By John Scott
With Black History Month beginning and the Eagles victory in the Super Bowl, it is good to look back over the history that led us to having two Black quarterbacks face off in Super Bowl LIX.
Fritz Pollard became the first Black quarterback in the NFL back in 1923, as he started playing the position for the Hammond Pros. After this there was a long time before another Black quarterback emerged, as the whole NFL only had a few black players each year. In 1932, the Chicago Cardinals signed Joe Lillard, who was the only Black player in the league that year. He was used sparingly as a quarterback and was soon released. After 1932, Joe Marshall negotiated an NFL-wide ban on Black players, which lasted until after World War 2, in 1946.
In 1949, George Taliaferro became the first Black player drafted into the NFL, drafted by the Chicago Bears after playing in college for the Indiana Hoosiers. He did not sign with the Bears, however, and rather signed with the Los Angeles Dons in the desegregated AAFC. The Dons eventually joined the NFL, Taliaferro along with them. There were only two more Black quarterbacks in the pre-Super Bowl era, Willie Thrower and Charlie Brackins.
In 1968, Marlin Briscoe played for the Denver Broncos, and is considered the first Black quarterback to start a modern NFL game. In 1974, James Harris became the first Black quarterback to start, and win, an NFL playoff game. Warren Moon, best known for his stint with the Tennessee Titans, was the first Black quarterback elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 1978, Doug Williams became the first Black quarterback to be drafted in the first round of the NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After a few rough years with the Bucs, Williams found his footing in the 1987 playoffs with the Washington Redskins, and became the first Black quarterback to start in the Super Bowl.
Four different Black quarterbacks have won the MVP award, the Most Valuable Player, the first being Steve McNair for the Tennessee Titans in 2003. Cam Newton has also won one, in 2015. Both Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes have won the MVP award twice, Jackson in 2019 and 2023, and Mahomes in 2018 and 2022. Mahomes has also won Super Bowl MVP 3 times. It has been a long road for Black quarterbacks in the NFL and there have been countless difficulties, but with this years Super Bowl being only the second between two Black quarterbacks, and a rematch of the first no less, the number of impactful Black quarterbacks is certainly on the rise.