Marion Motley Supporters Break Ground for Statue

A diverse group came together Friday in the shadow of the Pro Football Hall of Fame united in a common cause: honoring Canton legend and Hall of Famer Marion Motley.

The Marion Motley Memorial Fund Committee announced Friday afternoon that after several months of effort – and with the generous support of a special benefactor – it has raised the funds needed to erect a statue of Motley on a patch of land in Stadium Park in Canton.

The area the committee staked out sits only a few yards down a hill from the front door of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and from McKinley High School, where Motley starred for three years before playing collegiately and professionally with the Cleveland Browns. Several dignitaries were on hand to take part in the groundbreaking ceremony Friday.

Motley, a member of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 1968, led the AAFC in rushing once, the NFL in rushing once and was a member of five championship teams. He was one of four Black players who reintegrated professional football in 1946, and that legacy and his fight for racial justice will be included in the statue and surrounding landscape.

The committee hopes to place the finished statue before the end of the year.