George Preston Marshall is smiling somewhere
History of the Washington Redskins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
During most this unsuccessful period, Marshall continued to refuse to integrate the team, despite pressure from The Washington Post and the federal government of the United States (a typical comment by Post writer Shirley Povich was "Jim Brown, born ineligible to play for the Redskins, integrated their end zone three times yesterday").
"I think it is quite plain that if he wants an argument,
he is going to have a moral argument with the
president and with the administration."
Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, on
Marshall's refusal to integrate the Redskins On March 24, 1961, Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall warned Marshall to hire black players or face federal retribution. For the first time in history, the federal government had attempted to desegregate a professional sports team.[51] Finally, under threat of civil rights legal action by the Kennedy administration, which would have prevented a segregated team from playing at the new District of Columbia Stadium, as it was owned by the U.S. Department of the Interior and thus federal government property, the Redskins became the final pro football franchise to integrate, in 1962