Book cover of “The Forgotten First” by Keyshawn Johnson
and Bob Glauber.
Caribbean Life, SEPTEMBER 24-30, 2021 27
For Football Fans Only
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
This weekend, your team is
going to win.
You can see it already, the
way they’ve been playing so far
this season, and you’re sure they
can take it all the way to February.
For now, though, this weekend’s
a must-see and everybody
looks good; as in “The Forgotten
First” by Keyshawn Johnson and
Bob Glauber, some even play on
the shoulders of giants.
If you’re a baseball fan, you
surely know the story of how
Jackie Robinson became the
first Black ball player in the
major leagues. What you might
not know is that four Black men
integrated pro football a year
before Robinson’s history-making
at-bat.
Abandoned by his mother
and raised by a paternal uncle
because his father had other
interests, Kenny Washington,
who signed with the Los Angeles
Rams on March 21, 1946,
was first drawn to baseball but
the truth was, he could play
any sport. Having battled rickets
as a young boy, he suffered
deformities in both his legs, but
that didn’t matter – Johnson
and Glauber report that Washington
was fast.
So was Woody Strode, who
signed up with the Rams not
long after Washington. Strode’s
mother was Native American;
his father was Black, and though
Strode had a modeling career as
a young man (he’d once posed
nude for a Nazi artist) and he’d
served in the Army Air Corps,
his life always circled back to
football.
When he was a child, Marion
Motley grew to be so much
larger than his peers that when
he was at football practice, other
kids’ parents begged for him
to wear more padding so that
collisions with him “wouldn’t
hurt quite so much.” Much later,
Motley played for the Cleveland
Browns, along with Bill Willis,
who almost didn’t take up football
because he didn’t think he
could play as well as his brother,
Claude.
Within mere months, these
four men broke the color barrier
in pro football. And, say the
authors, “That history is not
told enough…”
Another thing that’s not told
enough: what happened before
these four men signed on with
their respective teams, and how
their first year proceeded. It’s
infuriating, it’s astounding, and
it’s all laid out here inside “The
Forgotten First.”
And yet, getting to it might
not be so easy.
Authors Keyshawn Johnson
and Bob Glauber are a former
pro-baller and an NFL columnist,
respectively, and the tale
they tell speaks to the heart of
the fan with deep knowledge of
mid-twentieth-century football
teams, players, coaches, and college
ball. It’s a wide story that
encompasses decades and dozens
of peripheral people who
had a hand in integrating the
sport generations ago, from secondary
education on up. Then
it brings readers full-circle to
reveal the inside of the game as
it is today.
And all this will be irresistible
if you’re a fan. If you’re
not a history-minded, live-forfootball
season, paint-your-face
fan, you may be in well over
your head with this book. If
you’re obsessive about the game,
though, “The Forgotten First” is
a big win.
“The Forgotten First:
Kenny Washington, Woody
Strode, Marion Motley, Bill
Willis, and the Breaking
of the NFL Color Barrier”
by Keyshawn Johnson and
Bob Glauber
c.2021, Grand Central
Publishing
$28.00 / $35.00 Canada
335 pages
‘Forgotten First’ author, Bob Glauber. Chris Scaglione
Miss Pat Chin releases her seminal autobiography
Jamaican American Miss
Patricia Chin has released her
seminal autobiography of her
music journey through the
evolution of Reggae music and
beyond. Her memoir “Miss
Pat Chin – My Reggae Music
Journey” includes quotes and
remembrances from luminaries
such as former Jamaican
Prime Minister, the late
Edward Seaga, Chris Blackwell,
Lee “Scratch” Perry,
Marcia Griffiths, and the late
producer Bunny “Striker” Lee
among others. Presented with
many never before seen, artist
and family photos and original
illustrations by the late Michael
Thompson and Maria Papaefstathiou,
the book’s designer.
“My Reggae Music Journey”
spans six decades of music history,
from the rise and development
of Randy’s Record Mart,
the famed music shop and
recording studio in downtown
Kingston, Jamaica, founded
with her late husband Vincent
‘Randy’ Chin in 1958, to the
family’s migration to New York
City, where in the late 1970s,
VP Record Distributors was
established. The book shares
personal insights about the rise
of the Jamaican music industry,
and nuggets of wisdom on
business and life. Through decades
of transition Miss Pat has
triumphed over adversity, both
personally and professionally.
My Reggae Music Journey testifies
to the indelible spirit that
is Patricia Chin.
“Randy was the first person
who was setting up something
for the people to survive,
so they were the best
people in the record business.
They were simply the best, and
Miss Pat was the brains.” – Lee
“Scratch” Perry
Patricia “Miss Pat” Chin is
the dynamic force behind VP
Records, the world’s largest
reggae music label, a person
of unmatched energy
and enthusiasm. She is the
mother of four, grandmother
of 12 and great-grandmother
of three. At a time when the
world is celebrating women,
the story of Miss Pat – who is
Chinese-Jamaican and Indian
– is inspiring to women the
world over, to music buffs,
culture seekers, entrepreneurs,
and business leaders.
In addition to self-publishing
her autobiography, she
supervised the development
of a companion audio product,
planned for release in
spring 2021. During the last
few years, she has focused
her passions on “giving
back,” collaborating with
illustrator, Michael Thompson
(deceased), in the creation
of the pop-up exhibit
titled “A Reggae Music Journey,”
on the history of reggae,
in cooperation with VP
Records.
VP Records, based in
Jamaica, Queens NY, is a
major pioneering force in the
reggae music industry.
Miss Pat Chin with Angela
Yee displaying a copy of
“Miss. Pat.”