{"numbering":"no_numbering","slides":[{"title":"Bobby Mitchell","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/slide/image/Bobby%20Mitchell_USATSI_7368067.jpg","credit":"Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports","published":1613787313,"caption":"

As a player, Bobby Mitchell helped break down the NFL's color barrier with Washington. But following his retirement, he became the first African American to work in an NFL front office.

Spending 40-plus years in Washington, Mitchell's influence as a player and executive was integral in creating the NFL as we know it today. Mitchell had aspirations of becoming the league's first general manager but was never afforded the opportunity.

Mitchell championed a wide array of social causes and organizations, including the United Negro College Fund, the Boys Club of Washington, the National Urban League, the NAACP, and more.

He lived to see Ozzie Newsome realize his dream in 2002 but passed away in 2020 before Washington hired its first Black GM in Martin Mayhew.

"},{"title":"Neal Henderson","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/slide/image/Henderson_N_USATSI_13782639.jpg","credit":"Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports","published":1613789250,"caption":"

For 40 years, Henderson has helped tear down the barriers to the sport of hockey as co-founder of the only full-size indoor ice arena in Washington, D.C., and the longest standing minority youth hockey program in North America.

A native of Prince George’s County, Md., Henderson played semi-professional hockey and was known for teaching kids in his neighborhood how to skate. Today, more than 1,500 kids have learned the game of hockey under the tutelage of Henderson and the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club - also known as the Cannons.

In 2019, Henderson was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame for his outstanding work, and at 83 years old, continues to oversee the program.

"},{"title":"Frank Robinson","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/slide/image/Robinson_F_USATSI_8557697.jpg","credit":"Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports","published":1613789436,"caption":"

Frank Robinson broke records as one of the greatest baseball players of all time and the first player to win MVP in both the American League as an Oriole and the National League in Cincinnati.

But he also broke barriers as the first Black manager in MLB history when he served as player-manager for the Cleveland Indians in 1975. Robinson returned to Baltimore in 1988 to manage the Orioles and was awarded the American League Manager of the Year in 1989, before managing the Montreal Expos/Washington National franchise from 2002-2006.

Robinson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 and in 2007 received the first Jackie Robinson Society Community Recognition Award at George Washington University. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. He later served as an executive with Major League Baseball.

As Jackie Robinson paved the way for Frank Robinson as an African American player in the Majors, Frank Robinson paved the way for Black managers and executives in MLB.

"},{"title":"Sheila Johnson","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/slide/image/Johnson_S_USATSI_4780492.jpg","credit":"Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports","published":1613789742,"caption":"

Johnson is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and TV pioneer, having cofounded Black Entertainment Television in 1980. Her influence on D.C. sports dates back to 2005 when she became the first African American woman to have a principal shareholder stake in three professional sports teams: the Washington Wizards, Capitals and Mystics.

Johnson has produced several films that convey strong humanitarian messages, including Kicking It (2008), A Powerful Noise (2008), She Is the Matador (2009) and The Other City (2010).

In 2019, the Women’s Sports Foundation honored Johnson with the Billie Jean King Leadership Award for her outstanding leadership and contributions to the advancement of women through her achievements in sports and the workplace.

"},{"title":"Dave Bing","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/slide/image/Bing_D_USATSI_13212699.jpg","credit":"KATHLEEN GALLIGAN","published":1613790149,"caption":"

One of D.C.’s native sons, Dave Bing is a seven-time NBA All-Star, a 1990 Hall of Fame inductee and was voted one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players in 1996. He was also the recipient of the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 1977.

Upon retirement, Bing returned to the city he was drafted, Detroit, where he brought much-needed jobs by building Bing Steel, the 10th-largest African American-owned industrial company in the nation, according to Black Enterprise magazine’s rankings.

He emerged as a civic leader in Detroit after launching a fundraising campaign that successfully saved the city’s public high school sporting programs from being canceled as part of a budgetary-crisis cutback in 1989.

In 2008, he was elected Mayor of Detroit and helped lead the city through some difficult years.

"},{"title":"Jason Wright","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/article/hero/Wright_J_USATSI_15032813_0.jpg","credit":"Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports","published":1613790395,"caption":"

When Jason Wright joined the Washington Football Team in 2020, he made history as the first Black president in NFL history, breaking down a barrier that stood so long even he was not completely aware of it when he took the job.

In his short tenure, Wright has helped usher in a new era in Washington, incorporating diversity at the highest levels of the organization. Martin Mayhew recently became the team’s general manger. Washington became the first team to have a minority president, general manager and head coach (Ron Rivera).

Wright’s grandfather, Harlee Wright, was an educator and civil rights activist who started several NAACP chapters in Texas. His middle name, Gomillion, was given to him in honor of his great-great uncle, Charles Gomillion, who won a landmark Supreme Court case (Gormillion vs. Lightfoot, 1960) that later became instrumental in the passing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Wright carries on his family's legacy in his work with the Washington Football Team and the Washington community.

"}]}

6 influential Black leaders in Washington sports history