Halley Harding is hardly remembered among the NFL’s most influential figures. But nearly 70 years since the late sportswriter spoke up in the name of equality, the league’s history can’t be written without him.
In 1946, the columnist for the now-defunct Los Angeles Tribune, represented a group of African-American newspapers in delivering a rousing address to the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission.
He implored the commissioners to stipulate that the NFL franchise on the verge of moving to the West Coast, the champion Rams, would not be allowed to use the taxpayer-supported venue unless it provided opportunities for black players to integrate what was then a lily-white league.
Harding also knew the perfect player to break the color line: Kenny Washington.
Two weeks after the mid-January hearing, the commission granted the Rams a three-year lease that ensured a move from Cleveland as the NFL’s first West Coast franchise.
In March, the Rams signed Washington, a local hero who starred at UCLA.
Washington, 27, became the NFL’s first African-American player since 1933, ending a 12-year, unwritten color ban – a year before Jackie Robinson broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The Rams subsequently added Washington’s college teammate, Woodie Strode (better remembered, post-football, as an actor with a signature role in Spartacus).
Later in 1946, two other African-Americans, Bill Willis and Marion Motley, joined Paul Brown with the Cleveland Browns in the new All-American Football Conference that rivaled the NFL.
Pro football’s integration has never had a mystique that compared to the social statement baseball made with Robinson – ironically, a football teammate of Washington and Strode at UCLA.
For one thing, in the 1940s, the NFL was a niche sport. College football was more popular, while baseball ruled as America’s pastime. The NFL’s popularity didn’t explode until the 1960s.
Yet the four players embodied a turning point, and the massive Coliseum itself is an enduring marker. Harding’s role was essential. He also pushed Rams general manager, Charles “Chile” Walsh.
With an athletic background, Harding was chosen for a key reason. While attending Wiley College, where he played quarterback, he trained as a speaker by Melvin B. Tolson (also an assistant football coach) who, formulated the debate team immortalized in the film, The Great Debaters (Denzel Washington played the lead role of Tolson).
It was never written into the Rams’ lease that they had to sign African-Americans, but it was implied. And approval to move from other NFL owners stipulated that if the Rams didn’t have a lease by April 15, the team would have to move to Cincinnati.
At the hearing, commissioner member Roger Jessup followed Harding’s speech by telling Walsh, “If our Kenny Washington can’t play, there would be no pro football in the Los Angeles Coliseum.”
Washington -- whose NFL shot came several years after his college career, with his body worn from semipro ball -- played only three seasons with the Rams. Strode played just one year.
Yet their impact in breaking the color barrier was substantial.
As for Harding’s argument about discriminating at a publicly-funded stadium?
The same standard moved the needle in the early 1960s before the Washington Redskins – the last NFL team to integrate – could move into the facility that was ultimately named RFK Stadium.