[ Its historic because team owners and managers historically
discriminated against Black players— especially in so-called
"thinking positions" like center, middle linebacker and quarterback.]
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NO MATTER WHO WINS, THE FIRST SUPER BOWL WITH 2 BLACK QUARTERBACKS
WILL MAKE HISTORY  
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Becky Sullivan
February 8, 2023
NPR
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_ It's historic because team owners and managers historically
discriminated against Black players— especially in so-called
"thinking positions" like center, middle linebacker and quarterback. _


Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles and Patrick Mahomes of the
Kansas City Chiefs will play in the first Super Bowl with both teams
starting a Black quarterback., Patrick Smith; Douglas P.
DeFelice/Getty Images

 

A couple Sundays ago, Doug Williams was watching football.

He wasn't rooting for any of the _teams_, exactly, in the NFL's two
conference championship games, the winners of which would advance to
the Super Bowl.

Instead, he said, he was rooting for two _players_: Jalen Hurts and
Patrick Mahomes, the starting quarterbacks of the Philadelphia Eagles
and Kansas City Chiefs, respectively — both of whom, like Williams,
are Black.

First came Philadelphia, which cruised to victory over the San
Francisco 49ers. "I sat there patiently after Jalen and the Eagles had
won that game," Williams said.

Then came the Chiefs game — a tense back-and-forth against the
Cincinnati Bengals that came down to a Kansas City field goal in the
final seconds to win 23-20.

"When that ball went through the uprights, I can tell you this —
cold chills went through my body, and I got a little emotion,"
Williams said in an interview with NPR's _All Things Considered_
[[link removed]].
"There wasn't no tears running, but I had eyes full of water."

The emotion he felt was decades in the making — 35 long years since
Williams became the first Black quarterback to start in, and win, a
Super Bowl when he was under center for the Washington football team
in their 1988 championship run.

In the decades since then, Black quarterbacks have come to be a common
sight in NFL games, thriving in a position once reserved exclusively
for white men.

Yet the sport's biggest stage had never featured two — until now.

On Sunday, for the first time in 57 Super Bowls, both teams will start
a Black quarterback. The two players, Mahomes and Hurts, have had
superlative seasons. Both are finalists for the Associated Press Most
Valuable Player award, and Mahomes is expected to win.

And speaking to media this week, both acknowledged the long history of
Black quarterbacks who fought to pave the way for their opportunity
this weekend.

"I think about all the rich history in this game, and to be part of
such an historic event, historic moment, it's special," said Hurts on
Monday.

"It's historic," said Mahomes. "So many people laid the foundation
before us, and to be playing with a guy like Jalen, who I know is
doing it the right way, it's going to be a special moment that I hope
lives on forever."

A long history of discrimination

The NFL, once entirely off-limits to Black players, began to integrate
in earnest throughout the 1950s. Washington, the last team to
desegregate, finally drafted its first Black player in 1962.

Yet even as Black players joined teams in growing numbers, team owners
and managers continued to discriminate against them — especially in
so-called "thinking positions" like center, middle linebacker and
quarterback.

"They felt Black men were inherently inferior, that Black quarterbacks
— in their minds — could not lead white players in the NFL, and
they just weren't smart enough," said Jason Reid, a sportswriter for
ESPN and author of the book _Rise of the Black Quarterback: What It
Means for America_.

White players dominated those leadership positions, he said, while
Black players were relegated to positions that were thought to be more
physical than intellectual, like running back, cornerback and wide
receiver.

"It was just understood that if you were a Black quarterback in
college, you were moving to another position [in the NFL]. And it
really just came down to systemic racism," Reid told NPR's _Morning
Edition_.

For every "first Black quarterback to ____" milestone, there's a story
about how a Black man's abilities were underestimated by white coaches
and owners.

There's Marlin Briscoe
[[link removed]],
the first Black player in the Super Bowl era to start a game at
quarterback. The Denver Broncos wanted to convert him to cornerback,
but soon the team's white quarterback was injured and the white backup
played poorly, forcing the Broncos to give Briscoe a chance.

Then there's Warren Moon, the first Black quarterback to enter the NFL
Hall of Fame.

Despite leading the University of Washington to a Rose Bowl victory in
1978, no NFL team showed an interest in him. Instead, Moon spent six
years in the Canadian Football League, where he won five straight
championships. After making the switch to the NFL, Moon was named to
the Pro Bowl nine times.

"I'm so proud to see Jalen and Patrick as the first 2 African American
QBs to face each other in the Super Bowl," Moon wrote last week when
the Eagles and Chiefs advanced to the Super Bowl
[[link removed]]. "We have come
a long way."

And of course, there's Doug Williams, the first Black quarterback
taken in the first round of the draft, the first Black quarterback to
start and win a Super Bowl, and the first Black quarterback to be
named Super Bowl MVP.

Williams was only scouted by one NFL coach before he graduated from
college. He was for a time the lowest-paid starting quarterback in the
league. Despite his Super Bowl heroics, his career ended soon after.

"At least I was given the opportunity and was able to do something
with it," said Williams, who is now a senior adviser to the president
of the Washington Commanders. "It's a bittersweet situation. But we
take the sweet at this particular time."

Black quarterbacks became more common throughout the 1990s, but bias
remained

By the late 1980s, Black players were no longer a minority in the NFL
[[link removed]]. And over the decades, as
Williams and Moon gave way to Randall Cunningham then Donovan McNabb
and Daunte Culpepper, the outright discrimination began to fade away.
In 2001, Michael Vick was the first Black QB taken with the top pick
of the draft.

Black quarterbacks were being drafted, Black quarterbacks were
starting, Black quarterbacks were the faces of franchises. They were
here to stay.

"By that point, you start to see more of an acknowledgement that,
look, these guys are here, and they can play. And if they can help us
win, we need to look to do that," Reid said.

Yet bias against them lingered, he said — more subtle, perhaps, but
still insidious.

Black signal callers were often described as athletic in the same
breath that white quarterbacks were praised for their intellect. (That
trope, unfortunately, hasn't totally disappeared
[[link removed]].)

Credit for big wins was given to other players while blame for losses
came easily. When a Black quarterback succeeded, white commentators
speculated [[link removed]] about
whether the praise had been inflated due to a desire for good
publicity.

And sometimes the questions were more overt.

In 2011, Jerry Richardson, the 75-year-old owner of the Carolina
Panthers, proudly told _The Charlotte Observer_
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he had asked quarterback prospect Cam Newton, who is Black, whether he
had any piercings or tattoos.

Newton, a Heisman winner, was thought to be the best player available
in that year's draft, in which the Panthers had the top pick.

Newton replied that he had no tattoos or piercings, to which
Richardson responded
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"Good. We want to keep it that way." (Another prominent player on the
team at the time, a white tight end, had tattoos.)

Richardson later told PBS he'd also asked about Newton's hair,
encouraging the player to not to grow it out (which Newton eventually
did anyway [[link removed]]).

That was only 12 years ago, said Reid. "It brought back to memory a
time that was supposed to have been long gone."

This Sunday, history will be made

These days, there's no disputing the talent of Patrick Mahomes, the
27-year-old who is on the precipice of his third Super Bowl appearance
and second MVP award in just five years in the starting job. His
highlight reel heroics have redefined the possibilities for
quarterback play in the NFL.

Meanwhile, Jalen Hurts is the biggest star of the Philadelphia Eagles,
arguably the league's most talented team, who have cruised through the
playoffs to this Super Bowl berth.

Even more than his football skills — his mobility, his passing game,
his creativity — Hurts' teammates and coaches praise him for his
leadership.

"It's like having Michael Jordan out there. He's your leader," said
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni after the team's first playoff game last
month. "This guy leads. He brings this calmness to the entire team. He
plays great football. He's tough as they come."

Beyond the Super Bowl, the 2022 season was already historic for Black
quarterbacks.

Just under half of the league's 32 teams started a Black quarterback
at some point this season, and 29% of all NFL games this year featured
a Black starter under center, according to Football Perspective
[[link removed]].
In total, 21 Black quarterbacks threw at least one pass this season,
the highest number ever.

"There has never been a better time in the NFL for Black men who
aspire to play quarterback. These guys are the faces of franchises.
They have massive endorsement deals. They have the biggest contracts,"
Reid said.

There is still progress left to achieve for Black men in the NFL, said
Doug Williams, especially on the sidelines, where coaching
staffs have been slower to diversify than rosters
[[link removed]].

But come Sunday, watching Mahomes and Hurts face off in the Super Bowl
will be a moment to treasure, he said.

"We can't lose. We got two in the Super Bowl," he recalled telling a
friend. "It's a great feeling."

_Becky Sullivan has reported and produced for NPR since 2011 with a
focus on hard news and breaking stories. She has been on the ground to
cover natural disasters, disease outbreaks, elections and protests,
delivering stories to both broadcast and digital platforms._

* football
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* Superbowl
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* NFL
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* racial discrimination
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