Super Bowl: Doug Williams set the Super Bowl stage for Black quarterbacks Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes

Doug Williams paused several seconds before answering the question about why this matchup between Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts is important — an understandable period of deliberation given the significance of the subject and just how long it has been since he produced his own unforgettable moment of NFL history.

It was 35 years ago that Williams became the first Black quarterback to win the Super Bowl, a feat that carried immense symbolism and changed a decades-old perception that Black players didn’t have the wherewithal or intelligence to excel at the most important position in pro sports.

Williams went into that 1987 season as the backup QB behind Jay Schroeder, and coach Joe Gibbs nearly acquiesced to his request to be traded to the Raiders because Williams wanted a chance to be a starter. But Gibbs’ intuition told him to cancel that deal at the 11th hour, keeping Williams with Washington and infuriating the quarterback.

When Gibbs brought Williams into his office to explain the situation, Williams’ countenance quickly went from overjoyed at the prospect of being traded to angry that Gibbs had changed his mind.

“You can’t do that,” Williams told Gibbs, who had known Williams since their days together with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Williams had been their 1978 first-round draft pick and Gibbs had been the team’s offensive coordinator.

Gibbs’ smile disappeared. “Hey, I don’t work for the Raiders, and I can,” he told him. “We’re not going to trade you.”

Williams stormed out of Gibbs’ office, convinced his career was at a dead end.

But shortly before Washington’s regular-season opener against the Eagles, Gibbs pulled Williams aside and called him by his given name — a name used by only Williams’ mother and older brother, and Gibbs.

“Douglas, I got a feeling that somewhere along the line,” Gibbs said, “you’re going to come in here and win this thing.”

By the end of the season, with Schroeder struggling and Washington’s championship hopes in question, Gibbs anointed Williams the starter for the playoffs.

And Williams led Washington to Super Bowl XXII against the Broncos, determined to answer the question about whether a Black quarterback could win the big game. First, however, he had an infamous exchange with a reporter while addressing questions about his place in history.

Butch John of the Jackson (Mississippi) Clarion-Ledger wanted to dive deeper into Williams’ mindset and — while speaking several feet away from Williams in the pack of reporters — asked his question. Williams had some difficulty making it out and responded, “How long have I been a Black quarterback? I’ve been a quarterback since high school. I’ve always been Black.”

But the question was far more nuanced than that. The question from John was: “Doug, obviously you’ve been a Black quarterback your whole life. When did race begin to matter to people?” (This according to fellow reporter Bob Kravitz, who was standing next to John, who has since passed away.)

The incident added further attention and pressure to a man who was simply trying to win the biggest football game of his life while carrying the burden of hope of millions of fans wanting this victory for more than football reasons alone.   

Williams went on to produce one of the most brilliant performances in Super Bowl history, throwing four touchdown passes in the second quarter of a 42-10 win for Washington and shattering the myth that Black quarterbacks couldn’t succeed at the highest level of the NFL.

‘What it means for us’

Moments after the game ended, Chester Jones leaped off his recliner at his home in Frytown, Virginia, and ran down the hall and back, screaming in jubilation over what he’d just seen. He looked at his 7-year-old grandson, Mike, and with tears in his eyes, he told him: “Grandson, you don’t understand what is going on right here. You don’t understand the struggle that it took for [Williams] to get here and what it means for us.”

Mike Jones, now an NFL columnist at The Athletic, understands what his grandfather told him the night of Jan. 31, 1988.

“He was explaining Doug’s story, and the struggles other Black quarterbacks had, having to play defensive back or wide receiver, or going to Canada instead of getting a legitimate shot in the NFL,” Jones said. “And Doug had done it.”

Years later, when Jones worked as a reporter covering the team, he ran into Williams and introduced himself.

“I’m not trying to make you feel old, but the first football game that’s burned into my memory is you winning the Super Bowl and my grandfather jumping out of his chair,” Jones said.

Williams smiled and said, “Well, you tell your granddaddy you had a good talk with Doug Williams.”

Williams, now 67 and a front-office executive with the Washington Commanders, now looks ahead to Sunday’s Super Bowl LVII, beaming with the kind of pride he once felt for his own iconic achievement.

When Kansas City’s Mahomes takes on Philadelphia’s Hurts, it will be the first Super Bowl matchup featuring Black starting quarterbacks for both teams.

Mahomes became the third Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, following in the footsteps of Williams and former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who led Seattle to a championship 26 years after Williams’ victory.

The words come out slowly as Williams savors a final barrier of sorts for the progression of Black quarterbacks in football, an acceptance that appears permanent.

“I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on this whole situation, and I can say this,” he told Newsday in an interview late last week. “I’m overjoyed. Happy for those two guys [Mahomes and Hurts], happy that it happened, and glad for the league that it happened. We now need to put a lot of stuff to rest when it comes to Black quarterbacks being able to succeed in the NFL.”

For decades before Williams’ historic victory, Black quarterbacks struggled for acceptance in the NFL, a league that was slow to accept the notion that they could be on the same level as many of their white counterparts. Prominent Black quarterbacks were routinely shifted to other positions in college and the NFL.

James Harris was faced with that situation when he was considering colleges as a schoolboy star in Louisiana but decided to go to Grambling, a historically Black college coached by the legendary Eddie Robinson, who wanted Harris to play quarterback. It was a similar situation in the NFL, but Harris again held firm and stayed at quarterback when he played for the Bills, Rams and Chargers.

“It’s never been about ability,” said Harris, who became the first Black quarterback to start and win a playoff game when he was with the Rams in 1973. “It’s always been about opportunity. It’s never been an issue about whether they’re smart enough or whether they can lead. They just didn’t get [regular] opportunities.”

But that time is no more, with a seismic shift over the years toward giving Black quarterbacks more opportunities at every level of the sport, particularly the NFL. The Mahomes-Hurts matchup offers the latest proof of that transformation.

“In the first-ever matchup of Black quarterbacks in the Super Bowl, it’s really about two of the guys who are at the top of the league,” said ESPN senior writer Jason Reid, author of the recently published book “Rise of the Black Quarterback: What It Means for America.” “They led their teams to the best records, they have the best individual performances, and this is indicative of where Black men who aspire to play quarterback in the NFL are.”

Mahomes and Hurts welcome being a meaningful part of history.

“To have two Black quarterbacks start in the Super Bowl, I think it’s special,” said Mahomes, the son of former major-league pitcher Pat Mahomes. “I’ve learned more and more about the history of the Black quarterback since I’ve been in this league. The guys that came before me and Jalen set the stage for this and now I’m just glad we can set the stage for kids that are coming up now.”

Hurts called the matchup “something that’s worthy of being noted and it is history. I think it’s come a long way. To be the first for something is pretty cool.”

And there is no turning back.

“Gone are the days where Black quarterbacks have to switch positions or not be selected in the draft,” Reid said. “Undeniably, there’s been a ton of progress where the color green trumps black. When owners and coaches decide they’re going to have quarterbacks who can win, which means Black quarterbacks in many cases, then there’s the progress. Progress is not perfection, because there are still some [racial] undertones there, but the playing field is a lot more level than it was.”

The early pioneers who helped set the stage for Sunday’s matchup appreciate how far the game has come.

“I think the Black quarterback has found the opportunity,” Harris said. “We have two players in the Super Bowl in Mahomes and Hurts who are exceptional, who are good ambassadors, not just for Black quarterbacks but for the game. They represent the game well. They’re outstanding, competitive, productive.

“All any of us did was dream of having an opportunity to play quarterback in the NFL, and so many didn’t get their chance. At one time, that dream would turn into a nightmare. But now we’re having young players who are able to realize that dream.”

It is a day that Doug Williams had hoped would come.

It is a day that is here.

“I think of all the guys that didn’t get the chance, who didn’t get the opportunity to play in the NFL,” he said. “To me, this Super Bowl is a tribute not just to me but to all those guys who never got the chance.”

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”