This Point Pleasant native was a businessman who helped shape the NFL—and also held back its progress due to his racism. He grew up between Grafton and Washington, D.C., and ran his family’s laundry business chain after his father died. With the money he made, Marshall bought a basketball team, then a pro football team in 1932—the Boston Braves. He soon renamed them the Redskins and moved them to Washington, D.C.

Marshall pushed for rule changes that made football faster and more exciting, helping the NFL grow into the game we know today. But he also led efforts to keep Black players out of the league. His Washington team was the last to integrate, and only did so in 1962 due to government pressure.

Though Marshall was part of the NFL’s first Hall of Fame class in 1963, his legacy is mixed—he helped build modern pro football but is remembered just as much for his very open bigotry.