Fritz Pollard, the first African American coach and quarterback in the NFL.

Back in 2008, I wrote a four part series detailing the history of the black quarterback.

Six years ago, I updated that article, just as I did last year. Today, in honor of black history month, let’s revisit the history of black quarterbacks in the NFL. And while for the last 53 of those seasons, at least one black quarterback was in the NFL, the roles and treatment of black quarterbacks have varied greatly throughout the Super Bowl era.

The history of black quarterbacks in professional football is complicated. The New York Giants did not have a black quarterback throw a pass until 2007, when Anthony Wright became the first to do so; 10 years later, Geno Smith became the first and only black quarterback to start a game for the Giants, the last team to finally start a black player at quarterback. But as far back as 1920, Frederick Douglass “Fritz” Pollard was the tailback of the Akron Pros; a year later, he was promoted to player/coach, and became the first black head coach in NFL history. Pollard helped the Pros win the championship in the NFL’s inaugural season. ^[1]At the time, the NFL went by the name the American Professional Football Association. It was not known as the NFL until 1922. The Pros ran the single-wing, and Pollard was the player lined up behind the center who received the snaps. At the time the forward pass was practically outlawed, so Pollard barely resembles the modern quarterback outside of the fact that he threw a few touchdown passes during his career. ^[2]In addition to his NFL exploits, Pollard also achieved a great deal of fame for leading Brown to back-to-back road wins over the powerhouse schools of the time, Yale and Harvard, in 1916. He would … Continue reading And, of course, it was a time of significant discrimination: Pollard and end Bobby Marshall were the first two black players in professional football history.

As told by Sean Lahman, at least one African American played in the NFL in every year from 1920 to 1933; while there were several notable black players, Pollard was the only one ^[3]Well, maybe we can include single-wing tailback Joe Lillard, too.  In 1933, he had more than twice as many passing yards and rushing yards as any of his Cardinals teammates. He would then leave the … Continue reading resembling a quarterback. ^[4]It wasn’t just African Americans that had full access during this era: Jim Thorpe coached and starred in a team composed entirely of Native Americans called the Oorang Indians in 1922 and 1923. Beginning in 1934, that there was an informal ban on black athletes largely championed by Washington Redskins owner George Marshall. It wasn’t until 1946 that black players were re-admitted to the world of professional football, when UCLA’s Kenny Washington ^[5]Who occupied the same backfield with the Bruins as Jackie Robinson. and Woody Strode were signed by the Los Angeles Rams; in the AAFC, Bill Willis and Marion Motley were signed by Paul Brown’s Cleveland Browns that same season.

Taliaferro became the first black player drafted in the NFL and the first black modern QB to start for an NFL team.

In general, the rival league was friendlier to black players. After George Taliaferro played quarterback in the AAFC in 1949, he became the second black quarterback in NFL history when he joined the New York Yanks in 1950. ^[6]For what it’s worth, Washington also played a little quarterback with the Rams. Taliaferro was a jack-of-all trades: in both 1952 and 1953, he accumulated over 200 passing, rushing and receiving yards, and scored a touchdown via all three methods. But despite making three Pro Bowls, Taliaferro never led his team in passing, and was more a utility player than a quarterback.

The next African American quarterback in the NFL was unquestionably a thrower. Literally. Willie Thrower became the third black quarterback in league history in 1953 when he threw eight passes in one game for the Bears (and did not record a rushing attempt or a reception). Two years later, Charlie “Choo Choo” Brackins was signed by the Green Bay Packers, marking another milestone. While Pollard (Brown), Taliaferro (Indiana) and Thrower (Michigan State) came from major schools, Brackins was the first in a small line of quarterbacks from historically black colleges. Brackins was drafted in ’55 out of Prairie View A&M; he would be the only quarterback drafted from an HBCU for 13 years, but he paved the way for quarterbacks like Doug Williams and Steve McNair.

Brackins and Thrower combined to throw just ten passes, and the NFL did not enlist another black quarterback — from an HBCU or elsewhere — for twelve seasons. That’s because players like Pete Hall, a quarterback at Marquette, switched to receiver when they made it to the NFL. Another star, Sandy Stephens, led Minnesota to the Rose Bowl and was selected in the first round of the AFL draft and the second round of the NFL draft in 1962. But since both the New York Titans and Cleveland Browns wanted him to switch positions like Hall, Stephens instead moved to Canada to play quarterback in the CFL. Others, like Prairie View quarterback Jim Kearney, switched to safety, and made an impact in the NFL.  In 1968, the Raiders drafted Tennessee State’s Eldridge Dickey in the first round, but used him as a utility player and returner. In the 12th round, another HBCU player, Fisk QB Henry Johnson — a classmate of congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis — was selected by the 49ers. And in the 14th round, Denver drafted Nebraska-Omaha’s Marlin Briscoe, who became the first black player in the Super Bowl era to start at quarterback. Briscoe ranked sixth in the AFL in passing yards, touchdowns and quarterback rating, while leading the league in yards per completion as a rookie.  He had a pretty impressive rookie season playing for a bad team, at a time when there was immense discrimination against black quarterbacks. ^[7]After the season, Denver informed Briscoe that they intended to go with Pete Liske as their quarterback in 1969 (with Steve Tensi as the backup); as a result, Briscoe asked for his release, and … Continue reading

In the fifth round of the 1969 draft, the Patriots drafted Onree Jackson. The Patriots player personnel director said “Jackson could be the Willie Mays of pro football” but he was released just months later; the only explanation provided was that Jackson “was behind the other three quarterbacks.” But another black quarterback from that draft had much more success. In the eighth round, Grambling’s James Harris was drafted by the Bills and was the team’s opening day starter. Harris played sparingly in ’70 and ’71, before being out of football in 1972. But he joined the Rams in 1973, and the next season became the first black quarterback to make the Pro Bowl. But there has been at least one black quarterback in the NFL (or AFL) in every season starting in 1968. In 1972, Joe Gilliam was drafted by the Steelers; Gilliam would play four seasons, with the majority of his work coming in 1974. That season, the year Pittsburgh won its first Super Bowl, Gilliam arguably outplayed Terry Bradshaw in the regular season, but he was unable to wrest the job from the former number one overall pick.

J.J. Jones (New York Jets), Dave Mays (Cleveland), John Walton (Philadelphia), Parnell Dickinson (Tampa Bay) and Vince Evans (Chicago) all entered the NFL in the mid-to-late ’70s, serving as a bridge until the next breakthrough. By the end of the 1977 season, no black quarterback had been selected before the sixth round of the draft. That changed when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Doug Williams with the 17th pick in the first round of the 1978 draft.

After Williams, no black QBs entered the league for five years. ^[8]Well, Tennessee State’s Joe Adams was drafted in the 12th round in 1981 but did not make the team. During the 1983 season, Evans was the only black quarterback in the NFL (Williams was in the USFL at the time). Evans joined Williams in the USFL after the season — the league was a bit friendlier to black quarterbacks than the NFL, perhaps out of necessity. That would have left the NFL without any black quarterbacks, but in 1984, the landscape of what a black quarterback could do in the NFL changed forever.

Warren Moon joined the Canadian Football League in 1978, and promptly led his Edmonton Eskimos to the Grey Cup title in each of his first five seasons. In 1983, he set the single season passing record and won the Most Outstanding Player award. That prompted the Houston Oilers to sign the future 9-time Pro Bowler and NFL Hall of Famer. Moon still ranks in the top five in NFL history in passing yards gained in a player’s age 28 season and beyond. He remains underrated to this day.

Randall Cunningham was drafted in 1985, and would become a star using a different style. Cunningham is the most decorated quarterback to be passed over by the Hall of Fame. He won the Bert Bell Award as the league’s best player in 1988, 1990, and 1998. In 1990, the Pro Football Writers Association also named him their MVP, and in 1998, he received the Jim Thorpe Trophy as the league’s best player from the the Newspaper Enterprise Associates panel. Each season, Cunningham was the runner-up in the AP MVP voting, to Terrell Davis in 1998 (25 votes to 14), Joe Montana in ’90 (26 votes to 18), and Boomer Esiason in 1988 (31 votes to 21). Cunningham’s historic 1990 season saw him throw 30 touchdown passes and rush for 942 yards; until 2015, no other player with 30 passing touchdowns in a single season had rushed for even 500 yards.

After Reggie Collier was drafted by the Cowboys in 1986, a string of black QBs entered the NFL during the year of replacement players in 1987: Mark Stevens, Walter Briggs, Larry Miller, Willie Gillus, Bernard Quarles, Tony Robinson and Willie Totten. Two years later, Rodney Peete was drafted by the Lions, and the following year, the Lions drafted Andre Ware with the seventh overall pick in the draft. Since 1990, there have been at least five black quarterback in the NFL every season. In 1995, Steve McNair out of another HBCU (Alcorn State), became the third overall draft pick, and would appear in a Super Bowl four years later.

Then, in 2000, the next milestone was hit.  Michael Vick became the first black quarterback selected with the first pick. In 2006, Vince Young became the first black quarterback to win rookie of the year, paving the way for Cam Newton and Robert Griffin III to win the award. After Vick, JaMarcus Russell (2007), Cam Newton (2011), Jameis Winston (2015), and Kyler Murray (2019) have been selected first overall as well. But the “surprising” success of Lamar Jackson signals that there still are hurdles even for exemplary black quarterbacks. The ability of the 2019 MVP to play quarterback in the NFL was openly questioned, and despite a great resume, he fell to the 32nd pick of the 2018 Draft.

There have been many great black quarterbacks over the past 25 years, but even the success of players like Donovan McNabb and Steve McNair at times felt isolated. But that has changed in recent years.  The 2019 season was the most outstanding year for black quarterbacks in pro football history. Jackson was the NFL’s MVP. Patrick Mahomes, a year after winning his own league MVP award, led the Chiefs on a superlative postseason run that ended with Mahomes capturing the Super Bowl MVP award and leading Kansas City to its first title in 50 years. Murray won the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award. And Dak Prescott, Russell Wilson, and Deshaun Watson all had excellent seasons, with each playing like an MVP candidate for stretches of the regular season. Winston led the NFL in passing yards, Teddy Bridgewater went 5-0 as the Saints interim quarterback in the middle of the season, and earned a starting job in 2020 in Carolina off of that performance. Only four quarterbacks threw 30+ touchdown passes in 2019, and all four were African American.

And in 2020, Mahomes and Watson finished as two of the top three most efficient passers in the league, while the quantity continues to grow.  At one point, a record 10 starting quarterbacks were black for the first time in pro history. That sort of success would surely put a smile on the faces of the Throwers and Taliferros who helped build the legacy of black quarterbacks in pro football.