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Lost Champions: The players who integrated the National Football League

Cover photo of Gretchen Atwood's book, Lost champions: Four Men, Two Teams, and the Breaking of Pro Football’s Color Line.";

Colin Kaepernick has been using his platform in the NFL to call attention to racial inequities. But the NFL itself has not always been equitable for people of all races.

That’s the subject of a book by San Francisco author Gretchen Atwood called, “Lost Champions: Four Men, Two Teams, and the Breaking of Pro Football’s Color Line”.

 

 

She spoke with KALW’s News Director Ben Trefny.

 

ATWOOD: It was very hard because they were faced with a lot of abuse knowing that they were potential targets for anyone who wanted to make a statement against integration.

Click the audio player above to listen to the complete interview.

Ben joined KALW in 2004. As Executive News Editor and then News Director, he helped the news department win numerous regional and national awards for long- and short-form journalism. He also helped teach hundreds of audio producers, many of whom work with him at KALW, today.