Cleveland Rocks
11-28-2007, 11:26 PM
Passing of a legend
Steve King, Staff Writer
11.28.2007
When you look at Browns head coach Romeo Crennel, it's hard not to think of Bill Willis.
Ditto for when you look at assistant coaches Dave Atkins, Wes Chandler, Mel Tucker, Alfredo Roberts, Anthony Lynn and Randy Melvin.
Ditto for when you look at Jim Brown, Paul Warfield and Kevin Mack, all of whom starred for the Browns and now work for them, and at Reggie Langhorne and Hanford Dixon, other ex-Browns who now analyze the team for a Cleveland TV station.
For without Willis, there might not be Crennel and those assistants now with the Browns, and there might not have been any of those players with the team.
Willis helped pave the way for the arrival of all those African-Americans with the Browns -- and in the NFL in general.A Hall of Fame middle guard with the Browns from their inaugural season of 1946 through '53, Willis is recognized as the first African-American player of the modern pro football era.
He died on Tuesday night in his native Columbus, Ohio from complications due to a stroke suffered several days ago. He was 86.
"Bill Willis was one of the pioneers of the game of football," said Crennel on Wednesday morning in a statement released by the Browns."Everyone associated with the Cleveland Browns is saddened by his loss. His hard-nosed play on the field, coupled with the manner in which he conducted himself off it, epitomized what it is to be a Cleveland Brown. We send our thoughts, prayers and condolences to the Willis family."
"Bill Willis is one of the true heroes in the history of pro football," added Steve Perry, the Pro Football Hall of Fame's President/Executive Director, in a statement. "The courage and leadership exemplified by him while leading the cause to break down racial barriers is a model for all of us all to live by."
Willis loved the Browns to the very end and was ecstatic -- actually teary-eyed -- when Crennel was brought in, in 2005.
"To think that I have lived to see the day when my old team hires an African- American coach -- to think that I have lived to see all that progress from back when I played until now -- makes me overjoyed," he said. "I can't tell you happy I am, and how proud I am."
His pride was legitimate and heartfelt. It comes from the abuse he suffered first at Columbus East High School, then at Ohio State, where he was the school's first African-American All-American in football and a member of the Buckeyes' first national championship team in 1942, and finally in the NFL, where he was a key cog inthe Browns five league championships and eight league title game appearances in as many years.
Despite all that -- despite the fact he should have revered far and wide -- he was instead scorned by many because of the color of his skin.
"I can't say enough good things about Bill Willis," his former Browns teammate, standout wingback Dub Jones (1948-55), said from the construction business he still helps operate in Ruston, La. at the ripe young age of nearly 83.
"I remember when we went to Miami in 1946, Bill and Marion Motley (who was signed by the Browns just two weeks after Willis in August 1946 mostly to serve as the former's roommate) couldn't ride in the same train that we did. They had to find other travel arrangements for them.
"They felt the pain of all those things. Actually, I should say we -- all of us on the Browns -- felt the pain of those things. But they silently endured it, and in doing so, they did more for people of their race than those who were much more vocal.'
Jones continued, "For years now, I've heard Jackie Robinson this and Jackie Robinson that. While I have all the respect in the world for what he did, the fact of the matter is that Bill Willis, Marion Motley and the Browns are not getting their due. Bill and Marion played with us the year before Jackie Robinson went to the Brooklyn Dodgers. He did all the things that Jackie did, before Jackie did them."
As Jones pointed out, the presence of Willis, and then Motley, hastened the arrival to the Browns of other African-American players such as punter Horace Gillom at a time when the vast majority of All-America Football Conference and NFL teams hadn't even considered breaking their own color barrier.
Leo Murphy, the trainer of the Browns from 1950-88, is like Jones in that he remembers how Willis never fought back at his detractors, showing extreme class -- and restraint.
"Bill was not only a fine football player, but also a fine gentleman," he said from his home about 25 minutes south of Cleveland in suburban Medina.
Yes, a fine football player indeed. And fast.
"Bill was so quick that by the time the center had snapped the ball to the quarterback, he was in the backfield," Murphy said.
True story.
"I remember our first practice with the Browns in 1946," Browns Hall of Fame wide receiver Dante Lavelli (1946-56) said with a laugh from his furniture and appliance business -- yes, he's still working, too, at 84 -- in suburban Cleveland's Rocky River. "Bill actually beat the ball back to the quarterback."
But, points out Jones, Willis had more than just speed.
"Bill was 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds and looked skinny," he said. "But he was a tremendous athlete. He could run the 100 in under 10 seconds and had a lethal physique -- and I mean a lethal physique.
"People talk about what a great physique Jim Brown had when he played, and he did. But I coached Jim Brown (he served as offensive backs coach for the Browns from 1963-67), and in all due respect to him, I'm here to tell you that Bill Willis had a physique that you just couldn't believe. Like I said, it was lethal.
"Bill had the respect of everyone on our team, no exceptions."
It was more than respect, however, according to Lavelli.
"I've known Bill -- and been friends with Bill -- for over 65 years," he said. "We came to Ohio State together in the fall of 1941, we played together on the national championship team in 1942 and we came to the Browns together in 1946 and were teammates there for a long time.
"I remember when I first met him at Ohio State. Here was this big, strong-looking kid with a huge E on his sweater for Columbus East, and we've been great friends ever since."
Willis' passing leaves only six players left from the Browns' first team 61 years ago.
"Yeah, the days go by," sighed Lavelli, who, like Jones and Murphy, say he's feeling "pretty good, everything considered."
Willis is survived by his three sons, Bill Jr. and Clem, both of the Columbus area, and Dan of Atlanta. His wife, Odessa, passed away in 2002.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/article.php?id=7833
Steve King, Staff Writer
11.28.2007
When you look at Browns head coach Romeo Crennel, it's hard not to think of Bill Willis.
Ditto for when you look at assistant coaches Dave Atkins, Wes Chandler, Mel Tucker, Alfredo Roberts, Anthony Lynn and Randy Melvin.
Ditto for when you look at Jim Brown, Paul Warfield and Kevin Mack, all of whom starred for the Browns and now work for them, and at Reggie Langhorne and Hanford Dixon, other ex-Browns who now analyze the team for a Cleveland TV station.
For without Willis, there might not be Crennel and those assistants now with the Browns, and there might not have been any of those players with the team.
Willis helped pave the way for the arrival of all those African-Americans with the Browns -- and in the NFL in general.A Hall of Fame middle guard with the Browns from their inaugural season of 1946 through '53, Willis is recognized as the first African-American player of the modern pro football era.
He died on Tuesday night in his native Columbus, Ohio from complications due to a stroke suffered several days ago. He was 86.
"Bill Willis was one of the pioneers of the game of football," said Crennel on Wednesday morning in a statement released by the Browns."Everyone associated with the Cleveland Browns is saddened by his loss. His hard-nosed play on the field, coupled with the manner in which he conducted himself off it, epitomized what it is to be a Cleveland Brown. We send our thoughts, prayers and condolences to the Willis family."
"Bill Willis is one of the true heroes in the history of pro football," added Steve Perry, the Pro Football Hall of Fame's President/Executive Director, in a statement. "The courage and leadership exemplified by him while leading the cause to break down racial barriers is a model for all of us all to live by."
Willis loved the Browns to the very end and was ecstatic -- actually teary-eyed -- when Crennel was brought in, in 2005.
"To think that I have lived to see the day when my old team hires an African- American coach -- to think that I have lived to see all that progress from back when I played until now -- makes me overjoyed," he said. "I can't tell you happy I am, and how proud I am."
His pride was legitimate and heartfelt. It comes from the abuse he suffered first at Columbus East High School, then at Ohio State, where he was the school's first African-American All-American in football and a member of the Buckeyes' first national championship team in 1942, and finally in the NFL, where he was a key cog inthe Browns five league championships and eight league title game appearances in as many years.
Despite all that -- despite the fact he should have revered far and wide -- he was instead scorned by many because of the color of his skin.
"I can't say enough good things about Bill Willis," his former Browns teammate, standout wingback Dub Jones (1948-55), said from the construction business he still helps operate in Ruston, La. at the ripe young age of nearly 83.
"I remember when we went to Miami in 1946, Bill and Marion Motley (who was signed by the Browns just two weeks after Willis in August 1946 mostly to serve as the former's roommate) couldn't ride in the same train that we did. They had to find other travel arrangements for them.
"They felt the pain of all those things. Actually, I should say we -- all of us on the Browns -- felt the pain of those things. But they silently endured it, and in doing so, they did more for people of their race than those who were much more vocal.'
Jones continued, "For years now, I've heard Jackie Robinson this and Jackie Robinson that. While I have all the respect in the world for what he did, the fact of the matter is that Bill Willis, Marion Motley and the Browns are not getting their due. Bill and Marion played with us the year before Jackie Robinson went to the Brooklyn Dodgers. He did all the things that Jackie did, before Jackie did them."
As Jones pointed out, the presence of Willis, and then Motley, hastened the arrival to the Browns of other African-American players such as punter Horace Gillom at a time when the vast majority of All-America Football Conference and NFL teams hadn't even considered breaking their own color barrier.
Leo Murphy, the trainer of the Browns from 1950-88, is like Jones in that he remembers how Willis never fought back at his detractors, showing extreme class -- and restraint.
"Bill was not only a fine football player, but also a fine gentleman," he said from his home about 25 minutes south of Cleveland in suburban Medina.
Yes, a fine football player indeed. And fast.
"Bill was so quick that by the time the center had snapped the ball to the quarterback, he was in the backfield," Murphy said.
True story.
"I remember our first practice with the Browns in 1946," Browns Hall of Fame wide receiver Dante Lavelli (1946-56) said with a laugh from his furniture and appliance business -- yes, he's still working, too, at 84 -- in suburban Cleveland's Rocky River. "Bill actually beat the ball back to the quarterback."
But, points out Jones, Willis had more than just speed.
"Bill was 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds and looked skinny," he said. "But he was a tremendous athlete. He could run the 100 in under 10 seconds and had a lethal physique -- and I mean a lethal physique.
"People talk about what a great physique Jim Brown had when he played, and he did. But I coached Jim Brown (he served as offensive backs coach for the Browns from 1963-67), and in all due respect to him, I'm here to tell you that Bill Willis had a physique that you just couldn't believe. Like I said, it was lethal.
"Bill had the respect of everyone on our team, no exceptions."
It was more than respect, however, according to Lavelli.
"I've known Bill -- and been friends with Bill -- for over 65 years," he said. "We came to Ohio State together in the fall of 1941, we played together on the national championship team in 1942 and we came to the Browns together in 1946 and were teammates there for a long time.
"I remember when I first met him at Ohio State. Here was this big, strong-looking kid with a huge E on his sweater for Columbus East, and we've been great friends ever since."
Willis' passing leaves only six players left from the Browns' first team 61 years ago.
"Yeah, the days go by," sighed Lavelli, who, like Jones and Murphy, say he's feeling "pretty good, everything considered."
Willis is survived by his three sons, Bill Jr. and Clem, both of the Columbus area, and Dan of Atlanta. His wife, Odessa, passed away in 2002.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/article.php?id=7833