Forgotten First: A look at four (and more) NFL trailblazers

FILE - In this Dec. 19, 1948, file photo, Cleveland Browns fullback Marion Motley, right, stands with coach Paul Brown after a football game against Buffalo in Cleveland. Brown never saw color, and in 1946 he recruited Motley and Bill Willis for his Cleveland team in the All-America Football Conference. (AP Photo/Harold Valentine, File)

FILE- In this Sept. 26, 1947, file photo, Cleveland Browns coach Paul Brown diagrams one of his pass plays on the blackboard in Cleveland. Brown never saw color, and in 1946 he recruited Marion Motley and Bill Willis for his Cleveland team in the All-America Football Conference. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this 1946 file photo, Los Angeles Rams' Woody Strode, catches a football. Strode overcame prejudice in pro football and then had a productive career acting in Hollywood action films. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this March 6, 2014, file photo, former NFL and Southern California receiver Keyshawn Johnson appears during the Clemson NCAA college football pro day in Clemson, S.C. In this era of racial reckoning, it is not only appropriate but significant that the stories of NFL trailblazers be told. Johnson, the 1997 top overall draft pick by the New York Jets and now host of ESPN's morning program, has done so. Collaborating with Bob Glauber, the Newsday columnist and 2021 recipient of the Bill Nunn Jr. Award by the Pro Football Writers of America for outstanding long-time reporting, Johnson has authored “Forgotten First.” (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 11, 1944, file photo, Ohio State's Bill Willis poses in Columbus, Ohio. Willis went on to a stellar pro career with the Cleveland Browns and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this July 31, 1946, file photo, five members of the Los Angeles Rams who also played at the University of California at Los Angeles pose at the Rams' football training camp at Compton, Calif. Front row, from left to right: guard Jack Finlay, guard Nate de Francisco, end Woody Strode. Back row, from left to right: backs Kenny Washington and Bob Waterfield. Washington was considered the best college player in American as a senior, but was not drafted by an NFL team because he was African American. Willis went on to a stellar pro career with the Cleveland Browns and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977. (AP Photo/File)