But he may have been passing as white.
The first player to be signed by a Canadian football team that knew he was black was Herb Trawick, with the 1946 Montreal Alouettes. He was a two-way lineman from Pittsburgh, who attended what's now named Kentucky State University, an HBCU in the State capital of Frankfort.
Herb Trawick
He played 12 seasons with the Als, made 7 CFL All-Star teams, helped them win the Grey Cup in 1949, had his Number 56 retired and was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He lived until 1985.
*
September 29, 1946 was a Sunday. In the NFL, in addition to the Rams losing to the Eagles:
* The Washington Redskins and the Pittsburgh Steelers played to a tie, 14-14 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.
* The Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers, 30-7 at Green Bay City Stadium, the predecessor to Lambeau Field.
(The following day, the Chicago Cardinals beat the Detroit Lions, 34-14 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The day after that, the New York Giants beat a team named, believe it or not, the Boston Yanks, 17-0 at Braves Field in Boston.)
In baseball:
* The New York Yankees closed out a lackluster regular season with the sweep of a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Athletics, 6-0 and 2-1 at Shibe Park. Joe DiMaggio goes 1-for-7 across the 2 games.
These were the last games for Ed Barrow as general manager: Every bit as unhappy as recently resigned manager Joe McCarthy was with the new ownership of Del Webb, Dan Topping and Larry MacPhail, he resigned as GM on December 31.
Other MLB scores on this day:
* The Brooklyn Dodgers lose to the Boston Braves, 4-0 at Ebbets Field. Mort Cooper pitches a 4-hit shutout.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. This Cardinal loss, combined with the Dodgers' loss, forces the 1st-ever official Playoff for either major league's Pennant. The Cardinals will sweep the best-2-out-of-3 series.
* The New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at the Polo Grounds.
* The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ray Scarborough allowed 7 hits, including a single by Ted Williams, but kept the shutout. Nevertheless, the Sox had run away with the American League Pennant, and faced the Cardinals in the World Series.
* The Cincinnati Reds swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates, at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Reds won the opener 1-0, as Johnny Vander Meer pitches a shutout, but, unlike those famed back-to-back games in 1938, it is not also a no-hitter: He allows 6 hits. The Reds won the nightcap 3-2.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-1 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.)
* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-7 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
No comments:
Post a Comment