In recognition of Black History Month, NFL Network presents a look at some of the most influential African-Americans in pro football.
Cleveland Browns great Jim Brown set the mark that all future running backs would come to be measured against.
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Olympic Gold Medalist "Bullet" Bob Hayes introduced an element of speed to pro football and helped change the way the game is played.
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r Deacon Jones set a new standard for the way defensive ends played, and helped make "sack" an official stat in football.
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One of the watershed moments of integration in pro football came in 1962 when Bobby Mitchell signed with the Washington
Redskins.
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Warren Moon was the first undrafted player and first African-American quarterback to be inducted into the Pro Football
.
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rs Bill Willis and Marion Motley were the first black men to be named all-league players as original members of the Cleveland Browns.
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The
Chicago Bears' Walter Payton played in 186 consecutive games and retired as the league's all-time leading rusher in 1987.
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Fritz Pollard was the first African-American to play in the Rose Bowl, and then became pro football's first African-American head coach.
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In 1946, the league's color barrier was shattered when the Los Angeles
Rams signed Kenny Washington and Woody Strode.
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LaDainian Tomlinson is rushing toward the
and breaking every record in his path on the way there.
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r Gene Upshaw is the only man to play in three s for the same team in three separate decades.
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The Minister of Defense, Reggie White, retired as the league's all-time leader in sacks before passing away in 2004 at the age of 43.
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Doug Williams shattered decades of prejudice and misconceptions about the inferiority of the black quarterback in
.
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