Kenny Washington, University of California at Los Angeles. Kenny helped guide the 1939 UCLA Bruins to a championship, that year leading the nation in total offense. He became the first consensus All-American in the history of the school’s program, but was omitted from the East-West Shrine Game, an action many attributed to racial prejudice. Kenny played for the Hollywood Bears in the Pacific Coast Professional Football League from 1941-1945. In 1946, the Los Angeles Rams signed him and fellow UCLA teammate Woody Strode to play in the NFL.
Kenny Washington
The EPIX Original Documentary, Forgotten Four: The Integration of Pro Football,tells the little-known story of four outstanding and brave African American men – Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Marion Motley and Bill Willis – who broke the color barrier in pro football in 1946, one year before Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey were credited with integrating Major League Baseball.
The history of the civil rights movement includes many game-changing stories of courage and perseverance in the face of great odds, but one of the most stirring is also the least known. The “Forgotten Four” charted the path for the desegregation of professional sports, after a 13-year period of an unwritten but very real “whites only” policy.
Professional football was integrated in the early 20th century, from 1904 to 1933 17 African Americans played in the NFL. In the 1920s, athletes such as Charles Follis, Fritz Pollard, and Paul Robeson were active members of their teams, though they remained in the shadows of their more celebrated white counterparts. The advances they and others made, however, crashed as the Great Depression hit the country in 1929. Doors that had begun to open wider during the time of greater economic prosperity were now abruptly closed.
Woody Strode
Woody Strode
Work was suddenly scarce, and the public viewed African American athletes as taking jobs from white men. A “gentleman’s agreement” was formed among NFL team owners not to sign African American athletes, thus segregating professional football. College sports, however, still provided opportunities for African American athletes, and Motley, Strode, Washington, and Willis were stars of their college football teams:
  • At UCLA, Strode and Washington contributed to the Bruin’s 1939 undefeated season.
  • Motley, at the University of Nevada, Reno, was one of the country’s top fullbacks.
  • Willis helped Ohio State win the Big Ten conference and national championship under coach Paul Brown, a key figure in the story of the “Forgotten Four.”
Despite their many obvious talents and achievements, however, the U.S. wasn’t ready to remove the barriers for African Americans, circumstances that were not eased as World War II called them to duty.
Marion Motley
Marion Motley
More than a million African Americans served their country during the war, at the same time continuing to fight for their civil rights in what continued to be a “Jim Crow” army. Some African American soldiers who fought in France and other parts of the European Theater experienced more positive attitudes towards them than they did at home, and the Tuskegee Airmen, who shot down German bombers, were recognized for their valor. African American soldiers’ willingness to fight and die for their country helped contribute to the measured but hopeful possibility that things would change for the better.
In March 1946, that change became increasingly evident as Kenny Washington and Woody Strode were signed to the Los Angeles Rams, and Coach Paul Brown brought Marion Motley and Bill Willis to the Cleveland Browns, finally ending the shameful era of segregation in professional football.
Forgotten Four: The Integration of Pro Football, returns these pioneers to their rightful place in American, sports, and civil rights history, as champions who fought racism on and off the field, running interference for future generations.

About the Forgotten Four:

Marion Motley, born on June 5, 1920 in Leesburg Georgia, grew up in Canton, Ohio, where he attended Canton McKinley High School and played both football and basketball. Particularly effective as a fullback, he helped his school achieve a 25-3 record during his time there. The three losses were against one of the school’s biggest rivals, Massilon Washington High School, led by Coach Paul Brown. After a brief stint at South Carolina State College, and from there transferring to the University of Nevada, Reno (star football player 1941-1943), he returned to Canton after suffering a serious knee injury. Marion joined the United States Navy in 1944 and was based at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. There he played for the Great Lakes Blue Jackets, a military team coached by his former adversary, Paul Brown. After the war, Brown became coach of the Cleveland Browns in the new All-America Football Conference and invited Marion to try out. Then working in a steel mill with plans to return to Reno to receive his degree, Marion changed direction, made the team,  and took his rightful place on the field.
Woody Strode was born on July 25, 1914 in Los Angeles, California, where he attended UCLA. During college, he was a world-class decathlon athlete as well as a talented football player. Woody, along with Kenny Washington and Jackie Robinson – who became the first African American player in major league baseball in 1947 – made up three of the four backfield players. After his time in college, Woody had brief stints in professional wrestling and in film acting as a way to support himself.  In 1946, he was given an opportunity to play professional football for the Los Angeles Rams alongside his UCLA teammate Washington. He only played for one year before deciding to play Canadian football for the Calgary Stampeders. He left the field of sports in 1949 due to injury, and went on to a successful acting career in Hollywood.
Kenny Washington was born on August 31, 1918 in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in an area known as Lincoln Heights, starred as a running back at Abraham Lincoln High School, and attended UCLA along with Woody Strode and Jackie Robinson. At the time, there were only a dozen black players in all of college football, and UCLA had four of them. Kenny helped guide the 1939 UCLA Bruins to a championship, that year leading the nation in total offense. He became the first consensus All-American in the history of the school’s program, but was omitted from the East-West Shrine Game, an action many attributed to racial prejudice. Kenny played for the Hollywood Bears in the Pacific Coast Professional Football League from 1941-1945. In 1946, the Los Angeles Rams signed him and fellow UCLA teammate Woody Strode to play in the NFL. The impact he had on the league was enormous, as he immediately became a bona fide star.
Bill Willis, born on October 5, 1921 in Columbus, Ohio, attended Columbus East High School where he participated in track and field and played on the football team. After graduating from high school, Bill enrolled at Ohio State University in 1941 and played under Coach Paul Brown. Bill played middle guard, helping the Buckeyes post a 9-1 record, win the Big Ten Conference, and a national championship. Before the following season, Bill, along with other players, enlisted in the U.S Army, but he was classified as 4-F due to varicose veins. In 1944, Bill was named to the United Press International and Look Magazine All-America Teams. He played in the 1944 College All Star game against the Chicago Bears and was named the game’s outstanding player. With a desire to still play football after college, he called Coach Brown who at that point was a coach with the Cleveland Browns. He was invited to try out, made the team alongside Marion Motley, and was integral to the reintegration of professional football.