Fast, Skilled and Selfless: The Bobby Mitchell Story

February is a big time historically for the Browns, for it is Black History Month.

That’s the case when two of your players, both Pro Football Hall of Famers and native Ohioans, in nose tackle Bill Willis of Columbus East High School and fullback Marion Motley of Canton McKinley permanently broke the color barrier coming out of World War II in not just football but also all of pro sports when they played for the Browns in their first game ever, against the Miami Seahawks on Sept. 6, 1946, at Cleveland Stadium. To put that into perspective, Jackie Robinson didn’t break the color barrier in baseball until eight months later. In fact, Robinson, not long before getting called up by the Brooklyn Dodgers from Montreal on April 15, 1947, called Willis and Mötley to ask them about their experience with the Browns so he could prepare for what he would be facing. But because, unlike today, baseball was so much bigger than football in terms of popularity, it is Robinson who gets the general credit for being the overall pro sports pioneer when in fact, that is not true. It is Willis and Motley.

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I recently recalled in this space some great stories that were told to me by Willis about his playing experiences with the Browns. I also heard some great stories about running back Bobby Mitchell, another African-American player with the Browns about a decade later who is also in the Hall of Fame.

Mitchell came to the Hall of Fame for an event and sat down with two writers, also including Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository, and discussed his life story and, in particular, his time with the Browns.

Like Willis, Mitchell, an eighth-round pick of the Browns in the 1958 NFL Draft, was a truly selfless man. As a rookie, he joined Jim Brown in the backfield. Though he had played just one season in the NFL after being drafted by the Browns in 1957, Brown was already a big star in tge league and Mitchell knew it. He had no problem playing second fiddle to Brown and letting him get all the glory.

“I would carry the football play after play all the way down the field, but when we got near the goal line, I knew the ball was going to Jim Brown because he wanted to score the touchdown. I was fine with that. I didn’t care,” Mitchell said.

I am not sure you would always see that in today’s game, because egos seem to be rather high in the league in many regards.

Mitchell told stories of, following practice, he and Jim Brown taking off their shoulder pads and shoes and having races in their sock. Brown was tremendously fast, but so was Mitchell, who was a great sprinter in track at Illinois.

Mitchell was a scatback, while Brown was more of a power runner. Indeed, their styles were distinctly different, and Brown liked that and felt it made it much tougher for opponents to prepare for the Browns because they had to be ready for two kinds of backs.

Browns head coach Paul Brown eventually did not see it that way, which was a real problem.

That leads us to another story, which we will visit the next time.

Steve King

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