Profiles in Courage: Breaking Records and Breaking Barriers in Pro Sports--Henry Aaron, Jim Brown, Marion Motley

I saw all three of these heroes in the 1963 All Star Game.

Hank Aaron passed away today. The headline of the AP news story reads, "Hank Aaron, the baseball legend who endured racist threats with stoic dignity as he broke Babe Ruth's home run record, has died at 86."

The title is heartbreaking because it says so much about the cruelty many of our black heroes were experiencing while we cheered for them from the stands. The story, if you are unfamiliar with it, was that as the veteran all-star Aaron was approaching Babe Ruth's home run record, he began getting death threats. 

This was not in the news, but did come out later. It is an appalling commentary of our nation. It took courage to go out there and do the work he'd be called to do. 

 It also brings to mind for me some other stories from sports history.

An Aside: My favorite player of the era was the Puerto Rican star from the Pittsburgh Pirates, Roberto Clemente. Sometime in the mid-Sixties I sent him a letter and said how much I appreciated him (or something to that effect.) He sent me a note and an autographed photo of himself. The striking thing about that was that this was not a publicity still or a professionally printed photo made for signing. It looked like a page from a magazine that was cutout and signed with a ballpoint pen. I had that photo on the bulletin board in my room all through high school.

Henry Aaron influenced me, too. I had read a long article in Sports Illustrated about his consistency as a player. The sportswriter described how Aaron's power was in his wrists. Because I was determined to be a baseball player one day--had been playing seemingly every day since 7--I used to work out a lot. Our coach of the freshman team at BRHS-Wet shared an exercise that was designed to strengthen your wrists and I took it to heart based on the Aaron article. There is no sweeter sound than the crack of a bat on a ball the lines into the outfield and it's done with a flick of the wrists.  

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Marion Motley and Jimmy Brown

Nearly everyone knows the story of how Jackie Robinson was the first African American to cross into the Majors from the Negro  Leagues in baseball. Football stories are less well known.

When I read Jimmy Brown's autobiography years ago, he told stories about some of the tricks white opponents from the Jim Crow South did to hurt him. For example, when he was tackled, they would sometimes have a fistful of dirt, sand or whatever and fling it into his eyes while he was on the ground under a pile where the refs couldn't see.

In preparation for last Sunday's playoff game between the Browns and the KC Chiefs, I decided to watch a "History of the Cleveland Browns" DVD that I have. Every Browns fan should own a copy. It would make you proud. Paul Brown, founder and first head coach of the team, is one of the truly great coaches in NFL history. Many of his innovations are still in use today.

Paul Brown took the lead in bringing black players into pro football. It seemed strange to him that these men who fought for our country in WW2 could not participate in pro sports. In 1946, the year before Jackie Robinson crossed the color barrier in baseball, Paul Brown recruited three Negro players, among them the powerful running back Marion Motley.

Motley and the Browns were the best in the game for many years, but few knew the challenges he had to deal with. Again, just one anecdote tells a lot. Football is a very physical game, and normally the goal is to tackle the guy running with the ball. Sometimes, however, the white boys on the other team took a different approach. Instead of tackling him they would hold him up to keep him from falling, pummeling his body with their fists. 

I only learned about this from the documentary, which I'd watched before but with fresh eyes again last weekend.

Here's some football trivia you may not know. As you know, there are many arguments about who is the greatest this or greatest that. I did a research paper on who is the greatest baseball player of all time. The first step is to establish criteria.

That being said, who was the greatest running back of all time? It could be argued that the player who has the most rushing yards in a season is the top dawg. But as we know, today they play more games in a season than they used to. Today's rushers get four extra games in a season.

My favorite player was Jimmy Brown. Over the last half century I have compared all highly touted running backs against Brown. Here is a stat worthy of note: most yards per game, lifetime. No player in NFL history has averaged more than 100 yards per game, except Jimmy Brown. 

Interestingly, Marion Motley, the Cleveland Browns running back who preceded brown, set another record that no other running back has ever broken: most yards per carry average, lifetime. Motley averaged 5.7 yards rushing every time he touched the ball. 

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These two stories came to mind when I learned of Hank Aaron's passing today. They were heroic not just for the achievements on the field, but for the character they displayed. 

In his Hall of Fame acceptance speech Henry "Hank" Aaron said, "A man's ability is only limited by his lack of opportunity." These are words to ponder well and take to heart.

Photo courtesy Gary Firstenberg

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