Stark County filmmakers, PBS awarded for documentary about Marion Motley

Two Stark County-based filmmakers are among those receiving Telly Awards for a PBS Western Reserve documentary about Marion Motley breaking the color barrier in professional football.

James Waters and Shaun Horrigan are also among those recognized for a film about the Black College Football Hall of Fame, which is based at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

PBS Western Reserve announced late last week that the two productions received a combined five honors at the 43rd annual Telly Awards. The documentaries were "Lines Broken: The Story of Marion Motely" and "Black College Football Hall of Fame: Journey To Canton."

Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television for projects from both larger and smaller media companies.

The Marion Motley documentary can be viewed at www.pbs.org/video/lines-broken-the-story-of-marion-motley-boevrq. The Black College Football Hall of Fame documentary can be viewed at www.pbswesternreserve.org/luminus/black-college-football-hall-of-fame-journey-to-canton/.

Marion Motley documentary wins gold, silver, bronze

The Motley piece was a gold winner in television in the documentary category, while also receiving a silver award for social impact and bronze for a biography. The Black College football hall documentary received a silver award in television in the cultural category and a bronze for museums and galleries.

Both productions premiered exclusively on PBS Western Reserve (WNEO/WEAO) in February 2021. PBS Western Reserve broadcasts on television in Northeast Ohio and serves the largest population among Ohio’s eight PBS member stations.

The Telly Awards received more than 11,000 entries, including global submissions. A full list of winners can be found at www.tellyawards.com/.

Other winners included ViacomCBS, Warner Bros., Sony Music Entertainment, Microsoft, ESPN and PBS Digital Studios.

Waters, of Waters Media, and Horrigan, of Fog City Multimedia, co-directed both documentaries.

Also working on the Motley film were David Lee Morgan Jr., John Bujak, Luke DeJeu, Eric Loughry, Dave Jingo and Horrigan's father, Joe, who worked at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in various capacities for more than 40 years. Trina Cutter served as executive producer for both the Marion Motley and Black College Football Hall of Fame documentaries.

Not everyone who worked on the Motley project was involved with the Black College Football Hall of Fame documentary.

Co-producing the Black college football-themed piece was Shaun Horrigan and Waters, as well as Joe Horrigan. DeJeu was associate producer. Pro Football Hall of Fame Productions also contributed.

Motley and Black Football HOF stories were 'passion projects'

Waters and the younger Horrigan described both documentaries as "passion projects."

In 1946, Motley was one of four Black men to break pro football’s color barrier when he joined the Cleveland Browns.

Motley, whose gridiron exploits began when he played for Canton McKinley High School, was named to the NFL's 100 All-Time Team.

"Motley's story, in a lot of ways, is just as important today as it was in 1946," said Shaun Horrigan, of Canton. "Unfortunately, some of the same struggles he faced then are still societal problems in 2022.

"Hopefully, the story we told not only informs viewers of his bravery and tenacity, but also makes people think about where we are today and what we can still do to make our communities better for everyone."

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PBS Western Reserve said both documentaries are examples of the "meaningful and important stories" it wants to tell.

“After brainstorming content ideas with talented producers James Waters and Shaun Horrigan, we stepped back and let them pursue their craft, which led to two outstanding documentaries," PBS Western Reserve said in a news release.

Marion Motley film begins as a goal on a New Year's Eve index card

Waters said the concept for the Marion Motley documentary began as a goal he had scribbled down on index cards while spending New Year's Eve with his wife.

The idea for a Motley documentary can be traced to Waters' conversation with Derek Gordon, who now works as the deputy director of Stark Parks.

Gordon had expressed the need for a Motley film to Georgia Paxos, executive director of the Canton Palace Theatre. Paxos referred Gordon to Waters.

"I went to McKinley (High School) and I didn't even realize who Marion Motley was," Waters admitted. "He paved the way for Jim Brown, especially in the running back world."

'Surprising to us, (Motley's) story wasn't really known, or remembered, in his own hometown.'

Waters said the Motley documentary had a small budget, a point also emphasized by Shaun Horrigan, who said the filmmakers approached the production with a "do it yourself attitude."

Waters assembled the crew, "and we all wore a few hats between producing, researching, writing, filming and editing," Horrigan said.

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Waters said it was especially rewarding to "throw all of our creative energies and abilities together and really push for this story to be told somehow, someway – you just knew it had to be done."

Horrigan said Motley's story is "remarkable." But "surprising to us, his story wasn't really known, or remembered, in his own hometown. And we wanted to change that."

Horrigan said the group also thought the story of how the Black College Football Hall of Fame found a home in Canton — a city with no HBCU (historically black colleges and universities) connections — "was really interesting.

"At first glance, it's a head-scratcher," he said in an email. "But the ties and the contributions made by players and coaches from HBCUs to the NFL are really strong."

"The story of Black college football is not only a part of the NFL's story, it's a part of American history," Horrigan added. "And we were excited to help tell it and why Canton is now a part of it."

Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com. On Twitter: @ebalintREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton-based films about Marion Motley, Black college football honored