Bill Willis
Bill Willis wasn’t just a great football player, but also a historical figure in the advancement of Blacks in sports and society while playing middle guard, for the Browns from 1946-53. Willis was born in Columbus, Ohio. He attended Columbus East High School where he ran track and played football. Willis stayed at home and played his college ball at Ohio State, where he was Ohio State’s first Black football All-American. He starred on OSU’s first national championship team as a sophomore in 1942. In 1943, Willis was voted to the first team “All-Big Nine Conference” (the predecessor to the Big 10).
Willis graduated in 1945 and wanted to play pro football, but as a Black man with the knowledge that the NFL had an unspoken rule about African-Americans, there was nowhere for him to go. Bill Willis reached out to his former coach at Ohio State, Paul Brown, who was starting the Cleveland Browns franchise in the new All-America Football Conference. Willis made the team, and along with Marion Motley, were among the first two Black players in pro football.
Paul Brown lectured Willis on that fact that he would be ridiculed and physically abused by racists who wanted to keep his kind out of the game. As bad as race relations were, they would get even worse if an African American fought back in front of thousands of people in a stadium because it would validate what many Whites were thinking: That the presence of Black players would scar the game. He and teammate Marion Motley, a fellow Hall of Famer are credited with breaking the color barrier in professional football, when they appeared in the Browns first game ever in the All-American Football Conference.
Willis played both offense and defense for the Browns but won acclaim as a defensive middle guard on a five-man front. With the Browns, Willis became an anchor on defense as the team dominated the AAFC. Willis was named to all-AAFC teams in every year of its existence. The team won each of the league’s four championship games. The AAFC folded and the Browns, along with two other teams, were absorbed by the National Football League (NFL) following the 1949 season. The Browns won the 1950 NFL Championship, and Willis was a colossal component of Cleveland’s success in their early existence.
The 1951 and 1952 seasons were equally successful for Willis, although the Browns lost in the NFL championship to the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions. He was an all-pro selection and was named to the Pro Bowl in both years. In 1953, when the Browns lost a third championship game in a row, Willis was named an all-Pro but did not make the Pro Bowl. Both Willis and Motley retired after the 1953 season. Willis was 32 years old and had played eight seasons for the Browns, earning all-pro honors every year he played. He was the best player on a strong defense that was crucial to Cleveland’s success in the AAFC and NFL.
He was also the embodiment of what Brown looked for in his players: speed and intelligence instead of size. At around 210 pounds, he was small for a lineman, even in his era. Willis’s play as a powerful but quick middle guard influenced the development of the modern linebacker position. Bill Willis was known for his quickness and strength despite his small stature, he quickly gained the reputation for being one of the most dominant defensive football players of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971. In 1977, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was presented by Paul Brown.