The link works. Thanks for this; surely sounds like someone I would have liked to have known.

Important

nt

Thanks so much for posting this. If media were interested in real news, this would be covered on TV.

nt

Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall play in the NFL?

Fellow trailblazers?

was pretty sparse.

Check out Moses Fleetwood Walker, who proceeded Jackie Robinson in MLB.

Paul was multi- dimensional

pulling in. He ended up behind me in line and like I'll usually do, I started up a conversation with him. It turned to football and he told me he was a lineman for Santa Clara and graduated in 1949, the year before they beat Kentucky in the Orange Bowl!

I knew enough about old school west coast football to know that was big time, even before he told me he was almost on a major bowl team. I also knew the other guy in our Idaho town that lived down there in those days, probably saw him play, and knew about everything there was to know about USF and Santa Clara and other teams. My buddies dad, and I was pretty sure I knew where to find him.

I invited him down to the Eagles Lodge for a beer and to meet a guy he needed to know. Those guys ended up being real buddies. I got to see some of his pictures and hear some of the stories. He played both ways at guard at about 5'10" and 190 lbs. That seems pretty small, but not much for those days. I can't remember his name right now and they both have passed away.