The Black Bruins: The Remarkable Lives of UCLA's Jackie Robinson, Woody Strode, Tom Bradley, Kenny Washington, and Ray Bartlett
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Strode was inducted into the Stuntmen’s Hall of Fame despite not being a member of the Stuntmen’s Association. “All the old-timers know the stuff I’ve done in the movies,” Strode said. A California legislator, Cheryl Brown, was campaigning in 2015 to have Strode included in the State Hall of Fame. Backers include Clint Eastwood and Kirk Douglas.
Strode’s son Kalai, a writer and scholar who died in 2014, once summed up Strode’s life and legacy as follows:
He was sincere, honest, and optimistic. He was a good role model, not to me only, not to all African Americans only either, but to all Americans. He overcame more obstacles then we could imagine, and did it with grace and integrity. . . . I wish he could have lived long enough to see an African American elected as president of the United States. I believe his legacy laid a foundation for that, and for all other minorities who have tried to crack the glass ceiling of racial discrimination. He was a very good man.
Many have claimed that Kenny Washington could have been the best professional football player who ever lived, but by the time he integrated the NFL, his body was worn down by years on the gridiron. Yet he continued to perform admirably. Nonetheless, he has never received much support for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 2011 Jim Tunney, former longtime referee and Lincoln High administrator in Los Angeles whose father once coached Washington there, noted, “[Washington] wasn’t in the NFL long enough, so he just faded out of sight. And now nobody knows what to do with him.” Said his granddaughter Kysa Washington, “You would think there should be some sort of shrine to him somewhere, but there’s barely a mention of him anywhere.”
Washington deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame not only because he integrated the NFL, but also for his performance on the field. His career included playing in the Pacific Coast Football League, and that should be considered. After all the Hall is not the NFL Hall of Fame, it’s the pro Hall, and Washington dominated the Pacific Coast League for four years.
There’s a movement afoot to gain Washington access to the Hall. Two of the four players who broke the barrier at the same time as Washington, Bill Willis and Marion Motley, are in the Hall. Their careers reflect that honor. (Strode was an afterthought in joining the Rams with Washington, and he played just a little more than a single season, although he also played in the coast league and in Canada.)
Adam Rank, an NFL media writer, has been a strong booster of Washington’s induction into the Hall of Fame. He wrote the following in 2014:
There is some vague recollection of Washington throughout the league. Some might nod when they hear the name. Others might refer to him as the “Jackie Robinson of the NFL.” Which is quite an amazing feat if you consider the fact that Washington broke the color barrier in the modern NFL a full year before Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. And yet we don’t honor Washington. The Rams haven’t even retired his number. It is time for us to rectify that. It should start and finish with the Pro Football Hall of Fame. . . . Not only is Washington’s exclusion in the Pro Football Hall of Fame egregious, it also goes against the core values of the Pro Football Hall of Fame itself.
Rank wrote that too often excellence is confused with statistics:
But what Washington accomplished cannot be measured in yards and statistics. Washington played just three seasons for the Los Angeles Rams, but his legacy has stood for a lifetime. In fact, it still endures today. In a league where the overwhelming majority of players are African American, you can’t deny what he has meant to the league. What he did can be measured in rushing titles and Pro Bowls bids, but not those in his name directly. Instead, his accomplishments come from those who are given an opportunity today because of what Washington did years ago.
Being left out of the Hall of Fame doesn’t take away from Washington’s legacy in the least. His contribution to integrating the NFL is beyond doubt. In many ways he was subjected to the same indignities on the field as Robinson, many of which were lost in the noise and violence of the game. He always turned the other cheek throughout his brief career. What endures for Kenny Washington is what came in his wake.
“He was a very proud man that worked extremely hard,” his grandson Kirk Washington said. “He was very competitive and he wanted to make sure that his career meant something not only from a football standpoint, but he wanted to conduct himself with integrity and high character and I think that in anything he did, he wanted to make sure people saw him that way. He was a hard-nosed guy, he was tough but he still had something about him where he wanted people to see a man setting an example by doing the right thing at all times.”
The Kenny Washington Stadium Foundation was established in 2010 in an effort to help secure his place in history. The foundation is raising funds for a major renovation and improvement of the athletic facilities at Lincoln High, where Washington went to high school. It will be named in Washington’s honor. The foundation also is stepping up efforts to get Washington into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Lincoln High has given the football team’s MVP award for him, even using the original trophy the Rams awarded Washington when he retired in 1949. His name also appears on a perpetual trophy given to the UCLA Bruin Offensive Player of the Year and also on an award presented annually by the National Football League Players Association.
Ray Bartlett’s legacy may not be as strong as that of his teammates, but he also lived a truly extraordinary life that arose from humble beginnings. He is one of sixteen Pasadena Community College athletes whose likenesses are immortalized with bronze busts in the school’s Court of Champions. Bartlett also is a member of the school’s Sports Hall of Fame and the California Community College Athletic Association Hall of Fame. In addition, he has been chosen as one of the college’s seventy-five Distinguished Alumni, simply as a “public servant.” In 2008 Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich called Bartlett “a friend and supporter who served our county and our nation with honor and integrity. He was a trailblazer in sports, law enforcement, the military and public service.”
Notes
Introduction
“Three African American players”: http://magazine.ucla.edu/depts/quicktakes/playing_for_posterity/, accessed November 22, 2015.
“We have yet to find another single coach”: Chicago Defender, December 16, 1939; cited in Demas, “On the Threshold,” 97.
“We were a tough group”: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 93.
As Edwin Bancroft Henderson wrote: Excerpted in Wiggins and Miller, The Unlevel Playing Field, 188.
UCLA sought the best players: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 26, 31.
The USC Trojans didn’t want them: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 62.
“We couldn’t play in Texas”: B. J. Violett, “Teammates Recall Jackie Robinson’s Legacy,” UCLA Today, April 25, 1997.
“Whatever racial pressure was coming down”: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 35.
Said the Bruins’ graduate manager Bill Ackerman: Ackerman, My Fifty Year Love-in at UCLA, 155.
They received lucrative benefits: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 32.
Ralph Bunche: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1950/bunche-bio.html, accessed February 15, 2013.
UCLA graduate James LuValle: http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/lu-valle-james-e-1912–1993, accessed June 15, 2013.
Perhaps none of these athletes: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/04/the-real-story-of-baseballs-integration-that-you-wont-see-in-i-42-i/274886/, accessed August 17, 2013.
Prologue
“The Negroes who migrated”: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 10.
Undoubtedly they bought into the belief: Cited in Sides, L.A. City Limits, 11
Such praise was coupled with comments: http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aaw/edmonds-jefferson-l-1845–1914, accessed January 2, 2013. See also Flamming, Bound for Freedom, 51.
In 1910 almost 36 percent: Sides, L.A. City Limits, 16.
“Only a few years ago”: Cited in Sides,
L.A. City Limits, 11.
As George Beavers Jr. put it: Flamming, Bound for Freedom, 49.
“The boomtown atmosphere of Los Angeles”: Sonenshein, Politics in Black and White, 26.
In 1900 the black population made up 2.1 percent: Census data cited in Sonenshein, Politics in Black and White, 22.
Of the fifty thousand African Americans in Los Angeles: Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1931.
As a writer: Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration, Los Angeles in the 1930s, 4.
White Southerners also were moving to Los Angeles: Flamming, Bound for Freedom, 4–5.
If attaining a good job: Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1931.
Eighty-seven percent of black women: Sides, L.A. City Limits, 26.
One bright spot: Flamming, Bound for Freedom, 77.
African Americans did find better schools: Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1931.
The growing African American population: Sonenshein, Politics in Black and White, 26–27.
Jackie Robinson’s widow, Rachel: R. Robinson with Daniels, Jackie Robinson, 24.
During hot spells: Washington Post, August 21, 1948.
Although forbidden to do so by state law: Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1931.
Woody Strode called the racism “very subtle”: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 11.
“That’s when our life was most vulnerable”: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 21.
The white population in Los Angeles: Sonenshein, Politics in Black and White, 27.
Communities like Inglewood: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 11.
“Housing discrimination”: Sonenshein, Politics in Black and White, 28.
And the Ku Klux Klan operated in the mid-1920s: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 10.
1. No Bed of Roses in Pasadena
“If you poor Georgians”: Rowan with Robinson, Wait Till Next Year, 20.
Mallie Robinson: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, I Never Had It Made, 4.
The Robinsons were living as sharecroppers: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 11.
Cairo was just “a day’s hike”: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, Baseball Has Done It, 39.
Robinson would later call living as a sharecropper: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, I Never Had It Made, 3.
But when Jerry left: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 15.
Then Mallie’s half-brother: Rowan with Robinson, Wait Till Next Year, 20.
A family friend: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 17.
When Mallie and the others passed through: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 18–19.
“What my mother didn’t know”: Allen, Jackie Robinson, 19.
Mallie and her children: Rowan with Robinson, Wait Till Next Year, 21.
Mallie then set out to look for a job: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 18.
After two years in Pasadena: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 19.
The Robinsons were among eleven hundred African Americans: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 21.
“Pasadena regarded us as intruders”: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, Baseball Has Done It, 41.
Pasadena residents also were concerned: California Eagle, November 7, 1924; cited in Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 22.
Even though the Robinsons: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, I Never Had It Made, 16–17.
Years later his wife Rachel: Long, Beyond Home Plate, 42.
He recalled that he could: Washington Post, August 23, 1949.
As noted, at times the people Mallie worked for: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, Baseball Has Done It, 41.
“That’s why I refused”: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, Baseball Has Done It, 41.
Brother Mack said: Allen, Jackie Robinson, 23.
There was little doubt: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 23.
Neighbors tried unsuccessfully: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, I Never Had It Made, 4.
Once Jack’s brother Edgar: Rowan with Robinson, Wait Till Next Year, 23.
While Mallie was working: Rowan with Robinson, Wait Till Next Year, 25.
When it was time: Allen, Jackie Robinson, 20, 26.
He was a C student: Mann, “Say Jack Robinson.”
When he was eight: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, Baseball Has Done It, 42–43.
“He was a special little boy”: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 27.
At twelve Jack moved: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 26–27.
Robinson’s widow: R. Robinson with Daniels, Jackie Robinson, 17
They threw dirt clods: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, I Never Had It Made, 6.
“People used to ask”: Allen, Jackie Robinson, 26.
Robinson once confronted a quarterback: Falkner, Great Time Coming, 42.
During this time: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, I Never Had It Made, 7.
Robinson, Ray Bartlett, and their friends: Baseball Weekly, February 26, 1997.
“They weren’t out to do trouble”: Allen, Jackie Robinson, 22.
Bartlett was born in Pasadena: Pasadena City Directories, Pasadena Museum of History.
When his mother told him: Los Angeles Times, June 28, 2008.
Robinson said his mother always maintained her composure: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 23.
Eventually the white neighbors began to accept the Robinsons: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 24.
Said Bartlett: “I can’t think”: Baseball Weekly, February 26, 1997.
Robinson could have become a juvenile delinquent: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, I Never Had It Made, 7.
The other man was the Reverend Karl Downs: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, I Never Had It Made, 7–8.
Downs watched Robinson: Jackie Robinson with Duckett, Baseball Has Done It, 42.
Years later Rachel Robinson: Abilene, Texas, Reporter-News, February 25, 2008.
Strode was born in Los Angeles: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 1–3.
“Well, I had to get rid of that title”: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 1.
It was this upbringing: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 7, 12.
Strode remembers playing in the Los Angeles River: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 18–19.
2. The Kingfish and Woody
“The two finest football players”: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 59.
Today Lincoln Heights: http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/neighborhood/lincoln-heights, accessed December 2, 2015.
When Woody Strode met Kenny: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 50.
Los Angeles Times sports columnist Jim Murray: Los Angeles Times, August 6, 1961.
Many of the men who lived in Lincoln Heights: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 51–53.
Washington’s grandparents: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 52.
From 1919 to 1961: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0913405/bio, accessed December 1, 2015.
Blue was making seventy-five dollars a day: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 53.
He also earned a living boxing: http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/b347deac, accessed June 10, 2014.
Said Strode, “Athletically, Blue had the ability”: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 53.
The Oregonian newspaper in Portland: Cited in http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/b347deac.
If grandmother Susie Washington was the woman: Strode and Young, Goal Dust, 54–56.
Rocky’s wife, Hazel: http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/b347deac, accessed January 16, 2016.
The Washingtons lived: http://www.si.com/nfl/2009/10/08/nfl-pioneers, accessed July 22, 2012.
Strode called him the original “Crazylegs”: Strode, Goal Dust, 58.
The Los Angeles Times described him: Los Angeles Times: November 11, 1940.
The grandson of slaves: Payne and Ratzan, Tom Bradley, 2.
The Bradleys worked: Los Angeles Times, September 30, 1998.