Marion Motley

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Marion Motley
Date of birth:	June 5, 1920(1920-06-05)
Place of birth:	Leesburg, Georgia
Date of death:	June 27, 1999 (age 79)
Career information
Position(s):	Fullback, Linebacker
College:	Nevada
Organizations
As player:
1946-1953 1955	Cleveland Browns Pittsburgh Steelers
Career highlights and Awards
Pro Bowls:	1950
Honors:	NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team NFL 1940s All-Decade Team
Stats at DatabaseFootball.com
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1968

Marion Motley (June 5, 1920 - June 27, 1999) was a former American Football fullback who played for the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Motley attended high school at Canton McKinley High School in Canton, Ohio and went to college at South Carolina State University and University of Nevada; after college, Motley joined the United States Navy where he first played for Paul Brown with the Great Lakes Naval Training Station team. This team, full of fine players who had enlisted for World War II, notably defeated Notre Dame 39-7 in 1945. Motley planned on going back to college to get a degree, but then Paul Brown offered him a job. He started his pro football career in 1946, when the Cleveland Browns were part of the AAFC.

Motley and the Browns won every championship in the four-year tenure of the AAFC, posting an overall 47-4-3 record, including an undefeated 15-0 season in 1948. Besides the New York Yankees and San Francisco 49ers, the other teams in the AAFC did not offer significant opposition to the Browns. In the 1946 AAFC championship game against New York, Motley rushed for 98 yards on 13 carries, including a touchdown, as the Browns prevailed 14-9. In the 1947 rematch, Motley rushed 33 times for 109 yards in the Browns' 14-3 win. In the 1948 championship game against the Buffalo Bills (who won the AAFC East title with a 7-7 record), Motley carried 14 times for 133 yards and three touchdowns, as the Browns romped 49-7. He wrapped up his AAFC career in the 1949 title game against San Francisco with 8 carries for 75 yard, including a 63 yard touchdown run in the Browns' 21-7 victory.

When the AAFC shut down in 1950, Motley was the league's career rushing leader at 3,024 yards. In the 1950 season he led the league in rushing with 810 yards on 140 carries, averaging nine or ten carries a game. In October of that year, he set a likely unbreakable record when he averaged 17.09 yards per rush against the rival Steelers. To qualify for that single-game record, a player must have 10 carries. Marion Motley finished with 188 yards on 11 carries.

But Motley was an outstanding pass blocker and played linebacker on defense, which was uncommon at the time. His last four seasons in professional football, he was suffering from injuries. He finally quit before the 1954 season. He soon returned and played in 1955 with the Steelers, but after a few games he left due to injuries.

After retiring he scouted players for the Browns, and wanted to coach. At the time, racism frequently prevented minorities from obtaining coaching jobs and he was turned down most offers.

In 1968, Motley was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The previous year, former safety Emlen Tunnell of the New York Giants was the first black player to achieve the honor, making Motley the second. In his book, The Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football, the respected football writer Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated, a Cleveland-area native^{[citation needed]}, has called Motley the best player in the history of football.^{[citation needed]}