Players in the city’s recent youth flag football tournament have a long way to go before they hit as hard as the person for whom the league is named – Bill Willis – and even farther to go before they match his impact in society.

Members of the community wanted to make sure his name would become familiar to local youngster, so they renamed the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department youth football program in his memory, said former OSU and NFL football player Roger Harper, coordinator of the youth football program.

The Willis family, Recreation and Parks Director Alan McKnight, City Councilwoman Priscilla Tyson and other dignitaries took part in a brief ceremony on a bone-chillingly cold day, then began the tournament in the newly dubbed Bill Willis No. 99 Football League. The number is the one that Willis wore at Ohio State University.

About 400 players proudly sported jerseys bearing the name of the football legend whose talents shone brightly with the East High School Tigers, the OSU Buckeyes and the Cleveland Browns. His career as an offensive and defensive standout set standards for others to follow, especially black players.

Willis, OSU’s first black All-American football player, became one of the first blacks in the modern era to play professional football as a member of the Cleveland Browns. When he first signed in 1946, the Browns were part of the All-American Football Conference, which merged into the NFL in 1950.

Willis was enshrined in the College and Professional Football halls of fame.
 On Saturday, four teams each in two age groups squared off in the round-robin tournament. By day’s end, Barnett Recreation won the 9 to 11-year-olds title, and Sullivant Gardens, the 12-14.