Though Williams wasn’t the only Black quarterback in the league — legends Warren Moon and Randall Cunningham, for instance, were starters in the league — they were often unfairly considered oddities or even gimmicks. The position was still widely considered by white coaches, owners and fans as the domain of white men.
“At that time remember there had never been a Black quarterback in that position even though they had been playing football for years,” Williams told Gambit in January.
But that evening Williams, an 11-year veteran of the NFL and USFL, would become not only the first Black quarterback to start the Super Bowl, he’d also become the first to win it, leading Washington to a 42 to 10 rout of John Elway’s Denver Broncos.
Williams tried his best to put the added pressure of history aside as he prepared for the big day.
“I knew the impact, but would not speak on it. I wanted it to just run its course,” he says. “I would just tell myself that I was not here as Washington’s Black quarterback, but as the quarterback of the Redskins at the time, knowing all along that I was Black and was going to be judged that way.”
Though it would take another 26 years until Russell Wilson became the second Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, Williams’ win and performance caused a seismic shift in the league, breaking the quarterback race barrier and paving the way for generations of players.
It’s something “today’s Black quarterbacks do not have that to worry about, because of the number of them in the NFL today,” Williams says. “It’s such a good thing, and the way it should have been a long time ago.”
Douglas Lee Williams was born Aug. 9, 1955, in Zachary, Louisiana, to Robert and Laura Williams, the sixth of eight children.
Early on it was apparent he was a skilled athlete, playing multiple sports until in high school he settled on football.
Williams played football at Chaneyville High School where he threw for 1180 yards passing and 22 total touchdowns in his senior season. Those impressive numbers, especially for the time, would usually lead to being a highly sought-after recruit.
But Black quarterbacks were often overlooked and pushed to other positions. They were rarely given the same opportunities as their white counterparts.
Williams had no interest in changing positions.
He was meant to be a quarterback, standing 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighing well over 200 pounds. Williams’ strong arm, quick decision-making and leadership qualities were undeniable, and while a lot of colleges overlooked him, Eddie Robinson, the legendary head coach at Grambling State University, offered him a scholarship.
Williams attributes a lot of his success to coach Robinson.
“I don’t know if I would be where I am today if there had been no Eddie Robinson. He put that spark into everyone, that will to be more, to be the best,” Williams said after Robinson died in 2007, according to an AP story at the time.
Williams also credits James “Shack” Harris, another Grambling State quarterback who shattered barriers in professional football, as a major influence at the time.
Harris, also a Louisiana native, became the first Black quarterback to start a regular-season NFL game in 1969 and later was the first to start and win a playoff game. He was named the MVP of the 1974 Pro Bowl.
Williams flourished at Grambling, throwing for over 8,000 yards and 93 touchdowns during his college career. He led the Tigers to three SWAC championships and established himself as one of the most dominant quarterbacks in the country, Black or white.
In fact, Williams came in fourth in the 1977 Heisman trophy voting.
Despite his dominance at Grambling, Williams faced skepticism heading into the 1978 NFL Draft.
Black quarterbacks were still viewed with uncertainty, with many coaches and executives unwilling to trust them as leaders of a franchise.
“I don’t think black quarterbacks have been given the opportunity and the patience,” Willliams told the New York Times in 1978. “White quarterbacks like Bert Jones and Terry Bradshaw needed time. But their teams let ‘em learn. You learn from experience.”
Fortunately for Williams, one coach didn’t have that same outlook: John McKay of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. McKay had shown as the head coach at the University of Southern California that he wasn’t against starting a black quarterback when he started Jimmy Jones.
And in 1978, the Buccaneers selected Williams 17th overall, making him the first Black quarterback ever drafted in the first round.
Williams quickly proved he belonged in the NFL, leading Tampa Bay to three playoff appearances in five seasons.
However, despite his success, he was reportedly the lowest-paid starting quarterback in the league, making just $120,000 a year.
In 1983 Williams wanted to be paid his worth as one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL, asking for a multi-year deal worth approximately $600,000 a season.
When Tampa Bay only offered $400,000, the contract negotiations fell apart, and Williams felt he had no choice but to sit out as he was not going to settle for less than he thought he was worth.
“I hope the Bucs go 0-16 but all my friends make the Pro Bowl,” Williams said that fall.
Williams signed a multi-season contract with the USFL’s Oklahoma Outlaws that paid him $3 million and a $1 million signing bonus. Williams spent two seasons with the Outlaws before the league folded.
Out of a job, Williams was considering a career change when Joe Gibbs, who’d coached him in Tampa and was now Washington’s head coach, came calling. Initially, Gibbs wanted him to come in as a backup to Jay Schroeder – and potentially the team’s starter.
“Doug was going to get his chance. I really believed that. I really believed he would do a lot for our team.” Gibbs Told Andscape in 2023.
Washington began its 1987 season with Schroeder as the starting quarterback. Williams played several games during the strike-shortened season, putting his considerable talents as a player and leader on display. When the team reached the playoffs that year, Gibbs made a bold decision: Williams would become Washington’s starting quarterback in the post-season.
Williams’ post season play was masterful, including wins over the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings.
All that was left for Williams to accomplish something many never thought he or anyone who looked like him could do: win four quarters of football against Elway’s Denver Broncos.
While Williams was doing his best to focus on football prior to the game, the world was also focusing on his race. In predominantly Black D.C. – where years of racial discrimination by previous owners of the team had soured many residents to the Redskins – Williams had quickly become an icon.
Indeed, the fact that a Black man would be the starting quarterback in the Super Bowl became a major storyline of that year’s game, to the point that a reporter famously asked Williams “how long have you been a Black quarterback?”
Things didn’t start off great for Williams or Washington during the game. The Broncos quickly jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter, during which Williams briefly left the game with a knee injury.
But when he returned, he delivered one of the most extraordinary performances in Super Bowl history. In just the second quarter, Williams threw four touchdown passes and 228 yards, both Super Bowl records. He also tied the Super Bowl record for the longest touchdown pass with an 81-yard pass play to Ricky Sanders and was named Super Bowl MVP during the team’s historic win.
The idea that the Black quarterback was inferior was now put to rest.
Williams’ success wasn’t just a milestone, it was proof of concept. It showed the world that a quarterback’s ability to lead, inspire, and win has nothing to do with race and redefined what was possible, opening doors for every Black quarterback who came after him. And in doing so, he didn’t just change the game, he changed the perception of who could lead it.
Though Williams’ victory didn’t erase the systemic obstacles that Black quarterbacks continued to face, it undeniably opened doors, forcing teams, executives and fans to rethink outdated stereotypes about leadership at the quarterback position.
Nearly four decades later, the list of Black quarterbacks leading teams today goes far beyond just a few names. Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts and Jayden Daniels have all cemented themselves as franchise quarterbacks – with questions of race hardly, if ever, being raised.
Meanwhile, players like C.J. Stroud, Dak Prescott, Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray are continuing to push the position forward, proving that Black quarterbacks aren’t just thriving, they’re redefining the game of football.
In fact, things have changed so much that this year will be the second time two Black quarterbacks will start in the Super Bowl, a fact that will largely go unnoticed. And that all starts with Williams.
Mahomes, who will start this week for the Chiefs, is keenly aware of that fact, noting in a 2023 video produced by ESPN “There’s been a lot of great Black quarterbacks throughout the entire NFL’s lifespan, and they haven’t got the same opportunities that I’ve been given now. Doug Williams, the first Black quarterback to be in a Super Bowl … That opened the door for me.”
In the years since his playing career ended, Williams has remained a powerful voice in the NFL.
He’s held multiple front-office roles, including positions with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Commanders. These roles have allowed him to spread the message of equality and how not to judge players by misguided stereotypes, but rather by the talent and leadership qualities each respective prospect has.
Ro Brown, a sportscaster from New Orleans, has long admired Williams for not only breaking barriers but embracing the responsibility that came with it.
“There are people who are in the position of trailblazers or the first African Americans to do things, but they don’t accept the mantle,” Brown said in an interview with Gambit. “Doug was one of the people who accepted that weight, and he was aware of what it could mean for the future of Black quarterbacks and how they were seen.”
For Williams, he sees this year’s game as the culmination of that work.
When he played, the Super Bowl “was not an even playing field back then. But thank God, I really think we have made it to the finish line. Quarterbacks are not judged today by the color of their skin, but their ability and leadership skills and can they be a guy to uplift the organization.”
Article Appeared @https://www.nola.com/gambit/news/the_latest/la-born-black-quarterback-doug-williams-historic-super-bowl-win-is-still-shaping-the-nfl/article_e57e9c32-de8e-11ef-a32c-2be65781db96.html