1950's Detroit Lions

[conace21]

One of my favorite Art Donovan stories was when the teams were coming out for the 2nd half, Donovan ran into Layne. I'll paraphrase the story.
I said "Bobby, how ya doin?" He breathed on me, I said "Jesus! Is that from last night?" He said, "Nah, I had a few at halftime."

[Saban1]

Bobby Layne could play drunk most of time and those Lions teams still probably would have won. Their defense was so great. They not only held other teams from scoring very much, but they had a ball hawking defense, getting many interceptions and the Lions were also good at forcing fumbles.

They had great players on their offense too, including a great offensive line (Creekmur, Sewell, Banonis, Stanfel, Ane, etc.) and running backs like Doak Walker and Hunchy Hoernschemeyer. Their receivers were not too shabby either with Cloyce Box, Dorne Dibble, Jim Doran, Leon Hart, and later in Layne's era, Dave Middleton. Bobby Layne was great, but the Detroit Lions of that era had a lot of other things going for them. Also, a great head coach in Buddy Parker.

[oldecapecod11]

I hate to say "I read somewhere" but I read somewhere that the 1951 and 1952 Lions were the last champions
without a black player.
In the '50s, I never paid much attention to the "other division" - especially at the end if the Giants were not involved.
After all, in the first years of that decade, I was not even a teenager yet.
If that 1951 / 1952 "fact" is true, when did that picture change in Detroit?
Surely "devout" Lions' fans have team photos of those years.
Beyond the obvious legends, I cannot determine race by roster alone.
(In the meantime, I promise to look a bit more for that citation.)

[Saban1]

Buddy Parker traded for John Henry Johnson in 1957. I believe that Johnson was the first African American to play for Detroit since Bob Mann was traded to Green Bay in 1950. Maybe I am wrong, but that is what I think happened.

[Saban1]

Actually, Bob Mann was traded to the New York Bulldogs/Yanks in 1950 as part of the Layne trade, if I am correct. Mann went to Green Bay in another trade.

[conace21]

I hate to say "I read somewhere" but I read somewhere that the 1951 and 1952 Lions were the last champions
without a black player.
In the '50s, I never paid much attention to the "other division" - especially at the end if the Giants were not involved.
After all, in the first years of that decade, I was not even a teenager yet.
If that 1951 / 1952 "fact" is true, when did that picture change in Detroit?
Surely "devout" Lions' fans have team photos of those years.
Beyond the obvious legends, I cannot determine race by roster alone.
(In the meantime, I promise to look a bit more for that citation.)

At the turn of the half century, the Lions had as many black players as anyone; Wally Triplett, Bob Mann, and one other player. But they actually went backwards, and the 1952 and 1953 Lions were the last all-white champions (The Rams won the title in 1951.)

[oldecapecod11]

by conace21 » Sat Dec 06, 2014 3:53 pm
oldecapecod 11 wrote:
I hate to say "I read somewhere" but I read somewhere that the 1951 and 1952 Lions were the last champions
without a black player...
...(In the meantime, I promise to look a bit more for that citation.)
"At the turn of the half century, the Lions had as many black players as anyone; Wally Triplett, Bob Mann, and one other player. But they actually went backwards, and the 1952 and 1953 Lions were the last all-white champions (The Rams won the title in 1951.)"

For those who don't know (and probably don't care,) Michigan has more lighthouses than any State in the United States and more than any country in the world except the United States. I was fascinated when I learned this thinking that honor would certainly be with a coastal state.
Anyway, I was looking at photos of some of the Michigan lights and, as is often the case, was distracted -
actually attracted - to the mention of the Lions and, like MacDuff, read on...
(I know; I know. he was told to lay on.)

As I said, I never cared about that "other" division but I have found part of the source I referenced.
I write "part" because there is more than one "100 Days, 100 Detroit Lions" References shown.

So, here is the link to the main site and a link to one of the subsections.

I also printed part of one of the exceprts.

Enjoy...

Hmmm... it looks like this thread will give Hail Casares a run for his money but 250-odd posts is a long way off.

http://waketheherd.wordpress.com/

http://waketheherd.wordpress.com/2012/1 ... nd-tigers/

WaketheHerd.com
LANSING, MICHIGAN U.S.A.
100 DAYS, 100 DETROIT LIONS

The following is a sample chapter of the book I am currently writing about the history of Detroit, Michigan from roughly the end of World War Two (1945), through 1960. If you like this chapter, please read the previous chapter which is entitled, Black, White and Red All Over.
Chapter Ten: White Lions
At the end of the 1951 season, there were a total of seventeen black players in the National Football League. Those seventeen players had found homes on six of the NFLs thirteen teams. The members of that exclusive club included:
Cleveland Browns: Marion Motley, Bill Willis, Len Ford, Horace Gillom, Emerson Cole
Los Angeles Rams: “Deacon” Dan Towler, Paul ‘Tank’ Younger, Bob Boyd, Harry Thompson, Woodley Lewis
New York Giants: Bob Jackson, Emlen Tunnell
New York Yanks: Buddy Young, George Taliaferro, Sherman Howard
San Francisco Forty-Niners: Joe “The Jet” Perry
Green Bay Packers: Bob Mann
As you can see, ten of those seventeen players were on either the Cleveland Browns or the Los Angels Rams – the teams that squared off for the 1950 and 1951 NFL championships. <<<--- I shudda seen that.

[rhickok1109]

Actually, Bob Mann was traded to the New York Bulldogs/Yanks in 1950 as part of the Layne trade, if I am correct. Mann went to Green Bay in another trade.

Mann was cut because he asked for more money and he was supposedly blackballed. However, the Packers desperately needed players and Jack Vainisi was not one to go along with blackballing, anyway, so the the Packers signed him as a free agent.

[Saban1]

Actually, Bob Mann was traded to the New York Bulldogs/Yanks in 1950 as part of the Layne trade, if I am correct. Mann went to Green Bay in another trade.

Mann was cut because he asked for more money and he was supposedly blackballed. However, the Packers desperately needed players and Jack Vainisi was not one to go along with blackballing, anyway, so the the Packers signed him as a free agent.

I am sure that you are right. I knew that Mann ended up with Green Bay. Trouble with going by memory.

I don't believe that there was any racism on Buddy Parker's part. Parker was from Texas (as were Bobby Layne and Doak Walker), but I am sure that Parker would have jumped at the chance to get a player like Ollie Matson or Joe Perry, and he did trade for John Henry Johnson. I think That Buddy just went after the best players that he knew about. He was just about winning.

BTW, Bob Mann was traded away before Parker took over in Detroit.

[Saban1]

1957 was the end of Detroit's championship run and in 1958, Detroit fell to a 4-7-1 record. As bad as they were, the Lions still managed to louse up Cleveland's season, beating the Browns 30 to 10 and then losing to the Giants in a controversial manner to keep the New York team in the running for the Eastern Conference title.

The Detroit Lions really did not like the Cleveland Browns, and felt that they were the better team throughout the decade. They hated hearing the Browns get any praise, and the Cleveland Browns got a lot of it when they won championships in 1954 and 1955, winning big each year in the title game and beating Detroit 56 to 10 in the 1954 title contest. Of course, the Detroit Lions got a measure of revenge in 1957, defeating Cleveland 59 to 14 for the NFL Championship.

Cleveland and Detroit had each won 3 NFL Championships during the 1950's, and the last thing that the Detroit players and coaches wanted to see was the hated Browns in another championship game. So, in the second from last game in the 1958 season, Detroit had to play the New York Giants, and a win for Detroit would eliminate the Giants in the NFL east and put the Cleveland Browns into the NFL Championship game with Baltimore.

In that game, Detroit had the lead 17 to 12 late in the game and were forced to punt with 4th and long. Instead of punting, Yale Lary took the ball and ran to the side and out of bounds, far short of the first down. It didn't look like Lary was even trying to make the first down.

The Giants, with 4th down and very long completed a long pass to end Bob Schnelker for a first down. It looked like Schnelker was not covered on the play. The Giants went on to score a TD and took the lead, 19 to 17.

Detroit managed to drive down the field near the end of the game and attempted a not very long field goal to win the game. The kick was blocked. Actually, it looked like the kick was low and into the Giants line, and would not have gone over the crossbar even if it wasn't touched (BTW, this game is on You Tube starting with the run in punt formation by Lary).

So, instead of being eliminated from contention, the New York Giants went on to win the Eastern Conference title and to play in "the greatest game ever played" against the Baltimore Colts.

So, the Detroit Lions did not win any championships in 1958, but lousing up the Cleveland Browns' season was probably the next best thing for them.

If the Detroit Lions did throw that 1958 Giants game, that would show how bitter the rivalry was between the Browns and Lions during the 1950's. Both teams had a lot of pride, and the Browns and Lions did consider their team the best around (BTW, it would not take a conspiracy of a whole team to throw a game; one or two players could do it, or a coach (Coach Wilson took credit (blame) for the apparent bonehead call (the run in punt formation on 4th and 19)).

I have wondered what it was like in Detroit's locker room after that game. Were the players throwing their helmets or banging their lockers out of anger? It would have been interesting to see.