Glory Days T he NFL was not yet 10 years old when the Great Depression hit the United States Most fans could no longer afford to attend games and the league struggled to stay in business Fortunately for the NFL a man named George Preston Marshall believed that pro football would be a success in the long run Marshall was a wealthy businessman from the Washington D C area In 1932 he bought a team in Boston Massachusetts and named it the Braves A year later he changed the name to the Redskins The Redskins were a good team Their early stars included Turk Edwards Cliff Battles Ernie Pinckert Jim Musick and Wayne Millner Still Marshall could not find a way to fill the stands in Boston In 1937 he moved the Redskins home to Washington That season they signed their first great passer Sammy Baugh 6
With Baugh leading the way Washington finished atop the NFL’s East Division in 1937 and four more times from 1940 to 1945 The Redskins were league champions in 1937 and 1942 The stars of those great teams included ends Bob Masterson and Joe Aguirre plus linemen Dick Farman Steve Slivinski and Willie Wilkin After Baugh retired the Redskins fell on hard times In the years after World War II they enjoyed only two winning seasons despite having plenty of stars In the 1950s and early 1960s Washington had talent up and down its roster including quarterbacks Eddie LeBaron and Norm Snead running backs Charlie Justice and Don Bosseler and receivers Hugh Taylor and Bill Anderson The team’s defensive leaders were Gene Brito and Chuck Drazenovich Perhaps the biggest reason for Washington’s poor record was Marshall’s unwillingness to sign African-American players During the nation’s racial tension of the 1960s he feared that white fans would not root for black players It took a personal plea from President LEFT Sammy Baugh prepares to throw a long pass ABOVE George Preston Marshall is pictured on the team’s 1962 yearbook 7
John F Kennedy to convince Marshall that he was wrong The Redskins soon added talented African-American stars such as Bobby Mitchell Charley Taylor and Larry Brown By the 1970s the Redskins were transformed into a championship contender They relied on a mix of young stars and veterans including quarterbacks Billy Kilmer and Sonny Jurgensen safety Pat Fischer and linebacker Chris Hanburger The team rose to the top of the National Football Conference NFC in 1972 and played in Super Bowl VII The Redskins were even better in the 1980s and 1990s after they hired Joe Gibbs to coach the team Gibbs was a football genius who worked as hard as anyone in the NFL He always got the best out of his players Those teams were led by four talented quarterbacks Joe Theismann Jay Schroeder Doug Williams and Mark Rypien Their other stars included John Riggins Art Monk Darrell Green Charles Mann and Mark Moseley Washington’s best weapon was its offensive line Nicknamed the Hogs they were the best blockers in the NFL for many years LEFT Joe Gibbs poses with the three Super Bowl trophies that he won as Washington’s coach ABOVE The Hogs surround Joe Theismann and John Riggins 9
