As a star linebacker for the Cleveland Browns in the 1940s and 1950s, Marion Motley invented the modern concept of the fullback. In 1946, he and three other players broke professional football's color barrier, helping set the stage for Jackie Robinson's desegregation of Major League baseball in 1947. Retiring with five championships and the universal respect of his peers, Motley returned to ordinary life as a black man in pre-Civil Rights Act America. Because his career pre-dated nationally televised football, Motley's name is largely unknown today, when a figure of his stature would enjoy celebrity as a coach or owner. This first ever biography tells the story of the football player Sports Illustrated's Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman described as the greatest ever to take the field.

The unknown story of the Black pioneers who collectively changed the face of the NFL in 1946. THE FORGOTTEN FIRST chronicles the lives of four incredible men, the racism they experienced as Black players entering a segregated sport, the burden of expectation they carried, and their many achievements, which would go on to affect football for generations to come. More than a year before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, there was another seismic moment in pro sports history. On March 21,1946, former UCLA star running back Kenny Washington—a teammate of Robinson's in college—signed a contract with the Los Angeles Rams. This ended one of the most shameful periods in NFL history, when African-American players were banned from league play. Washington would not be alone in serving as a pioneer for NFL integration. Just months after he joined the Rams, thanks to a concerted effort by influential Los Angeles political and civic leaders, the team signed Woody Strode, who played with both Washington and Robinson at UCLA in one of the most celebrated backfields in college sports history. And that same year, a little-known coach named Paul Brown of the fledgling Cleveland Browns signed running back Marion Motley and defensive lineman Bill Willis, thereby integrating a startup league that would eventually merge with the NFL. THE FORGOTTEN FIRST tells the story of one of the most significant cultural shifts in pro football history, as four men opened the door to opportunity and changed the sport forever.

The autobiography of Lou "The Toe" Groza, who played for the Cleveland Browns longer than anyone (1946-1967), vividly recalls a golden age of pro football. Filled with great personal anecdotes about fellow Browns legends like Jim Brown, Paul Brown, and Otto Graham. Groza was a gentleman in a rough game; he tells his story with warmth and humor.

During his nearly 30 years at Sports Illustrated, Paul Zimmerman—known to readers as “Dr. Z”—rose to fame as one of the top writers in football history. The follow up to Zimmerman’s 1971 classic The Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football, The New Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football builds on the timeless insights of his original work. Filled with personal anecdotes from Zimmerman’s years covering football, this book offers a fascinating insight into the sport that will appeal to any fan that wants a deeper understanding and appreciation for the game. More than a generation later, Zimmerman’s work is as applicable today as when the updated edition came out in the late 1980s. This widely-acclaimed guide covers: Positions Tactics Football scouting Broadcasting Minor leagues Time strategies Great players and top moments

"Well, son, I guess we have to go the to bank." That's what Leon Hess told me the day the Jets drafted me as the number-one player in the NFL draft. But that first day, the day of the draft, was one of the happiest days in my life, because I knew I was ready to make things happen in the league and help turn things around for the sorry-ass Jets. But what a nightmare! Week after week, loss after loss. The Jets went in with a loser reputation, and they were earning it all over again. We had no emotion, no energy, no hunger. The media tried to cover it all. Rich Kotite tried to explain the disasters away. But nobody outside the team knew the real truth of what really went on. This book is going to change all that.

A classic NFL/civil rights story—the showdown between the Washington Redskins and the Kennedy White House In Showdown, sports historian Thomas G. Smith captures a striking moment, one that held sweeping implications not only for one team’s racist policy but also for a sharply segregated city and for the nation as a whole. Part sports history, part civil rights story, this compelling and untold narrative serves as a powerful lens onto racism in sport, illustrating how, in microcosm, the fight to desegregate the Redskins was part of a wider struggle against racial injustice in America.

Ohio coaching legend Paul Brown said he wanted to create the New York Yankees of pro football when he assembled the Cleveland Browns from scratch in 1946. Not even the future Hall of Fame coach, however, could have foreseen 10 league championship appearances and seven titles in the team's first 10 years. That excellence and professional dominance cultivated a national fan base that has since crossed international boundaries. Elvis Presley, President John F. Kennedy, and Hank Aaron counted themselves as Browns fans. More than 50 years later, Browns Backers Worldwide is the largest organized fan club in professional sports, with over 265 chapters and 27,000 members worldwide. In Tales from the Cleveland Browns Sideline, Cleveland native and veteran football writer Tony Grossi recalls the personalities that sowed one of the NFL's proudest traditions and the characters who have continued to grow it. Grossi discloses the unlikely origin of the Marion Motley trap play and the talents that Otto Graham never used on the football field. Fans can read the scout's inside story behind the mad dog in the meat market' and the general manager's insult that launched Brian Sipe's rise from a 13th-round draft pick to the league's Most Valuable Player. Tales from the Cleveland Browns Sideline reveals who first called his defensive teammates Dawgs and why teammates stayed as far away as possible from Steve Everitt's locker. From Jim Brown to Ben Gay, from Glue Fingers Lavelli to Turkey Jones, the colorful characters who wore the plain white uniforms and blank orange helmets are captured like never before.