By J. Darien Stokes

Nobody can say Jackie Robinson hasn’t been one of the most influential players in any sport; and that he had to endure a great deal of racism and could never prove himself to some people. However you can definitely say that the people who integrated their respective leagues are not held in the same reverence for some reason. Anyone from any career field or sports writers in any sport knows who Jackie Robinson is. But how many know anything about Marion Motley, Fritz Pollard, Bobby Marshall, Larry Doby, Hank Thompson, Dan Bankhead, or any of the other who don’t get any recognition.

Marion Motley helped desegregate Pro football in 1946 and also was an evolutionary fullback. His credentials are undisputable. At its inception in 1920 the American Professional Football Association which evolved into the NFL had 9 black players between 1920-1926. The first two were Fritz Pollard & Bobby Marshall. Black players came sporadically into the league. After the great depression, classism and racism increased and blacks began to play in their own leagues with teams such as the Harlem Brown Bombers. But pro football reintegrated in 1946 with players such as Motley, the year previous to Jackie Robinson entering the majors. The NBA still was the first in the era to be integrated in 1942 with a total of 10 players not just 1 or 2 at a time like other pro sports. You hear less about these because at the time MLB was America’s favorite sport and had much more fan fare and the transitions especially in the NBA went a lot smoother. The NHL was the last of the 4 major sports to have blacks in 1958, but there were black hockey leagues that date back as far as the 1870’s.

Even if you strictly look at baseball; he only helped pave the way and others deserve the same respect. Larry Doby came to the majors and went through similar racism. He came up only weeks after Jackie Robinson only in the American League, which before inter-league play was pretty much, its own league. If you compare their careers, their stats are very similar. He had more power, may have had a little less speed and not quite the contact hitter. However he was inducted into the Hall of Fame 36 years after Jackie Robinson. Hank Thompson & Dan Bankhead also came up the same year. When black players started to be dropped from teams in the 1880’s; there were still some in the league who started representing themselves as Indians, South and Central Americans.

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