Marion Bell is inducted into the Essex County Football Coaches Hall of Fame during the Paul Robeson Senior All-Star Classic football game in East Orange on Thursday, June 9, 2022The first Paul Robeson All-Star Football Classic had a modest goal of providing an opportunity for Essex County’s top football players to gain additional notoriety in the way of an all-star game pitting the eastern half of the county against the west.
The game is named in honor of Paul Robeson, an All-American football player at Rutgers and an acclaimed musician, lawyer and social activist. Trimmer credits the game’s president Dr. Stephen Cowan, a star player at East Orange and the University of Cincinnati, and the late Larry Schumacher, an Essex Catholic graduate who played at Notre Dame before a longtime high school coaching career. Trimmer and Carter have been involved since the first year.