No Boredom or Blacks Allowed
By Shirley Povich
The man who brought the Redskins to Washington in 1937 was an uncommon laundry chain owner with a bent for show business. He was widely considered (1) one of pro football's greatest innovators and (2) its leading bigot.
George Preston Marshall was a dashing fellow whose love of show business manifested itself in many ways. It was evident in his own failed fling at acting, in his first marriage to a former Ziegfeld Follies girl and in his second to silent screen goddess Corinne Griffith. It was apparent in his invention of halftime extravaganzas worthy of Hollywood and in his ground-breaking radio and TV broadcasts of football games. It was what mainly drove the NFL rules changes he engineered — to make sure nobody got bored with a gridiron performance.
Marshal liked to live the part. One of his trademarks during football season was his full-length raccoon coat. Another was his always-at-the-ready chauffeured limousine. (He never acquired a driver's license, hated to fly and loved riding railroads.)
Marshall also produced a few theatrical shows in Washington, including a musical called "Getting Gertie's Garter." This was in addition to running the Palace Laundry inherited from his father. In fact, he built the laundry from two stores into a 57-outlet chain before selling out in 1948, making the "Long Live Linen" slogan emblazoned on its trucks a byword in Washington.
The year he brought the Redskins to Washington, he even did a stint as publisher of Hearst's Washington Times. That was on the heels of another year in which the mercurial Marshall accepted a $100,000 salary to be director of the Great Texas and Pan-American Exposition in Dallas. All the while, he managed to superintend his football team, with the tight-fisted Marshall watching every penny.
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Other Pages in Chapter 1: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42
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Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 Names, Numbers Trivia Quiz Index |
