Is The NFL's Black Quarterback Boom Real? - National Football League

Ebony, Oct, 2001 by Bobbi Roquemore

TEN years ago, the number of Black quarterbacks in the National Football League could be counted on your left hand. Nowadays, you need the left hand, right hand and the hands of a few friends to count the Black quarterbacks on NFL rosters.

More than 20 Black quarterbacks attended NFL training camps this summer to play for the league's 31 teams, and nine of them were starters or potential starters: Steve McNair (Tennessee Titans); Daunte Culpepper (Minnesota Vikings); Donovan McNabb (Philadelphia Eagles); Kordell Stewart (Pittsburgh Steelers); Aaron Brooks (New Orleans Saints); Charlie Batch (Detroit Lions); rookie Quincy Carter (Dallas Cowboys); Jeff Blake (Saints); and Akili Smith (Cincinnati Bengals). Carter, a second-round pick from Georgia, was handed the starting job of the Cowboys--commonly called "America's Team"--in training camp.

The Atlanta Falcons are betting their future on former Virginia Tech quarterback sensation Michael Vick. The Falcons maneuvered their way to the top the NFL draft in April to get Vick, making him the first Black quarterback ever to be selected No. 1 overall. Vick signed a six-year, $62 million contract with the Falcons.

As the quarterback position becomes more demanding and multiple talents are needed, more and more Black quarterbacks are infiltrating the NFL. Can the explosion of Black quarterbacks in the NFL be explained by mere evolution? Not so fast, says Doug Williams, the first Black quarterback to lead a team to a Super Bowl victory. "There are [simply] more African-Americans who have been given the opportunity to play the game and get credit for being as smart as they are athletic," he says.

Whatever doubt remained about the ability of Black quarterbacks should have been sacked after the 2000 season. Five of the 12 NFL playoff teams had Blacks calling the shots on offense. Two Black starting quarterbacks, McNair and Culpepper, came within a game of the Super Bowl.

"The climate is better in the last 10 years than what it has been because we've had some great guys like Randall Cunningham and Doug Williams who paved the way for young guys like myself and other guys who have just started in the league," says McNair, who led the Titans to the Super Bowl two seasons ago. "Now, Black quarterbacks are becoming a natural thing in the league. We're proving we are capable of getting the job done as quarterbacks."

For decades, color did play a role in keeping a number of Black quarterbacks out of the NFL. Some coaches, talent evaluators and owners used racist reasons to deny Blacks the opportunity to quarterback, claiming they were not smart enough to read defenses and effectively run the offense.

In other cases, option-style quarterbacks--many of whom were Black--were discouraged from playing the position professionally because some people said they were prone to injury once they left the backfield.

If a Black quarterback wanted to play professionally, he had to make tough choices. He could switch positions, usually to wide receiver or a defensive secondary role, bolt to the Canadian Football League to play quarterback, or Face the long odds of becoming a Black quarterback in the NFL.

James Harris followed his dream and became the first established Black quarterback in NFL history. "In preparing for the NFL, I felt my best position was as a quarterback," says Harris, now the director of pro personnel of the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. "At that time, Blacks weren't playing as quarterbacks ... I realized that if I resisted [switching positions], it may have prevented me from playing in the NFL."

Although Harris could have been drafted higher at another position, the Buffalo Bills selected him as a quarterback in the eighth round in 1969 out of Grambling, and he became a starter. He was traded to the Los Angeles Rams and had a string of stellar seasons that included three playoff berths.

Slowly thereafter, Black quarterbacks began to appear more often in the NFL. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted Doug Williams, a highly touted prospect out of Grambling in 1978, in the first round. By his second season, Williams had the Buccaneers within a game of the Super Bowl. Throughout the 1980s, Warren Moon and Randall Cunningham were the premier Black quarterbacks of the league and consistently took their teams to the playoffs.

The climate was changing, but the fact that they were Black quarterbacks never completely escaped people's minds.

"When I was younger, I was so much into just getting around all of the things that were unnecessary," says Cunningham, a 16-year veteran and two-time league MVP who is the backup for the Ravens. "On one hand, there were people saying Black quarterbacks couldn't do it. On the other hand, we had people saying we need strong Brothers who could do the job. I felt if I took one side or the other side, it would cause disruption in my career. So I tried to stay on the fine line."

On January 31, 1988, Williams made the historic breakthrough as the first Black quarterback to ever lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He had one of the best quarters in Super Bowl history as he rallied the Washington Redskins past the Denver Broncos with four touchdown passes in the second period. Williams finished with 340 yards passing and was named the game's MVP. His performance in the international spotlight inspired McNair and a new generation of Black quarterbacks.