The Buckeye Nation and the Cleveland Browns family lost a beloved football pioneer in November. A pioneer who was to the gridiron what Jackie Robinson was to the diamond.

Bill Willis, a talented and lightening quick guard at Ohio State during the 1940s, and the first black professional football player in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), passed away at age 86. A few weeks before Willis' death, Ohio State retired his number 99 jersey in their game against Wisconsin and coach Jim Tressel made a significant statement to reporters, pointing out that we have not talked enough about Willis' monumental breakthrough of football's racial barrier.

Willis' achievements have indeed been overlooked in sports history despite his being a member of the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. I was blessed with the opportunity to assist in preserving his legacy last year when I wrote a feature on him for a gala celebrating distinguished African American elders in the Columbus community. As Willis told me the story of his trailblazing journey through college and pro football, not only did I gain a sense of his tremendous courage and tenacity, but also the refined dignity in which he carried himself as a man.

During his playing days at Ohio State, black students were not allowed to stay on campus. They had to find a way to class on their own, which normally meant catching the bus or trolley car. Willis endured these conditions of segregation and did not complain, and his calm, but confident demeanor made it clear to detractors that he knew he belonged.

After Willis completed his collegiate career at Ohio State, pro football did not come beckoning despite the fact that he was a two-time All-American and helped lead the Buckeyes to the 1942 national championship. Blacks had been unofficially banned from football since 1934 and the door did not appear to be opening anytime soon.

However, Willis made a bold move to tackle pro football's unwritten color line by asking Paul Brown, the head coach of the Cleveland Browns in the AAFC, for an opportunity to try out for the team. Brown had coached Willis at Ohio State and he told his former guard that there was no rule in the charter of the AAFC that would prevent blacks from playing.

At this time Willis was head football coach and athletic director at Kentucky State College. He was fulfilling his career goals, but he still yearned to play at the professional level. A few weeks after talking with Brown, he received a telephone call from a writer at the Columbus Dispatch asking him to come to Bowling Green for a tryout. Willis learned years later that Brown had arranged that call so it would appear that he made the team as a walk-on. Thus, in many ways, Brown was pro football's Branch Rickey.

After Willis was signed to a $4,000 contract, Marion Motley, an African American standout fullback, joined the Browns. Willis and Motley, along with the Los Angeles Rams' Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, completed the black foursome that broke professional football's color barrier a year before Robinson's debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Willis was the nucleus of the Browns' defensive unit that was number one against scoring during the team's four years in the AAFC. Playing middle guard, Willis wreaked havoc on offensive linemen who were not able to handle his speed after the ball was snapped. His quickness earned him the nickname "the cat" and football historians credit him for fashioning what is presently known as the middle linebacker position.

Many football fans will remember Willis for his great defensive exploits, but most Ohioans would tell you that what he accomplished after his playing days were over is just as significant, if not even more impressive. He joined the Ohio Youth Commission in 1963, later becoming director, and dedicated his life to helping young people in juvenile detention centers turn their lives around.

After retiring in 1982, he continued to speak to youth groups and share his life lessons with athletes at Ohio State. He always stressed that athletes be well mannered so their young fans would want to emulate their character. "Character," he told me during our interview last year, "is most important."

No one lived by this standard better than Willis, pro football's little known Jackie Robinson.