Willis starred at East High School in Columbus, Ohio, before playing for Paul Brown at Ohio State and later for Brown again in the founding season of the Cleveland Browns in 1946.
The Browns won four straight All-America Football Conference championships before becoming a member of the NFL in 1950. Willis is credited with a touchdown-saving tackle that kept intact Cleveland’s run to the league championship that year.
Willis, a three-time Pro Bowler and eight-time All-Pro, and Marion Motley joined Kenny Washington and Woody Strode of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams as the first four African Americans to break pro football’s 13-year color barrier in 1946.