Redskins Innovations

[Defensewins]

Originally Posted by AnimateYYZ

Wow. It's amazing how pretentious some posters are. What is this some turned-based RPG? Do we need to gain experience and more hit points to start a thread? Stop treating a public message board like some esoteric, exclusive net-nerd club. This is a good thread, and the "noob" poster shouldn't be disparaged for it.

LOL!
Great post YYZ....Rush fan? That is also an airport in Canada?

Other great Redskins firsts or lasts....

George Preston Marshall, owner that moved them from Boston was credited with the innovation of gala halftime shows, a marching band, and a fight song "Hail to the Redskins".
Marshall also suggested two major rules changes designed to open up the game and increase scoring which were subsequently adopted. One was to allow a forward pass to be thrown from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage, rather than at a minimum of five yards behind the line which was previously the rule. Another was the move of the goal posts from the end line to the goal line, where they were to encourage the kicking of field goals. This change remained in place for about four decades until NFL goal posts were returned to the end line in the mid-1970s as part of an effort to lessen the influence on the game of kicking ...

However, he is best known for his intractable opposition to having African-Americans on his roster.
While the rest of the league began signing individual blacks in 1946 and actually drafting blacks in 1949, Marshall held out until 1962 before signing a black player. Moreover, the signing only came when Interior Secretary Stewart Udall issued an ultimatum – unless Marshall signed a black player, the government would revoke the Redskins' 30-year lease on the year-old D.C. Stadium (now Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium), which had been paid for by government money and was owned by the Washington city government (which, then and now, is formally an arm of the federal government). Marshall's chief response was to make Ernie Davis, Syracuse's all-American running back, his number-one draft choice for 1962. Davis, however, demanded a trade, saying, "I won't play for that S.O.B." He got his wish, as the team sent him to Cleveland for All-Pro Bobby Mitchell. Mitchell was the first African American football player to play a game for the Redskins,He was the last hold out owner who refused to have black players. He was threatened with being stripped