Doug Williams was the first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl and that was...
Bettman via Getty Images 1988/Bettmann Archive
With the door to the QB position now open, it was just a matter of time before two Black QBs faced each other in the Super Bowl.Williams could not be prouder of Jalen Hurts of the Eagles and Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs, whose teams meet Sunday in Super Bowl LVII. Moon said he, Williams, and Cunningham used to talk about the responsibility to play well because they knew they were being judged by a different standard. They felt their success or failure might be held against prospects who looked like them."The guys who came before us paved the way for Jalen and me,” Mahomes said earlier this week at a Super Bowl news conference. “I'm just glad we can set the stage for the kids who are coming up now.
That the stretch included an official 12-year ban on Black players, says plenty about the mindset of NFL owners at the time. There wouldn’t be a Black starter at quarterback until Marlin Briscoe earned the job for the Broncos in 1968.