Jack Kemp:Football field knows no black or white

[Dozerdog]

Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1940s and 1950s, my dream was to be a professional football quarterback. I went to my first pro football game at 12, when the Los Angeles Rams were playing in the Coliseum. As I watched, I dreamed of one day playing on the same field as my boyhood heroes, quarterbacks Bob Waterfield and Norm Van Brocklin and halfback Kenny Washington, who became the first African-American to play in the NFL in 13 years.

Later, after I joined the Buffalo Bills , I had the honor of quarterbacking several AFL All-Star Games with players such as Ernie Warlick of the Bills, Abner Haynes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Art Powell of the Raiders, and Cookie Gilchrist of the Bills. At the AFL All-Star Game in New Orleans in January 1965, my black teammates were unable to get taxis, decent accommodations, or even basic service at restaurants and nightspots because of the color of their skin.

In this case, it was the popularity of pro football that gave us the leverage needed to combat such discrimination incidents. In our team meeting we agreed to boycott the game because of the racial climate in the city. As a result the game was moved to Houston, which by that time had made progress toward equal treatment in public accommodations. ...MORE...

[The_Philster]

That was a classy thing for the players to do that...move the game since the racism was so prevalent in New Orleans

[northernbillfan]

That was a great story. There should be more, 'Old Time Football' books available, and keeping the game, as it was back then, alive.

[The_Philster]

Read When The Grass Was Real
It's the story of the AFL/NFL wars