89 Years After The NFL Banned Black Players, Two Black Quarterbacks Will Start In The Super Bowl

With two Black quarterbacks playing in Sunday’s Super Bowl LVII, many African American football fans feel they have already won. For years in the NFL and around the country, the conventional reasoning was that Black athletes were incapable of the analytical skill required to lead a football team. 

In 1988 Doug Williams led his team, the Washington Redskins, to Super Bowl XXII. Williams became the first Black quarterback to play in a Super Bowl and the first to win. He also earned Most Valuable Player honors. 

Now 35 years later, Patrick Mahomes – quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs – and Jalen Hurts who leads the Philadelphia Eagles will face each other in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday.  

Williams said, “It was something that in my mind could have happened a long time ago if a lot of Black guys were allowed to play the position. And to see it come to fruition, it’s like a dream come true.”

Mahomes, Hurts and their teammates are also aware of the significance of the moment.

Keeping Score 

The first African American players in the National Football League were Bobby Marshall and Frederick Douglass Pollard. According to Football Perspective.com, Pollard quarterbacked the Akron Pros, but the position of quarterback in those days was very different than the modern quarterback. 

Bobby Marshall’s grandson, Don Marshall, shared a recent article on social media about his history-making grandfather.

“We are trying to get him inducted into the national football Hall of Fame, he is already in the college football Hall of Fame,” Marshall wrote on his Facebook page.

Once the racial barrier was eliminated, an African American played professional football every season from 1920 to 1933. Then came the informal ban in 1934 on Black players championed by Washington Redskins owner George Marshall. It wasn’t until 1946 that Black players were re-admitted to the NFL.

George Taliaferro who played for the AAFC in 1949 is considered the second Black quarterback, following in Pollard’s footsteps. Willie Thrower became the third Black quarterback in 1953. A quarterback from a HBCU didn’t play in the NFL until 1955 which opened the door for quarterbacks like Doug Williams and Steve McNair.

Here For It

Forbes reports the “10 highest paid NFL players for 2022 were quarterbacks, and half of them were Black, including Mahomes in forth place $51.5 million.”

But what happens on the gridiron Sunday will be priceless for many fans.

Earlier this week during press week for the players, Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Darius Slay said, “It’s amazing, especially with it going on during Black History Month. It’s a blessing, man. I’m glad I’ll be a part of this. This is something I can tell my grandkids that I experienced this … a shout out to those two guys making history.”