A Brief History
On January 31, 1988, Doug Williams quarterbacked the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII, the first time an African American quarterback had played in Super Bowl history.
Digging Deeper
Standing 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighing a solid 220 pounds, Williams played college football at Grambling State, starting all four years and posting an outstanding 36-7 record. In his senior year, Williams was a premier NCAA quarterback, leading the nation in yards passing and touchdown passes thrown, although he only finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting.
Williams became the 17th overall pick in the first round of the 1978 NFL draft, going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, making history as the first African American quarterback taken in the first round of the draft. In 1979, Williams shared more history when he faced off with another African American quarterback, Vince Evans of the Bears, the first time two Black NFL quarterbacks faced each other on the field.
Leading the previously hapless Bucs to three playoffs in five years, Williams transferred to the USFL before going to the Redskins in 1986, where he achieved his Super Bowl heroics. Not done with football after retiring as a player, Williams coached high school and college football and served as an executive and scout for NFL teams, currently with the Commanders as senior advisor.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Did you know the 2025 Super Bowl will feature African American quarterbacks for both teams?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Moore, Louis. The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans, and the Making of the Black Quarterback. PublicAffairs, 2024.
Morgan, David, Jr. Doug Williams. North Star Editions, 2024.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by David from Washington, DC, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
