Marvin Gaye Detroit Lions

Supposing that two gridiron players can croon on a platinum record, why would a famed Motown vocalist not be able to attempt a tryout for an NFL squad? Especially a team that once permitted author George Plimpton to play quarterback in a training camp scrimmage?

The connection that Detroit Lions luminaries Lem Barney and Mel Farr shared with vocalist Marvin Gaye has been alluded to in passing in recent news reports, both when it was disclosed that Barney would be singing the national anthem at this year's Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, and also when Farr passed away this month.

However, how that kinship and the tryout materialized is given more thorough treatment in an extensive piece by Justin Tinsley at espn.com.

It begins with a youthful Barney — a devotee — simply presenting himself at Gaye's Detroit doorway one morning, and Gaye — also a fan — welcoming him inside for breakfast.

Barney subsequently introduced Farr to Gaye and the trio became intimate companions during a bleak period in the singer's existence — recording partner Tammi Terrell succumbed to a brain tumor in March nineteen seventy, at twenty-four years of age — and Gaye had ceased performing and recording.

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"Marvin was in a sort of a funk back then," Farr related to ESPN.

Gaye was especially resistant to composing love songs but ultimately consented to record "What's Going On," inspired by the anti-war demonstrations of that era. But he demanded that Barney and Farr sing backup on the recording, as well.

"The song was precisely about what was unfolding within this world, you comprehend?" Farr commented. "What he did, he simply wanted to put it into lyrics. He penned everything. He did it all. He was a tremendously socially aware person concerning matters of fairness here.

"If one examines 'What's Going On,' it mirrors what is occurring in the world currently. You are discussing wars, racism, the struggles the African-American community is enduring today. What's happening?!"

Subsequent to the recording, Gaye, thirty-one, informed Barney and Farr that he desired to try out for the Lions.

The article cites Gaye from "Marvin Gaye, My Brother, a book authored by his brother Frankie: "You realize what? I would rather catch a pass and score a touchdown in Tiger Stadium than acquire another gold record."

Gaye commenced training with his friends and Lions luminary Charlie Sanders, and gained thirty pounds.

Then-Lions coach Joe Schmidt, also an admirer, agreed to a meeting with Gaye. But upon discovering that he had never played football, not even in high school, he declined a tryout.

Nonetheless, he altered his decision prior to training camp and consented to provide Gaye an opportunity during a Lions workout at Michigan.

Gaye appeared "satisfactory," yet Tinsley writes: "Privately, Schmidt visualized the wood-layers of their era — Deacon Jones, Chuck Howley or Dick Butkus — aggressively confronting one of America's preeminent musicians traversing the middle. Marvin would have been an easy target. That presented an excessive burden for any coach's conscience."

Thus, there was no invitation to training camp.

"Coach simply told him, 'I adore you, Marv. I appreciate your outlook.' " Farr mentioned. "But it merely wasn't sufficient to push him beyond the level where Coach would have desired to put him in pads and introduce that truly physical contact and destroy his existence. (Marvin) was appreciative of that."

Gaye's life ended up on a downhill slide ahead of his death in nineteen eighty-four, yet during that summer of nineteen seventy...

"Drugs weren't a part of his existence during that period," Farr revealed. "I've never observed Marvin happier than he was then."

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Contact Steve Schrader: sschrader@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @schradz.