Here’s a little something we scored a while back. It’s a promo photo from fifty-one years ago today of American stunner Linda Darnell at Wilcox Field in Miami. She had just arrived—in the middle of a 90 degree day, but wearing at least two layers of clothing—on a Pan Am flight from Ocho Rios, Jamaica (via Kingston), where she had been filming the World War II adventure-romance Saturday Island. The hurricane referred to in the press info below was Hurricane Charlie, which had struck in mid-August. And her flight left as Hurricane Dog was arriving. Apropos, actually—Saturday Island, aka Island of Desire, was a dog at the box office.
1919—Pollard Breaks the Color Barrier
Fritz Pollard becomes the first African-American to play professional football for a major team, the Akron Pros. Though Pollard is forgotten today, famed sportswriter Walter Camp ranked him as “one of the greatest runners these eyes have ever seen.” In another barrier-breaking historical achievement, Pollard later became the co-head coach of the Pros, while still maintaining his roster position as running back.