Feb. 13, 2007

A year before Jackie Robinson famously donned a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform, Bill Willis' passion for football conquered the barriers of discrimination and changed the course of the game forever.

The world knows the story of the baseball legend as the desegregation of professional sports, but outside of football circles, the history of the former Ohio State standout and NFL Hall of Famer is far-reaching but almost unknown.

Raised by his grandfather and mother in Columbus, Ohio, the future all-around football star was more interested in track than football when he attended Columbus East High School.

"I had a brother, Claude, who was about six years older than me," Willis said. "He was an outstanding football player, a fullback in high school and I was afraid I would be compared with him."

When he did finally decide to give the sport that would become his destiny a hearty try, he became a three-year starter and won honorable-mention All-State honors as a senior.

But Willis was skeptical of a future in football. Claude had tried to play in college but was told to look elsewhere, a "black school." After taking a year off to work, Willis enrolled at Ohio State in 1941 and new head football coach Paul Brown took note.

The two-way tackle with track-star speed quickly earned his way into the lineup as a sophomore for the 9-1 Buckeyes, who went on to win the 1942 Western Conference championship and were named the best team in the nation by the Associated Press.

It was three decades before Archie Griffin claimed his back-to-back Heisman Trophies, and nearly half a century before Eddie George won his. More than 60 years before Troy Smith even put on a Buckeye uniform, Willis paved the way for some of the greatest stars to wear scarlet and gray when he became the first African-American to play at Ohio State in 1943-44. After his senior season - an undefeated campaign for the Buckeyes - Willis was invited to the College All-Star Game in Chicago to play against the National Football League champions, but the doors to a professional career were closed to him.

Despite his success at Ohio State, Willis never thought he would play in the pros - not in this country anyway. For 12 years before 1946, an unwritten rule prohibited African-Americans from the NFL.

Instead, Willis took a job as the head football coach and athletic director at Kentucky State College in 1945. But even after a successful season, Willis longed to be back on the field himself. He was heading to Canada for a tryout when a Columbus sportswriter suggested Willis stop by training camp for the All-America Football Conference's Cleveland Browns on his former Buckeye coach's urging.

When Brown signed Willis on Aug. 6, 1946 for a starting salary of $4,000, it marked the permanent end to professional football's race barrier. Three days later the Hall of Fame coach signed another African-American in fullback Marion Motley.

"I think he knew what he was doing and how important it was because he used other avenues," Willis said. "And when he told me to suit up, he told me he'd let it be known in his own time."

Willis came to his first pro training camp standing 6-2 and 210 pounds, small by pro football standards in 1946. But when he lined up in the middle, his charge was so quick that he rushed right past the Browns' center four straight times. The coaches felt he had to be offsides, but Brown knew all too well Willis' bruising talent, and the rookie earned a starting spot in his first practice.

"What I had been doing was concentrating on the ball," Willis said. "The split second the ball moved or the center's hands tightened, I charged."

A few months earlier, the NFL broke its color barrier by signing Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, but both were nearing the end of their careers. Willis and Motley were just embarking on Hall of Fame careers and the pair became marquee names in the game's first dynasty.

The former Buckeye played both offense and defense for the Browns, but with his lightning speed Willis made his mark as a middle guard, molding what is now considered the middle linebacker position.

After sweeping championships in four dominating seasons in the AAFC, the Browns entered the National Football League and continued their success. In 1950, the squad won the NFL Championship within its first year in the league behind vital contributions from Willis and Motley. In fact, Willis was named the team's Most Valuable Player after staving off a touchdown in the Browns' playoff victory over the New York Giants that kept its championship quest alive.

Willis continued to flourish in the NFL and played in the league's first three Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-League selection seven times in his eight-year career.

Despite the late hits and hateful names he sometimes endured in the late 1940s, Willis was in a class of his own - especially on defense. His on-the-field success helped open the doors of the game for other African-Americans, but there had always been more to Willis than football. When he retired from the NFL in 1953 the Columbus native kept his trail of activism blazing strong.

He returned home to Columbus, and in 1963 he was named director of the Ohio Youth Commission, an organization aiming to develop a diverse and talented group of local youth into civic leaders in the community.

Since his playing days, Willis has earned the unique distinction of belonging to the Ohio High School, both the College and Professional Football, and the Ohio State Athletics Halls of Fame.

This past July, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed Resolution 533 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the permanent racial integration of professional football by the four pioneering players at the 2006 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. Inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1977, Willis is the only surviving member of the ground-breaking foursome.

"My colleagues and I have commemorated an important part of the civil rights movement by recognizing the groundbreaking accomplishments of these great men," said Sen. George Voinovich, who co-wrote the resolution. "The integration of major professional sports dealt a blow to segregation across the country, causing other racial barriers to fall. The players deserve to be recognized not only for their outstanding contributions on the field but for the vital roles they played in history."

Now the 85-year-old Willis spends his Sundays watching an NFL where 70 percent of its players and seven head coaches are African-American.

"I'm proud of the role I played, but it was a very small part," Willis said. "I'm appreciative of the people who permitted me to play that role. I still get nice, thoughtful letters, saying that I had a part in how the entire fabric of professional football - management, players, everything - has moved ahead.

"Looking back on it, who thought this day would ever come?"

When Ohio State and Michigan collided in Columbus for one of the most monumental games of the teams' storied rivalry this past November, Willis was watching from inside Ohio Stadium. He proudly cheered with the record crowd as Smith, who weeks later became the third black quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy, orchestrated an unforgettable OSU victory.

But it's Willis' story that the game never stops celebrating.