[College Sports News]

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.

A Trailblazer On and Off the Field

[simple simon]

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.

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.

A Trailblazer On and Off the Field :: Bill Willis - Ohio State Football

this is an amazing story