George Preston Marshall’s granddaughter says to stop honoring him, change team name

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The granddaughter of George Preston Marshall is glad her grandfather’s legacy is being challenged.

Jordan Wright, who grew up going to Washington games when her grandfather owned the team, had no idea at the time that Marshall was a racist who fought integration in the NFL and personally decided to give the Washington team a name that dictionaries define as a racial slur. She told the Washington Post she wasn’t the least bit disappointed to see the memorial to her grandfather taken down outside RFK Stadium.

“No, not at all — not one damn bit,” she said. “I was glad to see it come down. It’s past time to see it go.”

Wright also says the team’s current owner, Dan Snyder, should change the name that her grandfather gave the franchise in 1933.

43 responses to “George Preston Marshall’s granddaughter says to stop honoring him, change team name

  1. For all of those who say that we are trying to “erase history” – don’t be ridiculous. It would be one thing if we removed content from our history books, lied to ourselves and our kids about events and people- that would be foolish. But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the point of a statue or monument is to honor and celebrate the person depicted. And why should we want to honor and celebrate someone who tried to push forward segregation at a time when society was starting to break free of it?

  2. C’mon people it’s 2020! It’s time to change the name! I mean let’s be honest, it’ll still be a lot of fun watching my Eagles stomp the Washington team regardless of what their loser fans call them!

  3. They call these people useful idiots and when they topple the power structures they will be done away with

  4. So she had no problem taking the money he left her, yet she wants his legacy destroued…

  5. How can calling yourself something be racist or offensive? The Redskins are calling themselves Redskins… not anyone else. And while their play on the field doesn’t exactly support this claim, I imagine they are doing it in a prideful way. I doubt they are calling themselves Redskins in a self-deprecating way.

    There are plenty of other examples of certain groups of people calling themselves something that if anyone else called THEM that… it would be offensive, but because they are referring to themselves, it’s allowed.

  6. If her grandfather left her any money in his will, she should pay that money back. Since she considers grandpa to be a disgrace, give back whatever he left her when he died.

  7. Marshall is known more for many of the frills that now mark the modern football game. During the early days of the NFL, college football was more popular. Marshall decided to incorporate elements of the college atmosphere into the professional league. Innovations that he introduced include gala halftime shows, a marching band, and a fight song. The Redskins marching band is currently one of only two officially sanctioned by any NFL team. The fight song “Hail to the Redskins” is one of the most famous in the NFL. Marshall, along with George Halas, successfully suggested two major rules changes that were designed to open up the game and increase scoring. One was to allow a forward pass to be thrown from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage, rather than at a minimum of five yards behind the line. Another was the move of the goal posts from the end line to the goal line, where they have been in Canadian football, to encourage the kicking of field goals. The change remained in place for about four decades until NFL goal posts were returned to the end line in the mid-1970s as part of an effort to lessen the influence on the game of kicking specialists. Upon obtaining the team in 1932, Marshall also pushed to standardize the schedule so that each team played the same number of games, the teams were split into divisions with the winners meeting in a championship game, and game gate receipts were split between the home team and the visitor using by either a 60–40 split or a guaranteed amount of money, whichever was larger.[10]

    Marshall did many things to try to endear the team to the people of Washington. During the 1937 season, Marshall rented a train and brought 10,000 fans to New York City to watch the team play the New York Giants. The actions paid off, and even today, Redskins fans are considered[by whom?] among the league’s most loyal and some of the most likely to travel in large numbers to away games.

    In the 1950s, Marshall was the first NFL owner to embrace the new medium of television. He initiated the first network appearances for any NFL team and built a huge television network to broadcast Redskins games across the South. He was honored for his contributions to the game of football and he should be !

  8. I salute her courage and objectivity. If she can acknowledge these racist and painful aspects of her past, I think we as outside fans should be able to do the same.

    It’s past time to do the right thing and take the racist slur out if the NFL. All the whataboutists need to step back and focus on the effect of this issue. It won’t hurt them at all, other than mentally, to start letting go of racist strands of their life.

  9. I dont see any change in team name coming. Even if it by chance did happen, I have to wonder if it would really change much.

  10. Washington Danskins seems right to me. It’s all about Lil’ Danny anyway…

  11. I’d be embarrassed also if my grandfather was one of the most well known racists in th sports world during the 20th century

  12. It really is comical for a franchise that is part of one of the great American marketing machines to be so pathetically one dimensional in their PR strategies. Fun fact: Snyder made his money in marketing comminations. Riddle me that, Batman.

  13. No, not at all — not one damn bit

    I wonder how amusing her financial advisor found that based on her inheritance over the years from her grandfather.

  14. Did she say whether she and the rest of her family were going to donate all the money they inherited from him to charity?

  15. It’ll happen only when someone tells ol Danny how much money he’ll make from merchandise sales with the new name. Plus he’ll still make a ton of money from merchandise sales with the Redskins name.

  16. One of the most racist names in sports worldwide. If 2020 doesn’t force a change in the team’s name nothing will.

  17. Read about the man’s racist history. If you can defend that then you’re a racist.

  18. More and more coming out of the woodwork to make yourself look grand. Where was she five ten years ago.

  19. Angel Valle says:
    June 25, 2020 at 7:52 am
    Marshall is known more for many of the frills that now mark the modern football game. During the early days of the NFL, college football was more popular. Marshall decided to incorporate elements of the college atmosphere into the professional league. Innovations that he introduced include gala halftime shows, a marching band, and a fight song. The Redskins marching band is currently one of only two officially sanctioned by any NFL team. The fight song “Hail to the Redskins” is one of the most famous in the NFL. Marshall, along with George Halas, successfully suggested two major rules changes that were designed to open up the game and increase scoring. One was to allow a forward pass to be thrown from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage, rather than at a minimum of five yards behind the line. Another was the move of the goal posts from the end line to the goal line, where they have been in Canadian football, to encourage the kicking of field goals. The change remained in place for about four decades until NFL goal posts were returned to the end line in the mid-1970s as part of an effort to lessen the influence on the game of kicking specialists. Upon obtaining the team in 1932, Marshall also pushed to standardize the schedule so that each team played the same number of games, the teams were split into divisions with the winners meeting in a championship game, and game gate receipts were split between the home team and the visitor using by either a 60–40 split or a guaranteed amount of money, whichever was larger.[10]

    Marshall did many things to try to endear the team to the people of Washington. During the 1937 season, Marshall rented a train and brought 10,000 fans to New York City to watch the team play the New York Giants. The actions paid off, and even today, Redskins fans are considered[by whom?] among the league’s most loyal and some of the most likely to travel in large numbers to away games.

    In the 1950s, Marshall was the first NFL owner to embrace the new medium of television. He initiated the first network appearances for any NFL team and built a huge television network to broadcast Redskins games across the South. He was honored for his contributions to the game of football and he should be !

    ——————————————

    And his contributions should be nullified by being one of the most racist owners in sports.

  20. The Bullets became the Wizards and the WORLD did not come to a end. Yes, I would hate to see the name changed but it is a racist moniker.

  21. I feel sorry for the commenters on here that are more worried about her inheritance than anything else.

    Ask yourself this: what would it take for you to get off your couch and stand up for something you believe? Because the hardships of others clearly don’t concern you.

  22. They’ve already erased and re written the history books. Our monuments, courthouses, and other historical buildings are about all that’s left.

  23. myspaceyourface says:
    June 25, 2020 at 10:32 am
    They’ve already erased and re written the history books. Our monuments, courthouses, and other historical buildings are about all that’s left.

    ———

    George Orwell nailed it….

  24. As far as I’m concerned, we are all connected to someone awful in history. At least one member of each family tree has a heinous history.

    So I mean, just cause you’re not famous, doesn’t mean someone in the family didn’t do something awful back in the day.

    That goes for all colors, and that’s why it’s in the past, she should not be guilty, and nor should anyone else.

    As far as it goes. Nobody outside of the sporting history buffs knew about Marshall until all this.

    So who cares? And why does it matter now? Because we all should learn from the past, yet we also need to move forward. So when you are busy tearing down statues and ripping names from a page, you’re really not doing anything at all. You could be dedicating you’re time and effort to actual change. This is just dumb. Sorry if you care, but it’s all dumb. Talk and shaking a fist doesn’t make you a good person. Try actions that matter, and use these statues to educate, instead of to repress. No wonder nothing actually gets done. What a waste.

  25. This is a no-brainer. Change the racist name of the damn team. Even a family member of the team’s founder now wants to change it. Wake up, Snyder–you’re perpetuating blatantly racist stereotypes in the middle of a racial revolution all over this nation. You’re on the wrong side of history. Change the racist name of the damn team.

  26. I bet she is happy to spend the money she got from her grandfather though…if she really wanted to distance herself she should give away all that was gotten by him.

  27. Lost in all this discussions— the Redskins are gonna win the freakin’ Super Bowl in 2021.

  28. Our history is our history, good and bad. I am all in for change, but let’s be real. Erasing it like it never happened 70 years ago is a joke. Why don’t we learn from it and just realize how far we’ve come as a society? Those who don’t look at the past are bound to repeat the mistakes that were made.

  29. Love it how many here know all about the will, and laws affecting same, even though the will has never been made public.

  30. Hey they changed the Bullets to the wizards and gun violence disappeared in DC and across the country. What the heck is Danny boy waiting for. The solutions are so easy

  31. While I agree with Marshall’s name being removed, I’m on the fence about changing the team name.

    I did a lot of reading about the origins of the Redskin name and the different polls taken about it. Evidently, a majority of Native Americans are not offended by the name. If they are not offended, who are we to say that it is offensive.

    So, I’ll admit that I was wrong. The Redskins should keep the name…..but they still need to get rid of Snyder if they ever want to win.

  32. “Our history is our history, good and bad.”

    “History” is in the history books. Statues are not history. They are monuments celebrating people, without any of the actual history attached.

    Taking down statues is not changing history. It is simply not celebrating some really bad people.

  33. Radar8, I agree regarding the statue. Just making a general point about our history, and how we can learn and grow By knowing how far we have come.

  34. Hopefully she returns every penny of inheritance she received from her awful grandpa.

  35. I don’t have to like everyone. That’s comes from everyone I come in contact with. And everyone I come in contact with, is then when I decide whether I trust them or not. It’s not racial it’s human nature.

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