March 21

In this episode of the Football History Headlines, we discuss Kenny Washington's NFL milestone moment as well as many more HOF Legendary stories.

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by photographer Theodor Horydczak circa 1920 and is titled " Charlotte Hall Military Academy. Two football players and coach ."

March 21, 1946 Kenny Washington signs with Rams, 1st black NFL player since 1933. There was an ugly 13 year period in the NFL where franchises in some cruel, unwritten agreement would not sign a player of color.  According to an article on the Undefeated.com the Cleveland Rams, who were relocating to Los Angeles, changed that. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in which the team wanted to play was publicly owned, meaning it was funded by white and black taxpayer dollars, and there was an expectation that the team would be integrated. Rams general manager Charlie “Chile” Walsh signed former UCLA standout Kenny Washington. The Rams purchased the 27-year-old’s contract from the Hollywood Bears and reportedly signed the halfback to a “five-figure salary,” the Los Angeles Sentinel reported. Walsh would tell the Los Angeles Times that the “financial arrangements are entirely satisfactory to Washington and keeping with the [ex-UCLA player’s] gridiron reputation.” The article goes on to say that Kenny was named as an All-American in 1939 with the Bruins per Liberty Magazine. Washington was not the first African -American to play in the NFL as great players such as Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall played in the early 1920’s when the League was forming, but it was groundbreaking nonetheless. Remember Jackie Robinson did not bravely break the color barrier in baseball until April of 1947.

March 21, 1961 Art Modell purchased the Cleveland Browns for a then record $3,925,000. Modell was a businessman who was well connected in the television and advertising industries and he was adept at public relations. He wanted an NFL team to make a name for himself so he went and paid the price for it. According to BrownsNation.com Modell invested $250,000 of his own money, borrowed $2.7 million, and had his partners foot the rest of the bill, then after the sale was completed, Modell was given control of the Browns. Modell fired Paul Brown as Coach, squabbled with Jim Brown until he prematurely retired, demoted Berni Kosar in favor of Vinnie Testeverde and then in his 35th year ownership of the club he took the franchise out of Cleveland and moved to Baltimore.

March 21, 1984 NFL owners passed the infamous anti-celebrating rule. A Bleacher Report article expands on the motion stating that the league first introduced language that defined illegal celebrations as “any prolonged, excessive, premeditated celebration by individual players or groups of players,” according to the official 1984 rulebook excerpt. That effectively ended group celebrations. The use of a prop was further included in the rules in 2006 and in 2014 the rule and its intention had to be looked at again when KC’s Husain Abdullah was flagged for  dropping to his knees in prayer after a pick six therefore a few later group celebrations were welcomed once again and this made for some further entertainment in the League.

March 21, 1884 - Boston, Massachusetts - Princeton’s star fullback Jim McCormick was born. More on this legend by clicking his name.

March 21, 1951 - Cleveland, Ohio - The great guard of the Ohio State University Buckeyes from 1970 to 1973, John Hicks celebrated his day of birth. John according to the NFF was a two-time First Team All-American and undeniably one of the most outstanding Ohio State football players of all time. Hicks was only able to play 4 games in 1971 until a devastating knee injury put him out for the rest of that year. The three full years he did play though his Coach Woody Hayes enjoyed a National Championship in 1970, three Big Ten titles and three trips to the Rose Bowl. As a matter of fact Hicks was the first player to start in three Rose Bowls, and in 2009 he was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.  In 1973 John had multiple awards as he was a unanimous All-American, won both the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy as the best interior lineman in the nation, and he finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting to Penn State’s John Cappelletti. His Ohio State teammates  Archie Griffin and Randy Gradishar  were fifth and sixth in that year’s voting. John Hicks joined other collegiate legends of the gridiron in the College football hall of Fame in 2001. Hicks was first-round NFL Draft pick of the New York Giants, who he played for from 1974 to 1977. We unfortunately lost Mr. Hicks in 2016 after a battle with illness.