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

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 FlorewsMu…