"Five retired Cleveland Browns players told Cleveland high school students today about early racism in the National Football League and how they, and others, helped overcome it. They also urged the students to work at building better race relations for the future.

Four black former players -- Walter Beach, Reggie Rucker, Sam Tidmore and John Wooten -- and one white retiree, Dick Schafrath, told students that while racism still exists today, there was more unequal treatment in their days as players. For instance, there were teams that would not sign black players to contracts, or black and white players for some teams had to live in separate quarters for away games, or some positions like quarterback that were off-limits to black players.

But the ex-players also discussed how football made a difference in race relations by showing that African-Americans could compete with whites and by mixing white and African-Americans from very different worlds together in the same locker rooms or pairing them as roommates on road trips.

Steve Perry, executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which organized the panel with the Browns to celebrate Black History Month, told the 140 students gathered at Browns Stadium and students at 12 schools across the country watching a live video broadcast, that players like those on the panel all worked to break barriers. "