140: Marion Motley -NFL

Sports' Forgotten Heroes

In 1946, a new professional football league launched - The All America Football Conference (AAFC) and the strongest team created was the Cleveland Browns. It was filled with superstars and an eventual legend at coach - Paul Brown. In the backfield was another budding superstar, Marion Motley. Standing at 6-foot-1 and weighing 232-pounds was, by today's standards, not exactly HUGE. But, in 1946, 6-foot-1, 232-pounds was very intimidating. Motley steamrolled the opposition during his playing days and led the Browns to the AAFC's first-ever Championship. But he didn't stop there. In fact, Motley was a catalyst for the Browns who also won the AAFC i1947, '48 & '49. The Browns moved to the NFL in 1950, and again, they won the championship with Motley leading the charge out of the backfield. Cleveland also played for the NFL Championship in 1951, '52 & '53, and although they lost each of those championships, Motley still was a key ingredient in helping Cleveland reach those title games. His career was shortened by knee injuries. Overall, he played eight full seasons and averaged over 5-yards a carry and scored 31 touchdowns. During that period of time, the great NFL players lined up on both sides of the line of scrimmage and Motley did so as a linebacker. In fact, he picked off two passes during his career, one of which was a 48-yard pick-six. On this episode of Sports' Forgotten Heroes, we take a look back at the Hall of Fame career of Marion Motley with George Bozeka, President of the Professional Football Researcher's Association.