Early quarterbacks penalized for being Black

By David Mullen

When the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts took the field on February 12, 2023, it marked the first time that the two starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl were Black. 

While certainly a milestone worthy of acknowledgement, the news came with little fanfare and was treated as more of a game note than noteworthy achievement. Today, Black quarterbacks in the NFL, a league where a majority of the players are African American, are commonplace. 

But just a few decades before, having a black man under center was not only unheard-of but unthinkable. The old NFL, controlled by a cadre of white men, was convinced that Black players were paid to perform, not think, and could not handle the responsibility of running an offense.

A skilled position like running back, wide receiver or defensive back was a Black player’s place on the football field.      

It took more than 100 years of professional football before two Black men faced off in the NFL Championship Game. A look back at the pioneers that made the moment possible is a story worth telling.

In the just released book ROCKET MEN: The Black Quarterbacks Who Revolutionized Pro Football (Basic Books), noted author, sports journalist and former writer for The Dallas Times Herald John Eisenberg has chronicled the definitive history of Black quarterbacks in the NFL. The book goes through the challenges facing forerunners like Marlin Briscoe, Doug Williams, Warren Moon and others that paved the way for Mahomes and Hurts to star on the NFL’s biggest stage.

“The story of the Black quarterback is not like Jackie Robinson, where one day — April 15, 1947 — one guy crossed the line and everything changed,” Eisenberg said. “It’s a bunch of moments that, slowly but surely, happened. But of those moments — without a doubt  the biggest moment — is Doug Williams winning the Super Bowl [in 1988] because there were so many doubts. People just didn’t believe it could happen. Football had never seen it before.”

In Super Bowl XXII, Williams led the Washington Redskins to a 42-10 trouncing of the Denver Broncos. 

Williams entered the season as a backup and was 0–2 as a starter during the regular season. But Washington dominated in the playoffs, and Williams became the first African American quarterback ever to start in an NFL league championship game and a Super Bowl.

Williams’ performance in Super Bowl XXII became legendary. The Redskins scored a record-breaking 35 points in a second quarter for the ages. The game MVP, Williams completed 18 of 29 passes for 340 yards and four touchdowns. “Once he [Williams] did that, it proved that that type of thinking was wrong. It was flat out wrong,” Eisenberg said. “Williams changed everything. That’s the biggest moment of all, without question.”

The Marlin Briscoe story is revealing. Briscoe was drafted by Denver in the 14th round (357 overall) of the 1968 NFL Draft and is recognized as the first Black starting quarterback in the modern NFL. Briscoe played quarterback in 11 games for Denver in 1968, before being released and signed by the Buffalo Bills. Briscoe, looking for another shot at quarterback, was converted into a wide receiver. 

“He [Briscoe] was really good in college at the little University of Omaha,” Eisenberg said. “The Broncos drafted him late to be a defensive back. He wound up on the field as a quarterback because he talked them [Denver] into playing him and to show them what he could do.” Briscoe got his chance by default. 

“All the white quarterbacks were injured, so they put him out on the field, and he did a great job. Clearly, he could have played for years, but they just didn’t want a Black quarterback. He had to change teams and change positions to keep his career going.” 

In July 1969, the Dallas Cowboys faced the Oakland Raiders in a seventh scheduled preseason game that was billed as “The Rookie Game,” a showcase for first- and second-year players. Heisman Trophy winner and Navy graduate Roger Staubach led the Cowboys, and former Alabama quarterback Ken Stabler was scheduled to start the game for Oakland. Ultimately, Stabler started the second half.

Attention abruptly shifted at gametime when Oakland started quarterback Eldridge Dickey, a first-round selection (25th pick) by the Raiders out of the historically Black college and university (HBCU) Tennessee State. Dickey was the first African American quarterback to be drafted in the first round in professional football history. Stabler was chosen in the second round of the same draft.

At 6-foot 2, 200 lbs., Dickey was known as a gifted, multi-sport athlete with a high IQ in the 130s. He was a three-time HBCU All American. Dickey eventually played in 18 regular season NFL games, all at wide receiver. 

“The Eldridge Dickey chapter was fascinating to research and write,” Eisenberg said. “[Marlon] Briscoe said that Dickey was ‘the best quarterback we never saw.’ He clearly had talent. Imagine being a first-round quarterback today. You sign a big contract and the team rallies around you. Football was so different then.” I am one of the few people that got to see Dickey play quarterback. I was at The Rookie Game.   

On Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6 p.m., Eisenberg will be in conversation with NBC 5 sportscaster Newy Scruggs at a book signing of ROCKET MEN, at Interabang Books, 5600 Lovers Lane, Suite 142. Complimentary drinks and refreshments will be served at 5:30 p.m.

Eisenberg grew up in Dallas but has been in Baltimore for the past three decades. He is the author of 10 books, including The Streak about Cal Ripken, Jr. and Lou Gehrig and The League about the early days of the NFL. 

ROCKET MEN is based on in-depth interviews of players, coaches and talent insiders, including NFL greats like Moon, and reveals the remarkable ways the old NFL treated Black quarterbacks. After an outstanding collegiate career, Moon was undrafted by the NFL. He spent six years in the Canadian Football League having to prove to NFL executives that he was worthy of leading a team. In 2006, Moon was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  

“It was an old way of thinking,” Eisenberg said. “They didn’t want a Black player in charge. Maybe not smart enough. Maybe not disciplined enough. Can they lead? Can they come through in the clutch? When I interviewed Moon, he went over all of it. It took generations of guys to show it was just wrong.”

Eisenberg cited a recent report from the NFL that stated 14 Black quarterbacks started the season openers in 2023. “Easily the most [Black quarterbacks] ever,” Eisenberg said. “The moral of that story is that teams are not seeing color anymore at that position.” But there was a time, as chronicled in ROCKET MEN, that during the black and white era, all NFL executives saw under center was white.