This is Black History Month, and many tributes are made daily to various outstanding individuals of African-American ancestry, all very deserving and in many cases, very well known.
One of the most honored individuals, with complete justification of course, is Jackie Robinson, who broke the baseball color barrier in major league baseball and after a sterling 10-year career took his place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
A lot of people even know that Jackie Robinson played college football at UCLA.
But as the late radio announcer Paul Harvey would often intone, that is not the rest of the story.
The UCLA backfield in 1939 indeed featured Robinson, but I would contend that the Bruins backfield that year is the most sociologically significant in the history of college football.
In addition to Robinson, there were three other African-Americans who comprised the Bruins’ 1939 backfield. Ray Bartlett was one, and he is the only one who does not have a role in what the others did.
For in addition to Robinson integrating baseball, fellow backs Kenny Washington and Woody Strode did the same thing in the National Football League. That backfield integrated the two most popular team sports in America, and the two sports that remain the most popular today, although now the roles are reversed and football is number one, as opposed to baseball.
That UCLA backfield competed with national champion and cross-town rival USC for the Pacific Conference Championship and the chance to play in the 1940 Rose Bowl.
The annual meeting between the Bruins and Trojans ended in a 0-0 tie, and USC was awarded the title based on a better overall won-lost record.
Washington’s 1939 senior year was a banner campaign in which he rushed for 1,915 yards and led the nation in total offense. A safety on defense, Washington played all but 20 minutes of the entire season. Just as Robinson played multiple sports at UCLA, so did Washington, who batted .454 in 1937 and .350 in 1938 for the Bruin baseball team.
Many felt he would have been a first team All-American but for his race, and he did make the All-American second team.
The NFL was not ready to embrace black players yet, so Washington played for the minor league Hollywood Bears for five years, but in 1946 the Cleveland Rams moved to Los Angeles with plans to play in the Los Angeles Coliseum. But the Coliseum was a publicly-owned facility, and the Rams had to agree to employ African-American players. They quickly chose Kenny Washington and fellow former Bruin Woody Strode.
Hence, Washington and Strode became the first African-American players on the Rams, and the first to play in the modern NFL.
Washington played three years for the Rams, and his fabled number 13 jersey eventually was the first ever to be retired at UCLA.
After UCLA Strode had also played minor league pro football on the West Coast and had dabbled in pro wrestling as well. His pro football career ended in 1949.
A world-class decathlon athlete at UCLA, he had a physique matched by few and went on to become a pioneer African-American film actor. Strode was nominated for a Golden Globe award for best supporting actor for his role in “Spartacus” in 1960.
All together, Strode appeared in 67 motion pictures from 1941 through 1995, a 55-year career unmatched by most Hollywood veterans.
He became a good friend and favorite actor of noted director John Ford, who gave him big roles in several prominent westerns, including “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” which starred John Wayne.
An intensely loyal individual, Strode reportedly once spent four months sleeping on Ford’s floor as the director’s caretaker, in the time just before the famed director’s death.
By the way, if you have seen the “Toy Story” animated movies, the main character of Sheriff Woody reportedly was named for Strode.
So no one can or should ever taken anything away from the truly fantastic accomplishments of Jackie Robinson, as a baseball player and as a social activist.
But that 1939 UCLA backfield went on to make a proud mark on our society that would be very tough to match in the history of college football.
Congratulations to Jackie, Kenny and Woody. Black History Month would not be the same without you.
Tags: Black History Month, Jackie Robinson, Kenny Washington, Ray Bartlett, UCLA, Woody Strode
Like Krieger says, the lockout is a lock.
I would love to take Fairley at #2, if gone, I wouldn’t be mad if we draft Peterson! He is worth a #1 pick as well and is a top 3 prospect! We could get good DTs on later rounds, like Stephen Paea and I do not think we need a pass rusher with Doom coming back, I want to see Ayers playing DE!
We need S/LB/TE on second round(or get TE Luke Stocker on a 3rd), hope we get the CBA done and get a 2nd rounder for Orton!
Another LB and a DL on middle rounds and maybe a FB on late round.(I want to see Spencer Larsen get a shot at linebacker again, give him a chance to see what he can do). Want to see Graham leave Denver, he is too old to contribute besides blocking! I was supporting the idea of getting rid of one good WR(Royal, Lloyd, Gaffney) if the trade-value was good, but with Thomas injury, I would hold on that!
Sing Champ!! We need him! If he decides to leave I wouldn’t be mad with him only if he goes to a SB contender! I’ve heard rumors there is an offer of over $40 millions for 4 years so is up to him now.
OL should improve next season if injuries don’t show up that much and the running game could get a boost from zone-blocking scheme and LenDale White’s return with his bruising style, we needed that badly last season!
the frontman in the band called Mumford & Sons looks a lot like Tebow…. so crazy!!!
My wife and I said the same thing. The dude from Mumford & Sons looks just like Tebow
THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE FUNNIEST ONE YET! LOL!
BAYLIN, the al davis joke! LOL…totally thought of you!
http://www.bangcartoon.com/2010/horse_apples.htm
GO GET EM’ BOYS!
Al Davis calling Bowlen in the middle of the night:
“Pat, is your refrigerator running?”
Pat: “I think so….”
Al: “Good, that’s more than can be said about your Broncos.”
LMAO, remember seeing that toon during the season but thanks for the re-run, I am sure many missed it.
What about this one:
Me calling Pat in the middle of the day:
“Pat, my wife has been running all over me, any tip on how to stop her?”
Pat: “Are you freaking kidding me?”
”
Pat: ” Are you freaking kidding me!”
Oops, double line.
This offseason is SO boring because of the stupid CBA disagreement. Nothing is happening because no one knows what is going to happen. I am SO sick of seeing millionaires fight billionaires for money. Just get over yourselves, work it out, and let’s get back to football.
You are obviously not going to like this development if you are hoping for a quick CBA resolve:
NFL filed today with the National Labor Relations Board an unfair labor practice charge against the NFL players’ union.
So the war begins!! Owners will prevail!!
Details:
In Monday’s filing with the National Labor Relations Board, the league is asking that the union be ordered to bargain in good faith. The NFL says the union wants to avoid reaching a new collective bargaining agreement by the early March expiration of the old deal.
The league says the union wants to decertify so it can file an antitrust lawsuit.
The filing with the NLRB says the “union’s strategy amounts to an unlawful anticipatory refusal to bargain.”
Bay I was away in Oregon last week so I missed everyones discussion about Thomas. In short term what was the vibe like in regards to him?
One of the many reasons I`m behind the owners.
I like Thomas but I`m not going to put all my stock into him. We are still strong at WR. I wish him luck in his recovery, especially if there is no CBA. Without a new CBA Bay Bay cannot go into dove Valley to rehab. Now that sucks!
Mello, how was your trip to Oregon, was it productive?
The league’s move Monday could be a precursor to officially calling an “impasse” to the negotiations. Should the league call it an impasse, instead of a lockout March 4, the NFL could unilaterally impose its last offer on the players. However, the players would certainly challenge such a move in court.
When Goodell kept saying in the press conference before the SB that March 4th was a very important date, a crucial date, the most important date to resolve the issue, etc, etc, he meant it and we are all about to find out exactly what he meant by that, including the players, I hope your piggy banks are loaded… and don’t get hurt after March 3rd… Man, they do not know where they are heading… Our best bet is to hope for the players to come back down to earth because the owners will not do business as is, that’s a given.
Ya, the last deal was players got 59%. Not this time around.
Mello, injury prone!
Thomas? The overwhelming mood here was that he is injury prone (except for like BroncoAussie and TRB) wich I buy into considering he had a broken foot, reaggravated the injury without any significant showing of stressing it and then tears his Achilles. All that tells me that his lower legs maybe not strong enough to handle his body size and stress. I could never play basketball because I would always roll my ankles but put me in snow ski boots and I was nearly invicible. Point is I have super strong knees, strong legs but weak ankles, go figure… Hope I’m wrong but unfortunately looks as if we could have yet another first round draft pick failure on our hands…
Albert Haynesworth now being accused of sexaul assault. What will happen next with this dude. Trouble fallows him where ever he goes.
Rod Woodson a Raider? Not that I needed any more reasons to dislike him!
A waitress is claiming that Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth sexually assaulted her at the W Hotel in Washington D.C. over the weekend, according to WRC-TV , citing sources.
Defensive tackles stand to cash in at 12.5 million per year if they are franchise tagged. Up from the 7.5 million from last year!
The New England Patriots officially used their franchise tag on guard Logan Mankins , and he remained the only NFL player with the designation as Monday’s close of business approached, according to a league source.
Who says the offseason is boring? Lol
Actually TRB might be in my corner about Thomas, it’s Moreno he always argues with me that he is not injury prone, and I say he is… But BA was adamant that Thomas is just on a string of bad luck.
I thought the same thing about Thomas in we might have another first round bust. I hope I`m wrong.
Bronco boring?
Of course, the news baylin is reporting heats thing up as well!
I am looking forward to the NFL Combine coming up on the 24th of this month.
After our roller coaster era, I welcome the boring!!!
That is if the combine isn’t boycotted! Haha, just messin strand!
LMAO! Those agents can`t even boycott the Combine. LOL. It just doesn`t hold any water. Like a player coming out of college isn`t going to show-case himself. They aren`t that stupid. I got a good laugh out of it.
SIGN CHAMP!!
strand very productive! We will be leaving the deep south of Nawlins for the North West. Thanks for asking bro!
snvdl and Bay thanks for the Thomas talk update. I said he was injury prone soon as I read that text from cbs4denver.
Cool. When you move out there don`t be surprised when you see a Starbucks and other coffee houses at just about every corner. lol. Thats just how it is in that part of the country.
Yeah my wife is the coffee drinker of the family. I’m the one with the natural high. So she loves the fact that Starbucks is everywhere. She loved how Starbucks was all around Denver when we went back in January.
One of the best things about this move is….. My wife said, “You have to have a Broncos room with movie style seats and surround sound!” I said can we move tomorrow??!!
Thats great. She`ll be a happy camper. Or shall I say a happy Oregon Homer now. lol. That sounded funny. Good luck on the move to you and yours.
Dude, thats hilarious.
Hahahaha @ Oregon Homer! Thanks strand, appreciate it.
Mello, all in fun. Go Broncos!!
Oh I know, it’s all good.
All the Bronco news are about Thomas lately who just got his achilles repair surgery, and this is what he has done for us so far:
Thomas made two starts this past season and finished with 22 receptions and two touchdowns.
I don’t know about anyone else but I’m really not seeing what the big deal is about other than it’s looking more and more like a first round pick failure… But Fox says he has no doubt that Thomas will make a full recovery, so from the “it is what it is” man, that’s quite the vote of confidence. I guess they owe us that since the CBA gives us none.
Add today as another boring and depressing day if you let it to the 2011 off season. I personally totally bought the fact that there would be no off season this year way back about two months ago so no big deal from where I’m standing, just doing more of the other things in my life that makes it fun. Right now the NFL is dirt and can eat too, the whole bunch of them!
We cannot even come close to ruling Thomas as a 1st round bust!! If we didn’t Moreno then we definitely can’t Thomas! I will agree that he has had some bad luck with being injured but now that he got this repaired he will fully be able to heal his whole body in every area needed! It definitely takes more than just a year to consider a player a bust! Also, the times that Thomas didn’t start was mainly because of how good Royal, Lloyd, and Gaffney did for us! It was really hard to beat out one of those guys! We just need to get some great pass catching TE’s for our offense and a strong FB and we will be set on offense! Hopefully they know that just as much as we do!!
Unfortunately all of Thomas injuries are lower leg/foot injuries, which leads me to look at the possibility of him being injury prone in those areas which I talked about here yesterday so I won’t bother to do so again now. And count me in as one who thinks Moreno is also a kind of player who has shown to have physical issues taking on the NFL rigors. Both to me are huge question marks at this point at best, at least as first round picks.
First round picks in this league are expected to be producers right off the bat, unfortunately our first round picks have been nothing but that for a few years now, while it can be argued that had Moreno worked with a zone blocking scheme he might of produced more, this year will be the final telling tale for him since we will go to the zone scheme, if he does not produce, he will officially be a bust for what it’s worth.
The biggest key for moreno this year is to keep in shape, stay healthy.
No risk of Moreno snapping off a hammie this off season, there won’t be any! LOL.
That part of a injury can be prevented by conditioning. Since Moreno has had a problem with his hammies he should be stretching them out every day.
In other words if there`s no new CBA on the horizon then he needs to act on his own with conditioning himself. Decipline.
My two cents about the Thomas injury,
For the past few years the Broncos as an organization has been very injury prone, now I’m not going to say that individual players are injury prone, but the fact is year in and year out we have been pretty hurt. I know Greek has been here for a while but I no longer believe in his ability to keep players healthy. Granted some injuries just happen and can’t be avoided, that being said it is up to the training staff to teach players how to stay healthy!!! They are not fulfilling their duties as of late. I believe this is especially true with the younger players. These newer guys are not as experienced as the veterans on the methods needed to prevent injuries. I believe the Broncos as an organization need to protect their younger investments by insuring the proper work is completed to insure their success. As for the players not being built for certain positions, such as Bay referred to with his lower legs not being strong enough, well there are solution there as well. Proper workouts could work the muscles to insure that the players are strong enough. If it is a bone problem I don’t know, drink more milk lol.
In regards to the CBA the owners need to do their part in protecting their players during the inevitable lockout. I would suggest that we develop a business relationship with some private firms to “consult” the players on methods to use and programs to follow during the lockout to insure that our players are ahead of the curve when the deal is reached. Doing this ahead of the lockout would make preparations easier and more efficient. The fact is that there will eventually be football again and we still have to be prepared.
GO BRONCOS
By the way good to see that the regulars are still here as always, shows who the real through and through fans are congrats. I know I haven’t posted too much so far during the off season but I am coming to the end of completing my degree and the coursework has tripled, nonetheless Its nice to just glance at the most recent blogs and keep up with my Broncos. So I say thanks to the through and through fans.
Thanks Broncosforlife88. Hang in the with all of your school-work.