WHEN WILL WILLIS, MOTLEY AND DOBY GET THEIR DUE?
By STEVE KING
I’m tired of this stuff.
I’m sick and tired of it, in fact.
I really am.
And I wish it would end.
That is, I wish that three iconic former Cleveland sports – the Browns’ Bill Willis and Marion Motley, and the Indians’ Larry Doby – would get their due.
Friday was the annual Jackie Robinson Day around Major League Baseball, with all players and coaches on all teams wearing the No. 42 he wore for the Brooklyn Dodgers from the moment he arrived on April 15, 1947 as the first African American player in the game. That is as it should be, for Robinson deserves to be honored.
Major League Baseball and the @Indians continue to honor Jackie Robinson all weekend.
— FOX Sports Cleveland (@FOXSportsCLE) August 30, 2020
The late Chadwick Boseman shared this tribute to Jackie Robinson shortly after the movie "42" was released. pic.twitter.com/YwGYaQkPsC
About 2½ months half later, on July 5, 1947, Doby debuted for the Indians as the first African American player in the American League. But the American League has never done anything to honor him. Especially with all of the focus on racial inequality, how about a day in which at least all AL clubs least wear Doby’s No. 14?
But eight full months before Robinson played for the Dodgers, Willis and Motley broke the color barrier not just in football but all of pro sports when they played in the Browns’ first-ever game on Sept. 6, 1946. When Robinson was called up by the Dodgers from Montreal, he contacted Willis and Motley to get some pointers on how to handle it.
Yet, as is the case with Doby, Willis and Motley have never been recognized by the NFL for what they did. That’s just as sad, and unjust. Why they have all been slighted for years, and continue to be slighted, is anyone’s guess. Is it a Cleveland bias? Is it because no one from the Browns or Indians have pushed hard enough? Who knows?
But regardless of the reason(s), it has to change, and again, now is the perfect time for that.
Will it happen?
Man, I sure hope so, but probably not, and that makes me sad.
