WASHINGTON (AP) - The Washington Redskins are removing former owner George Preston Marshall from their Ring of Fame and striking all references to him on their website.
A spokesman confirmed the decisions Wednesday, saying Marshall’s name has already been removed from the history wall at the team’s training facility in Ashburn, Virginia. The spokesman said the Ring of Fame is removing Marshall’s name from its stadium in Landover, Maryland, on Wednesday and the process to alter the website is underway.
It’s the latest move to cut ties with the legacy of the team’s racist founder, a segregationist who refused to integrate by signing Black players until “forced to do so” in 1962, more than a decade after much of the rest of the NFL.
Last week, the team renamed the lower bowl FedEx Field that bore Marshall’s name after late Hall of Famer Bobby Mitchell, the franchise’s first Black player. A day earlier, Events DC removed a statue of Marshall from the team’s former home at RFK Stadium in Washington.
Marshall owned the franchise from its inception in 1932 and moved the team from Boston to Washington several years later. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963 and died in 1969.
The Hall of Fame last week said nothing in its bylaws allows for a member’s removal once elected, adding that enshrinement “is based on accomplishments on the field for players and coaches and, in the case of contributors, for growing and promoting the game.”
The recent national debate over racism has renewed calls for current owner Dan Snyder to change the team’s name. A spokesman last week said the team had no comment, and the NFL did not respond to questions about the future of the name.
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