Marion Motley's grandson brings the legend to life at Hall of Fame Luncheon Club

CANTON TWP. — No one alive appreciates the hard road Canton's Marion Motley traveled more than Joe Dose.

"I could not have done it," said Dose, Motley's grandson. "No way."

Motley is among five Cleveland Browns on the "100 greatest players" team chosen in a 2010 NFL project.

Dose shared a personal irony as he addressed the Hall of Fame Luncheon Club Monday. Without one of his grandfather's roadblocks, he said, "I wouldn't be here."

Motley played on five Browns league championship teams. He was one of four Black players who broke the color barrier in pro football a year before Jackie Robinson did so in baseball.

"What he did on the field was great," Dose said, "but it was more about the environment in which he did it.

"Segregation in hotels and restaurants. Death threats."

Many Motley stories went to the grave with him in 1999.

Dose shared personal tales at Tozzi's on 12th, near where Motley played for Canton McKinley High School.

"He graduated and went to South Carolina State," Dose said. "He was there less than a year. He couldn't take the extreme rascisim.

"He came home to Canton and had a chance to go to the University of Nevada. On his way there he got in a really bad car accident. Then he had a bad knee injury and came home again.

"He worked in a steel mill. He said the intense heat there fixed his knee. Whether that is true …

"Paul Brown gave him the chance in Cleveland. At first it was to be Bill Willis's roommate on the road."

Motley, a 26-year-old rookie in 1946, is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with Willis.

Motley was a great linebacker. As a running back, he averaged 5.7 yards per carry, No. 1 all-time ahead of Jamaal Charles (5.4), Nick Chubb (5.2) and Jim Brown (5.2).

He played in league championship games eight years in a row.

"Bill Willis and my grandpa were told to take whatever was done to them and be patient and calm and have self control.

"The league was looking for any reason to get rid of them.

"My grandpa showed me marks on his hand from pileups.

"They would cleat his hands and punch him and even bite him. Who bites somebody?

"His response was to run over them on the next play."

Motley wanted to be an NFL coach or scout but never got that chance.

"He was put off by that," Dose said. "He coached a professional women's football team in an attempt to get in the NFL. I'm thankful. That's how my parents met. My dad (Motley's son Ray) was a coach on the team. My mom was a player. Then came me."

Dose travels the country in a software-related job. His son Xavier is an emerging sophomore athlete in Solon who gets a kick out of being Marion Motley's great grandson.

"He was just grandpa to me, a laid-back, humble guy," Dose said. "He would come to my football and basketball games with his sunglasses and cigar and his hat.

"He loved golf. I used to think golf was his job. He was a basketball player. He could make any shot in H-O-R-S-E.

"He held a lot of jobs. Steel mill, post office, dump truck driver, real estate, bar owner, county government, Ohio Lottery.

"He did anything he needed to do to provide for his family.

"He ran for county commissioner, lost, ran for state representative, lost. If Arnold Schwarzenegger can be a governor, my grandpa can definitely be a state rep.

"He taught me to be kind and respectful. I open the car door for my wife. If we're taking a walk, I'm closest to the street, so if anything happened, I'd get hit first. That comes from him.

"We loved Hall of Fame week, riding in the parade with him.

"We'd be getting dressed and say, 'Grandpa let's go! When do we need to be there?'

"He'd say, 'When we get there.'"

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cntonrep.com

On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Marion Motley's grandson talks at Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon