In 1933, NFL owners secretly banned Black players from the league. Thirteen years later, four Black players—Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Bill Willis, and Mar...
Reintegrating the NFL was only the first step. In this episode, we look at the long arc of the league’s complicated relationship with race, including positional discrepancies, coach hiring, front office representation, and the stark absence of Black owners. And we consider what it will take to effect real change.
Host: Chelsea Stark-Jones
Co-reporter: Lex Pryor
Producers: Isaiah Blakely, Mike Wargon, Justin Sayles, and Vikram Patel
Sound Design and Original Theme Song: Devon Renaldo
Mixing and Mastering: Scott Somerville
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50:31
3. Integration | Blackballed
By reintegrating pro football, Kenny, Woody, Bill, and Marion achieved what once seemed unthinkable. But the harder part was actually playing in a mostly white league. In this episode, we’ll look at the personal costs of integration for Kenny, Woody, Bill, and Marion.
Host: Chelsea Stark-Jones
Co-reporter: Lex Pryor
Producers: Isaiah Blakely, Mike Wargon, Justin Sayles, and Vikram Patel
Sound Design and Original Theme Song: Devon Renaldo
Mixing and Mastering: Scott Somerville
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46:32
2. Kenny, Woody, Bill, and Marion | Blackballed
In 1946, four men reintegrated pro football. In this episode, we look at how each of them ended up at the precipice of history, as they prepared to cross the sport’s color barrier.
Host: Chelsea Stark-Jones
Co-reporter: Lex Pryor
Producers: Isaiah Blakely, Mike Wargon, Justin Sayles, and Vikram Patel
Sound Design and Original Theme Song: Devon Renaldo
Mixing and Mastering: Scott Somerville
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44:42
1. Gentlemen’s Agreement | Blackballed
Six years ago, Colin Kaepernick took a knee, and it cost him the rest of his football career. It’s a modern story that hearkens back to the NFL’s original sin: a secret agreement among team owners to stop signing Black players almost a century ago.
Host: Chelsea Stark-Jones
Co-reporter: Lex Pryor
Producers: Isaiah Blakely, Mike Wargon, Justin Sayles, and Vikram Patel
Sound Design and Original Theme Song: Devon Renaldo
Mixing and Mastering: Scott Somerville
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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42:31
Introducing ‘Blackballed’
Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Bill Willis, and Marion Motley reintegrated professional football in 1946. They are known as the Forgotten Four. The burying of their story, and the secret ban on Black players that came before, is a critical piece of the history of the NFL’s complicated relationship with race.
Host: Chelsea Stark-Jones
Co-reporter: Lex Pryor
Producers: Isaiah Blakely, Mike Wargon, Justin Sayles, and Vikram Patel
Sound Design and Original Theme Song: Devon Renaldo
Mixing and Mastering: Scott Somerville
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 1933, NFL owners secretly banned Black players from the league. Thirteen years later, four Black players—Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Bill Willis, and Marion Motley—reintegrated pro football.
The Forgotten Four broke the race barrier in professional football one year before Jackie Robinson’s historic, and widely recognized, debut in the Major Leagues. This is their story.
It's a story that's been largely buried. But it's a story that matters today, to help understand the league's complicated relationship with race.
The four-part narrative podcast is hosted by Chelsea Stark-Jones, who worked for the NFL for a decade before coming to The Ringer. It’s co-reported by Lex Pryor, whose voice also appears throughout the series.
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