Doug Williams, Vince Evans & the History of Black Quarterbacks in the NFL

Unsung History

In 1946, the National Football League began the process of reintegration after a “gentleman’s agreement” had stopped teams from hiring Black players for over a decade. Even as the NFL began to re-integrate, though, racist stereotypes kept teams from drafting Black players into so-called “thinking” positions like quarterback. Black players who started at quarterback in college would be drafted into the NFL, only to be converted into running backs or wide receivers. On September 30, 1979, for the first time in NFL history, two Black quarterbacks (Doug WIlliams of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Vince Evans of the Chicago Bear) faced off against each other. In this episode, we look at Williams, Evans, and the history of Black quarterbacks in the NFL. I’m joined in this episode by historian Dr. Louis Moore, Professor of History at Grand Valley State University and author of The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans, and the Making of the Black Quarterback.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “American Football Game (Drum Corps Percussion Action) Bumper,” by FlorewsMusic, used under the Pond5's Content License Agreement. The episode image is “Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams preparing to throw the ball during an offensive play in 1987,” published in 1988 for the Redskins Police football card set; the image is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

• “NFL founded in Canton on Sept. 17, 1920,” Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• “The Reintegration of the NFL,” NFL Football Operations.
• “How the media helped overturn the NFL’s unwritten ban on black players,” by Nathan Fenno, Los Angeles Times, January 28, 2017.
• “Meet Four Men Who Broke The NFL's Color Line,” NFL Players Association.
• “Bucs Edge Bears,” by Dave Brady, The Washington Post, September 30, 1979.
• “Doug Williams,” Washington Commanders.
• “QB Evans Made History Before Joining Raiders,” by Tom LaMarre, Sports Illustrated, June 23, 2023.
• “Why It Took So Long for Two Black Quarterbacks to Face Off in the Super Bowl,” by Robert Silverman, Rolling Stone, February 12, 2023.
• “No matter who wins, the first Super Bowl with 2 Black quarterbacks will make history,” by Becky Sullivan, NPR Morning Edition, February 8, 2023.
• “Nine Decades After NFL Banned Black Players, Super Bowl LVII Is The First To Feature Two Black Starting Quarterbacks,” National Urban League, February 3, 2023.

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